TASC

We would like to congratulate Sacred Heart High School who came second as runners up for the awards, in the Secondary School category for their use of Smyle Software in an innovative way. Michael Cousins, Deputy Headteacher tells how Smyle software has been used in their school...

"Schools have become highly adept at managing hard data: Assessment scores, examination targets and predictions used effectively to raise achievement and reported to parents and leaders succinctly. Very few schools have a handle on softer data to the same extent and yet it is this sort of information that can really raise standards, personalise the curriculum and improve learning.

Working with TASC software we have developed a student reflection tool called SMyLe, it stands for Share My Learning. Through a browser, students can sign onto SMyLe and they see their timetable. Drilling down into individual lessons they can reflect upon parts of the lesson that were WWWs (what went well)and EBIs (even better if) as well as rating their progress and enjoyment using a sliding scale.

Teachers see this information graphically but can drill down to individual classes or students and find out which activities have been most effective with their students. SMyLe manages and provides the data to turn Teaching and Learning into a genuine partnership. Teachers can see their data personally or choose to share it within departments or coaching teams. Heads of Progress can see the data sorted by Year group and so are able to intervene at a very early stage to raise student engagement.

We have found that this coordinated approach to Assessment for Learning empowers students and staff alike and enables every student to have a voice, not just the confident and articulate. Staff use the information to inform their planning and improve the efficacy of their lessons. It is providing a great alternative evidence base for a guide to the quality of teaching and learning within our school.

Simply put, it is making our already outstanding school better."

Thank you to Michael Cousins and everyone who visited the TASC Software stand at the exhibition.

Friday 8th and Saturday 9th March 2013

Manchester Central, Petersfield, Manchester, M2 3GX

Opening hours: 9.30am to 4.00pm

TASC Software range of software helps schools improvement in many areas including attendance, attainment, school management, and decision making.

We have considerable experience in designing specialist software to meet the specific needs of teachers, schools and Local Authorities and has a proven record of working quickly, sensitively and expertly to help customers tailor our products to their specific needs.

Presenting on Stand E27:

PARS: Working seamlessly with Capita SIMS, PARS provide a friendly, intuitive interface to School electronic attendance, school behaviour, pupil tracking, assessment and grading plus parent engagement and communication PARS school pupil management software immerses staff in the flow of data around school, allowing them, and you as a school, to operate efficiently.

INSIGHT: Realtime access to SIMS data online, INSIGHT provides secure access to pupil data, including attendance, behaviour, timetable and homework through to school reports, in a clear, easy to use and understandable manner. Now even non-technical parents can engage in their child's learning and participate in school life.

TASC Software would like to thank all who visited us on our stand and for making it our busiest ever year at the Exhibition.

It was great to see many of our new Schools amongst existing clientele, as well as recieving much attention from new visitors for our software products.

With a busy 2012 for the launch of the new SMyLE software, BETT 2013 captured yet much more new interest with its exciting new features. The pupil feedback tool helped heads of schools to understand how they can use SMyLE software to improve on teaching and learning by using the formative assessment data provided by pupils, as data to personalise teaching and learning for every individual pupil to deliver a more enriched learning experience.

"A student self assessment tool whereby they can help review and provide comments on their learning experience to teachers to help them to deliver a more personalised teaching and learning experience, which is key and highly recognised by Ofsted" explained Michael Cousins from Sacred Heart High School who was also on the stand.

Schools looking for a parent portal software were very excited to see INSIGHT Software and yet its various new developments as the add-ons, including the: translator - a home language translation which is available for parents to view information in a language of their choice, Parents Evening Booking system to allow parents to book themselves appointments, Options Offer that links to the SIMS options offer and allows pupils and parents to select subject options from home and finally, the Surveys where staff can design their own surveys and invite selected parents to respond, adding comments where required.

For Schools looking for an assessments logging, pupil tracking, attendance and behaviour management solution plus communications feature, demonstrations for PARS Pupil Data Management software which also includes electronic registration, detentions, communications, biometric integration and more, winning many new prospects at the show. A Vice Principal at a School in Bolton said "BETT was worth coming to this year, just to find PARS".

TASC Software would like to thank Michael Cousins for all his support on the stand throughout the BETT Show and also like to thank AOC for allowing us to use their Monitors on our stand to present our software products!

With exciting new developments and features in our Software products, TASC Software will be exhibiting at the BETT Show 2013 on Stand B202.

Schools using our Parent Portal Software, INSIGHT will be able to see the new add-ons now available. Options Offer has been designed to allow parents to pick their child's subject options when ready, in a user friendly and simple way online. Forums, in INSIGHT can also be set up by the school so parents can actually gain knowledge through talking to each other and increasing parental interactivity. Wondering which parents use INSIGHT? Parental Analysis identifies who is using and when, plus what they track most by pupil, form, year and house.

Parent Evening Booking feature in INSIGHT saves the annual logistical nightmare for School sorting and managing teacher availability. INSIGHT recognises which teachers or tutors are associated to the child, you decide on start/end times; Parents then can quickly choose timeslots available to them.

"There's a Parents' Evening module that will organise your parents' evenings for you. They logon and say 'There is a teacher free there. I'll just make my own appointments'. Then when they walk in through school, they get an appointments sheet with the teachers' names on and the teachers get the parents that are coming in to see them. It allows you to have direct managed contact from parents straight to teachers or anyone who has a responsibility for their daughter or son" - Michael Cousins, Deputy Headteacher, Sacred Heart High School, Newcastle.

PARS Pupil Data Management has moved forwards even more again this year with many options available within features available; Automated Behaviour Alerts, further additions to hierarchal structured behaviour; Custom Grade reports, Attendance filters for quick access to data, Detention texts to parents, personalised Extra Curriculum classes and more graphs/visuals and much more

PARS CONNECT; PARS remote web access software allowing teachers to access data from home using various hardware including PC, Laptop, Touchpad, Mobile phones has been updated to include more features. Great option for teachers to enter grades at home, PE to take registers, Pupil Data to be entered if on School trip.

Secure high quality learning through regular monitoring of formative assessment data with SMyLE. A fantastic tool allowing pupils to give feedback on their learning and allowing teachers to deliver the best lesson possible, taking into consideration individual learners needs - A free trial of SMyLE software can be requested on the Stand B202.

For schools searching for solutions to improve their Attendance figures, don't miss your chance to win TARGET Attendance Analysis software FREE for 1 year! Just enter the competition on the Stand B202 and all the winners will be announced after the BETT Show. To learn about TARGET software and how it helps plan, visualise and track attendance targets for schools, please visit: http://www.tascsoftware.com/web/products/target/target.aspx

We look forward to seeing you at BETT 2013 on Stand B202!

Please view our show profile: http%3a%2f%2fwww.bettshow.com%2fShow_Exhdetails1.aspx%3fid%3ddet%26ExhId%3dexhiReg1518

An amendment has been made to how attendance codes D, Y and # should be used from September 2011 onwards.

The data collection system has been amended so that the national attendance code D (Dual Registered) is not counted in the School Census as an attendance. Each school will only record the attendance and absence for the sessions the pupil is required to attend at their school; each school will use code D to record all of the sessions that the pupil is due to attend at the other school.

The data collection system has been amended so that the national attendance code Y (Unable to Attend due to Exceptional Circumstances) will be collected in the School Census for statistical purposes. Schools will use code Y to record the sessions where a pupil is unable to attend because:

the school site, or part of it, is closed due to an unavoidable cause;

the transport provided by the school or a local authority is not available, and their home is not within walking distance; or

a local or national emergency has resulted in widespread disruption to travel which has prevented the pupil from attending school.

A request for change has been submitted so that the national attendance code # (Planned closure) can be applied to partial school closure (currently it can only be applied to whole school closure).

This amendment will allow schools to use code # to record different term dates for different pupils, for example, staggered starts or induction days and any other planned partial closure. However, until this change can be implemented by their software supplier, schools should continue to use code Y to record planned partial closure.

New guidance to reflect these changes will be published later in September 2012.

Reference:

Department for Education, 2012. Pupil registration: Regulations and guidance [online]
Available at: http://www.education.gov.uk [Accessed 6 September 2012].

We would like to welcome Liam Bell (BA hons) to our team here at TASC Software as Customer Support. The new position has arisen following a successful year achieved through an expansion of the customer base into new geographic markets and also with the development of many new features available in PARS, TARGET, INSIGHT and introduction to SMyLE, our Pupil Formative Assessment software.

With experience of delivering a high standard of customer service with a smile, Liam will ensure that all user queries are dealt with efficiently and customer expectations are exceeded.

"I am excited about my new role and feel that excellent customer service is of paramount importance at any organisation. TASC Software is very dedicated to meeting the requirements of its customers and I look forward to maintaining this reputable customer support!" - Liam Bell

'Record pupil data anytime, anywhere and instantly!' Record and track pupil attendance, grades, behaviour and log parental communications from your mobile device using PARS Connect Mobile.

PARS Connect Mobile can be used on various mobile technologies with internet access including: tablet, iPhone, Blackberry, HTC or other smartphone. Connect Mobile is simple to use and designed to access PARS data as you would expect with easy drop down menus. The data is recorded back to SIMS instantly.

Key Features of PARS Connect Mobile:

Take registers

Log behaviour

Record grades

Complete assessments

Text messaging to parents

Record on-report data

Extra class registers and detention registers

Quick access to pupil information screen

Record latecomers on the door

A Where-Is function to show where a pupil is

Automated notices and texts to staff, pupils and parents for missed detentions

Timeout to automatically sign teachers out of mobile devices, to ensure pupil data is protected if PARS Connect is left open and not being used for a number of minutes

Benefits:

Record and access pupil data instantly and easily during lessons, whether onsite or off school premises

Data records back to SIMS MIS in realtime, instantly

No software installs or updates required therefore, no valuable memory or storage is used on mobiles

Use on as many devices as you wish and there is no individual licence cost per mobile, which helps schools to save on cost.

Further information is available at: http://www.tascsoftware.com/web/products/pars/pars.aspx

Date: Friday 15th June 2012

Venue: Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL50 4SH

Times: 9.00am - 5.30pm

TASC Software will be demonstrating its software solutions at the exhibition and showing how they can be used to help support the various school roles in their management and tracking of pupil data across the school to raise achievement and improve progress. Through easy and instant access to all the relevant pupil information in one place helps schools to save administrative time, paper costs and printing costs.

PARS Pupil Management Software: managing, sharing and tracking pupil information in one teacher friendly solution. Records data back to Sims instantly.

INSIGHT Realtime Access online: Share your SIMS pupil data online with parents, pupils and teachers choosing the areas and depth of pupil data you wish to share.

SMyLE Support My Learning Experience Software: Captures pupil perceptions of their learning in a secure and controlled environment. Staff use the feedback to see who is engaging well with their learning and which lessons were most successful.

We look forward to meeting you at the exhibition!

Come and visit TASC on our stand at the ICT Conference

On: 22nd March 2012

Location: William Brookes School, Much Wenlock, Shropshire, TF13 6NB

Time: 8.45am to 4pm

Come along and see our new SMyLE Software which supports learning by capturing and reacting to pupils perceptions. Also showcasing INSIGHT Software that allows access to your SIMS pupil data online for parents, pupils and teachers on various mobile devices.

We hope to see you at the conference!

The TASC Team would like to thank all who visited us on our stand at the BETT Show!

TASC had another busy and successful show at BETT 2012. Staff were pleased to meet existing clients who came on the stand to explore the new features made available to them.

Users of PARS software were impressed to see the new mobile version of PARS Connect which will give staff the benefit of accessing their pupil data on mobile technology with internet access including an: iPhone, tablet, HTC, Blackberry or Smartphone without having to worry about their internal mobile storage being used up.

Moreover, TASC Software's new SMyLE Software gained a high level of interest at the show. Following demonstrations of the pupil feedback tool, heads from various schools were positive about new software product with comments including how helpful the tool would be in trying to improve the effectiveness of teaching within their school; most saying it would help test various teaching methods with pupils and inform what works best!

A big thank you to Michael Cousins, who joined us from Sacred Heart High School who explained how they were using our products and the difference they had made to raising achievement in the school.

TASC Software will be showing its new SMyLE Support My Learning Software at BETT 2012 on Stand F75 to schools and how it can help teachers support learning by letting them know how well their lessons are being received by pupils and which pupils are engaging well in their learning and which lessons were most successful. This is done through pupils logging into Smyle and providing feedback through reflecting and commenting upon their learning.

Michael Cousins, Assistant Headteacher at Sacred Heart High School, explains, "Its a student telling a teacher, in an objective way that this lesson does or doesn't work for me. You think you know when something went really well then you find that just three of four of the students were really taking part, and the rest weren't very engaged at all. Helping a teacher to improve is a long, hard path, but I think if you have this system of regular feedback, you can see incremental progress and help the coaching process. We said to staff that we understood if some didn't want to do it, but that we think it's a good tool for professional development. As it is, they can opt into it and they control who sees the results. One of the secrets of our success is that we use SMyLE to take us beyond simply listening to students and valuing them. SMyLE enables teachers to analyse what actually works best for each student and then modify their teaching to bring out the best in each and every one."

With personalised teaching and learning at the high interest of education, Smyle also helps teachers to personalise their lessons by using the feedback from pupils and knowing what has worked. For example, Catherine, Year 10 Student at Sacred Heart High School said, "My teachers have already started adapting the lessons as a result of knowing what my strengths and weaknesses are." Charlotte, Year 11 Student at Sacred Heart High School explains how being involved in this feedback process and being heard in a meaningful way has helped, "Being able to tell teachers what works for you makes you more part of the lesson." Pupils become more responsible, committed and motivated in class.

"The TASC team are very excited about its new software development and look forward to showcasing the tool to schools at the show. You are most welcome to come and meet the team and take a look at our new development on Stand F75 at BETT 2012!" - Peter Rushton, Marketing Director at TASC Software.

For further information, please call 01902 824281 or email sales@tascsoftware.co.uk. To see Smyle at BETT 2012, please visit TASC on Stand F75.

We are pleased to finally release our new look website, with a new design, more content and many more features on the customer website for the use of TASC customers.

As another year draws to a close...

The TASC Team would like to thank all our valued customers for their support this year which is very much appreciated and look forward to working with you in the forthcoming New Year 2012!

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year 2012!

Best Wishes from

TASC Team

TASC Software is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the contract by Warwickshire Local Authority to supply its 'parent, pupil and teacher access online software' to all secondary schools in the authority.

Insight software will provide parents, teachers and the pupils themselves with secure access to pupil data in the school's SIMS MIS, from attendance and behavior and homework through to school reports. The online access solution will provide real benefits to parents, teachers, pupils and also save costs, time and resources for the school. Parents will have the ability to see their child's data in realtime online and always have the most up to date information. Pupils will also be able to login to see information on their progress in school and teachers too can login to Insight to see clear and concise student information.

E-Learning Adviser at Warwickshire Local Authority, John Pinkney feels that, 'Insight will add value to a VLE. Increasingly, schools, often with leadership from the local authority, are using learning platforms, or virtual learning environments (VLE). Used effectively, a VLE is the hub of all learning and teaching activities in the school. Many of these schools realise that if they give parents log-in access to agreed parts of the VLE they'll be able to see the work their children are doing, and the assignments they've been set, and become much more engaged with their learning. It makes sense to include access to MIS data at the same time, and one way of doing this is to add Insight to the package that's offered to parents, with a single log-in from the school website. So in Warwickshire, for example, all 33 secondary schools will have RM's Kaleidos VLE together with Insight, both accessible on the same log-in. that if a school has Insight as a separate, though complementary product, they can stay with it if they change learning platforms, which schools often do. Customer service from TASC was also major factor that helped to convince schools to take on Insight. When we show it to head teachers, we also show them a list of requests that were made by the pilot schools, and are now in the product. We're not always in a position to do that. It's usually a matter of saying. 'I've asked for these changes and they're under development'.