We’ve worked with a lot of schools over many years and can see clearly when MATs are heading to a point where their data is getting out of control.  In our experience, there are three pinch points that could easily tip a good data management process into a chaotic one if not handled carefully:

Many schools and MATs have been getting by, devising ICT plans and approaches as they go along, adding different elements as they are needed. Often, it's an approach born out of necessity and a desire to get results quickly. However, in the long-term it leads to chaos and confusion as differing platforms and applications all jostle and wrestle each other.

Data. In theory, all the data that you collect and hold should be helping you to improve the educational experience and outcomes of your pupils.  However, as we all know, that doesn’t always happen. The reality can be far different.

As we all know, a massive cyber-attack has disrupted services across the world.

Over 72 hours since the first attack became public, we should have all been taking the following procedures to ensure our immediate protection:

Novatia has been shortlisted for a Bett 2017 industry award for Questa, the company’s new premier analytics service for multi-academy trusts (MATs) and their schools.

The Bett Awards are an integral part of the UK’s Bett Show (25-28 January 2017), the world’s leading showcase of education technology. The awards celebrate both innovation in digital education...

TES highlighted once more this week (14 June 2016) the mounting concern amongst School and Trust leaders surrounding teacher shortages, especially in some STEM subjects. 

Their comments followed the recent publication of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report Training New Teachers (10 June 2016), alongside a previous report by the National Audit Office...

ICT may not be the first thing on your mind when you set about creating a multi-academy trust (MAT). Understandably, other things may seem more important, such as leadership, school performance, staffing and buildings. However, can you really afford NOT to put ICT first from the onset?

Government policy has placed the improvement and growth of the schooling system in England into the hands of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) – others have a role to play, but Trusts will need to be the focus of growth and improvement. There will need to be more of them and the ones that exist currently in 2015 will need to grow – otherwise the 1000 new...

Schools can collect an inordinate amount of data about their students (and staff). But is this data being used to improve learning outcomes or just to ‘tick the box’ for the regular census returns?