Enhancing Educational Institutions with academic and pastoral tracking for students

As a brand new Sixth Form College established in 2019, Abbeygate required a student tracking and communication system, which reflected the aspirations of the College to become one of the leading sixth form institutions in the country. The College has acquired in e-ST, a responsive, dynamic and interactive system, which not only allows students to take control and responsibility of their own learning, but also allows all stakeholders, (teachers, managers & parents) to communicate effectively and thereby ensures that appropriate and meaningful support and guidance can be provided at every stage of the student journey.

Having worked with Empresa on the development of the e-ST platform since 2012, helping to combine their technical expertise with our education knowledge and experience, we have now developed what has become a truly essential service within the College. Used every day by students and staff, e-ST has become  the College intranet dashboard not only for publicising news and events but also in providing a wealth of information from our MIS systems in a central and easily accessible location. The core modules within e-ST offer the College the precise level of tracking and monitoring that is required to help support all of our students through their time at SFX.

Indeed it is true to say that eST has allowed the college to work more efficiently and more effectively to place the learner at the heart of the educational process’.

e-ST has been central to steady improvement in AS pass rates and overall success rates evident at St Charles College over the last three years. The tracker system works as a live record of the key elements of all aspects of a student's performance and, in this way, gives them the key data to monitor, review and improve their own performance as increasingly independent learners. At the same time the system gives teachers and senior staff a comprehensive record of where students are with their learning, together with the factors that might contribute to or inhibit further progress, so that appropriate interventions can be triggered (and recorded) when student autonomy isn't enough! It is enhanced with student feedback and UCAS reference writing options, as well as being housed in customised portals that function as key communication platforms for all that goes on in a busy college. e-ST has been equally beneficial as a student tracker system and as a tool for whole college communication

e-ST has provided the College with a platform that enables us to pull data from our MIS system into an environment where staff are able to use and understand the data in order for meaningful intervention and tracking. e-ST presents the data in a user friendly way and provides colleagues with the information they need instantly. Our teachers feel e-ST is intuitive to use and find the information they need within a click of a button. The available modules have enabled us to expand our use of e-ST, integrating both pastoral support and curriculum areas, through a single interface that data can be easily shared.

The pastoral module of e-ST has transformed the way we communicate about students. We are able to create customised forms to capture a range of information which is held centrally for the student. No longer are we having to look up the teachers related to a student in order to email the information but letting the system determine the relevant recipients based on the student's timetable and keep clear track of responses to issues raised.

Students and parents now have greater access to information to help them manage student progress and achievement in the college. The mark book and ILP modules of e-ST make students more aware and reflective of their academic performance.

The Empresa developers have been very helpful when support is needed and are responsive to suggested developments to the system.