WEBVTT

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Hi, my name is Jordan. I am a special education

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teacher from the UK. I share my passion for everything

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communication, sensory regulation and fun lesson

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ideas for my classroom of disabled pupils aged

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4 to 11. Each week I am joined by experts in

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the field answering your questions and sharing

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our knowledge and experience working alongside

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our beautiful young people. Let's get started.

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Hello everybody and welcome back to the Sensory

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Classroom podcast. Today I am joined by Dale

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who is the CEO of Connecting Steps or B Squared.

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It's the assessment software that I have used

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for the last 15 years in my special education

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teaching journey and so I thought it was really

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important that we get him on today to explain

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a little bit more about assessment. Hello Dale.

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Hello. I did not know you'd been using it for

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that long. Yeah so that's kind of one of my first

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questions actually. How long have you been going?

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So we've been going as a company. We started

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in 97, paper format. And that was the old checklists

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that people could mark things off. And then we

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released our first version of the software in

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2000. If you've been using it 15 years, you probably

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had the version which was installed on a laptop.

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Yeah, it would have been. Yeah, it was 2008 or

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9, maybe even. Yeah. So that's the thing, I think.

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Some of our competitors have been pretty stationary.

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So that would have been version 3, installed

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on a laptop or installed on a network, only accessible

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in school. 2012, we released version 4, which

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is when we started going internet -based, so

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you could access it from home, which was a huge

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improvement that people didn't have to be in

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school. And also some schools had a B -squared

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laptop, which used to get passed around. So who's

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got a B -squared laptop? And then we released

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version five three or four years ago. Can't quite

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remember. It's been a blast since then. But that

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has really just, the focus of version five is

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making it faster and easier. So let's step it

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back. People are thinking, what? What's B squared?

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What is this? What is this? Maths talk? In your

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own words, what is, I mean, big question, but

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what is B squared? B squared is all about celebrating

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the progress children with SEND make, however

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small. That has always been our kind of mission

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statement, our values, our ethos. We know children

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with SEND make progress. Some systems can't show

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it. We can always show it. And as we've kind

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of evolved, we get to show it in different ways.

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So as we go to school, it's like, oh yeah, but

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you're not showing this or you can't do this.

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That gets put in. So it's always, that's been

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our thing. It's about showing that progress.

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Yeah, that's something I've always noticed that

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what I've worked with a huge range of learners

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age two to teen, all sorts of diagnosis, all

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sorts of abilities, right from early tracking

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and, you know, subconscious movements really

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is eye movements, yawning, reaching those kinds

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of things to people that are readying for their

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GCSEs. And I've had it useful for all of them.

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those kind of children because of those small

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steps because you can show the progress and break

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it down really to you know what does maths look

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like for a child that is working at three months

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but is actually 11 what does it look like what

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does money look like for them well it certainly

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doesn't look like coins right but it kind of

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like making choices it couldn't like interaction

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and those kind of things and I think that's what

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that's where b squared comes into its own doesn't

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it It is, and I think because we don't just have

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this is B squared, this is one flavor and one

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option, because we have so many frameworks based

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on ages, based on abilities, going, as you said,

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early years, birth, we have engagement model

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stuff all the way through to our steps for life,

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which is employability skills, independent living

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skills, all the functional skills, all that.

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It covers a whole range and everything in between

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that it's not you're trying to fit your child

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into our system. We always talk about our system,

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fits the child not you're not you're not trying

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to get that child into a box which is the best

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fit for them even though it doesn't really fit

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we don't want to be like that we want to be able

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to go actually this really works for your children

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and it's not it's definitely not a one -size

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-fits -all bits of software work for different

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children in different ways overall the system

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is the same but it's the content within each

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framework which really differentiates each framework

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I've definitely found that even in my own room,

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I've got 10 learners and I use two of your frameworks

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within my one classroom. And because it is one

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umbrella system, that still is okay. That still

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works really well. It's still one website. It

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still looks the same. I just select a different

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framework. Actually, no, I don't even select

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a different framework. When I click the child,

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that framework suitable for them is already linked

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to them. And they're the boxes and they're the

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statements that I use for that child. And they

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can work through it that way. I've also got some

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overlappy children. But in between two frameworks,

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because as we know, our children are incredibly

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spiky and in some areas, often PE or gross motor

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skills, they are more able and maybe in social

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interaction or independence, maybe they are less

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able. You can kind of span across a couple of

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frameworks as well. So again, that's working

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really well because our children, like you say,

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don't fit the mould. So we need the assessment

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tool we use to be squishy, don't we? And that,

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you mentioned the word spiky profile, which comes

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up in our conversation with our schools a lot

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because they know their children have spiky profiles,

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not just their children with autism, but a wide

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range of children have that spiky profile. But

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what happens is they're limited by the kind of

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the weakest area, the bit where they're struggling,

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that's their assessment level. They just have

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to work a level at a time. And we always say

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to every school, work across multiple levels

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in our system. The child is already working across

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multiple levels. That decision was made by the

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child and what they're doing, not you assessing.

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And by assessing just one level at a time, you're

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missing out and not celebrating what they can

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do. You need to be able to really show that,

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yes, they're struggling with, let's say, typical

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autism, struggling with comprehension, but their

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decoding is really good. You don't want to be

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ignoring that decoding because they're struggling

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with the comprehension. You still want to be

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pushing that decoding on and celebrating that

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progress they're making with decoding while you're

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really supporting and working on that comprehension.

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That's a great question, because that's something

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I often struggle with is when I've still got

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that they can't quite meet these social kind

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of bits of this target or this statement. But

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actually, they're way advanced in maybe their

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expressive language, for example, in other areas.

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Maybe they are really great at typing or something.

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What percentage would you lose when you're asked

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to show progress? Would you literally put both?

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You know, what would you do? So there is a report

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in our software called overall progress, which

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is slightly complicated, but it gives you different

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progress values. And one is a typical on their

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current level. Where were they? Where are they?

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And gives you a value. Maybe made 30 % progress.

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The next one is what we call nonlinear progress,

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which is a progress across multiple levels. And

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it will give you a single value of actually,

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although they made 20 % on their current level,

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actually they made 50 % over three levels. That's

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really helpful because, yeah, like I say, people

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love numbers, especially when you're reviewing

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IP targets or your EHCP targets. They love a

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percentage. They love a level. And it's really

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tricky to do. So if your website and your software

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is able to give us that number that is so desired

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and so needed in order to access the support

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they need, then that's awesome, isn't it? And

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then we can go on doing our jobs on the ground

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rather than worrying about assessing and how

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we're going to do that. And it really helps people

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see when you see they just made 20 % on their

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current level, but they've made 50 % over three

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levels. It helps them see that actually by just

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working on one level, you're not celebrating

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all their progress. You're kind of ignoring the

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stuff. It's not in the right box. Yeah. And also

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it stops that linear, like always reaching higher,

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higher, higher, which I feel like mainstream

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schools get stuck in, you know, right. You've,

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you've read those books now let's move on. Well,

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actually I was quite enjoying that series of

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books. Nope. You've beyond that. Now you need

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to choose this one. It's not linear. Whereas

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actually it's more. broadens those skills it

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really enriches builds a really strong foundation

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whilst you're still working on those higher skills

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you're building on that foundation of these fundamental

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like foundation skills aren't you at the same

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time and you can prove that through the assessment

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data you've got as well can't you rather than

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only getting the congratulations and the seeing

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the success by pulling the children upwards and

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it's also a danger if you are doing that with

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a reading that once they kind of get that great

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we move on it's like my main part i think with

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reading is we want them to enjoy it you don't

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want them to be constantly struggling or con

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you just actually know just finish that series

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of books get that enjoyment out of it see what

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actually as you read further what more you get

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out of it as you're starting to read between

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the lines as you know more about that character

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what are you seeing what are you inferring differently

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and then move on rather than now we've got to

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push you on we need progress Yeah, it's a really

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unfortunate place to be, isn't it? I remember

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my mum was in mainstream training whilst I was

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in my SEM training at the same time, weirdly.

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We trained to be teachers at the same time. And

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she would always say, oh, my level four child,

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my level three child. I used to hate it. I used

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to think, oh, my God, you're literally using

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their levels as their name. It just feels so

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impersonal. And I was always really proud that

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I didn't know my children's levels, but I knew.

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their pet's name and their dad's favourite football

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team and their special interests, all the characters.

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And I used to praise myself for that. And I still

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do 15 years on. But B Squared's there. If I do

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need to know their level, I can just look it

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up. I really pride myself on that isn't actually

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the biggest thing of the job. And I feel like

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maybe that's because of B Squared, because it's

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doing the numbers for me. I can focus on the

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statements. I can focus on their IEPs. I can

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tell you those off by heart. I can tell you what

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they know and what they can do off by heart.

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But yeah, just calling children by their level

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just always bothered me and I always picked on

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her for it. I think in mainstream it is that,

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especially where we've moved away from levels,

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which I think is a bad thing because as you said,

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your mum had a year level four child and a level

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three child, where now it would just be a year

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five child or a below child. Would it? Oh, wow.

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Because that language is just, they're below.

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But I think that in mainstream, that push to

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go through the things, the kind of that end of

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year outcomes is your curriculum, it's your syllabus,

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it's what you have to do. And it defines. Whereas

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when children are working behind, when they're

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kind of S -E -N -D, they're trying to work. The

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levels aren't so much this is an order of you

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doing things is these are perceived for a typical

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child as skills of a similar difficulty. It's

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not telling you an order. It's actually these

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are for a typical child a similar difficulty.

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But actually, once you get into neurodiverse

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and all those sorts of things, actually what's

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difficult for them can be completely different.

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And you shouldn't be limited, as you were saying,

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to I have a level two child. I can only look

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at level two or step two, whatever the language

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is. You know the child. You assess where they

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are. You think about their next steps based on

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them, not what a piece of software is telling

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you. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And was that your

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initial focus when creating this program? What

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was the gap you were seeing when you thought,

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I think I can create something here that's needed?

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So it wasn't me who created it. Okay. At the

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time, I was a forklift truck driver at Ikea.

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Interesting story, but that's another thing.

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It was my mum who was a teacher. I think it goes

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back to when the national curriculum came out

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in the mid -90s and you got told to get rid of

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all your old stuff and nothing worked. Yeah,

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it was Tony Blair era. So she just went... I

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need to know where my children are so I know

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what the next steps are. And the National Curriculum

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was too big, too vague. So she created a paper

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checklist so she knew where the children were

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and could celebrate that progress. And then people

00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:19.980
kind of went, that's really good. Can I have

00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:22.259
a copy? Can I have a copy? Can I have a copy?

00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:26.399
And the school said it was a complete load of

00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:29.559
rubbish and not worth anything. And so she started

00:12:29.559 --> 00:12:32.200
selling it. And the first sale was to an Ofsted

00:12:32.200 --> 00:12:35.000
inspector. during an inspection of one of her

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:37.759
friend's schools and there was a rule is once

00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:41.240
you sold 10 you leave teaching so she sold 10

00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:45.879
in a term 10 folders and and left so it was kind

00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:49.600
of there was no ability to show progress and

00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.860
my mum always said i'll use this until something

00:12:52.860 --> 00:12:57.240
better comes along and she waited and waited

00:12:57.240 --> 00:13:01.690
and waited and nothing better came along and

00:13:01.690 --> 00:13:03.830
that so it wasn't like i'm going to change the

00:13:03.830 --> 00:13:07.610
world it was i'll use this till something better

00:13:07.610 --> 00:13:09.470
comes along oh people are funny i'll make it

00:13:09.470 --> 00:13:13.330
better and but it it's just always grown so we

00:13:13.330 --> 00:13:14.809
have a great relationship with our customers

00:13:14.809 --> 00:13:17.149
always talking to them always finding out what

00:13:17.149 --> 00:13:20.149
they want what they struggle with what they get

00:13:20.149 --> 00:13:22.669
wrong what they assume all those and that always

00:13:22.669 --> 00:13:24.669
goes into the software so it just gets easier

00:13:24.669 --> 00:13:27.509
every year who are your customers who's buying

00:13:27.509 --> 00:13:30.509
this who's using there So at the moment, I think

00:13:30.509 --> 00:13:33.269
the majority of our schools are mainstream schools

00:13:33.269 --> 00:13:38.169
for their SEN, where maybe the main tracker they've

00:13:38.169 --> 00:13:40.730
just got working below, working towards below.

00:13:40.789 --> 00:13:43.090
It doesn't tell you anything about where they're

00:13:43.090 --> 00:13:47.129
actually at, does it? No, which means when you're

00:13:47.129 --> 00:13:49.509
trying to actually plan anything, identify next

00:13:49.509 --> 00:13:51.269
steps, you're really struggling because you don't

00:13:51.269 --> 00:13:53.549
actually know where they are. Yeah. You can't

00:13:53.549 --> 00:13:55.029
talk about the progress they've made because

00:13:55.029 --> 00:13:56.750
you don't really know where they are. And we

00:13:56.750 --> 00:13:59.470
think of the APDR cycle, that first bit is assessment,

00:13:59.629 --> 00:14:01.809
to help you identify where they are, to plan

00:14:01.809 --> 00:14:03.230
what you're going to do to support them to make

00:14:03.230 --> 00:14:05.649
a difference. And if you haven't got anything

00:14:05.649 --> 00:14:08.149
in that assessment part, then you're really going

00:14:08.149 --> 00:14:11.149
to struggle in actually what are the next steps.

00:14:11.370 --> 00:14:13.769
Yeah. And I think people are realizing more and

00:14:13.769 --> 00:14:17.350
more actually just writing below isn't great.

00:14:17.490 --> 00:14:20.909
They know the children are making progress, but

00:14:20.909 --> 00:14:23.299
they can't show it. which then kind of gets that

00:14:23.299 --> 00:14:25.100
morale down of the staff working with the children

00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:26.399
because they spent the whole year, but it just

00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:28.779
comes out as they're still below. Yeah, and they

00:14:28.779 --> 00:14:31.340
might be a year four teacher who's only ever

00:14:31.340 --> 00:14:33.840
taught, you know, that year group or similar.

00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:37.000
And they genuinely want to know, but they don't

00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:40.120
know what it looks like for a child working at

00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:43.940
age two, age three, kind of cognitively. So it's

00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:45.879
also giving you ideas for that as well, isn't

00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:48.059
it? Not only the baseline, as you were saying,

00:14:48.220 --> 00:14:52.120
but also. How do I plan for this? How do I include

00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:54.980
them and make it meaningful for them, for my

00:14:54.980 --> 00:14:57.139
learning? Well, all the statements are there

00:14:57.139 --> 00:14:58.940
for you. I use the B -squared statements as my

00:14:58.940 --> 00:15:00.539
learning objectives. I don't know if other teachers

00:15:00.539 --> 00:15:02.279
do that, but it's something I've always done

00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:04.879
because it's clear to me that I can easily differentiate.

00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:07.940
I take the statements from that subject for whatever

00:15:07.940 --> 00:15:10.139
one I want to teach. Say, for example, it's seasons,

00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.399
science. I can have, right, what does that look

00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:16.190
like if they're working at under one year? And

00:15:16.190 --> 00:15:17.610
then for my next week, what does that look like

00:15:17.610 --> 00:15:20.269
if they're working a year to two? And then what

00:15:20.269 --> 00:15:22.070
does that look like three to four? That's kind

00:15:22.070 --> 00:15:23.629
of where my tasks are at right now. So I've got

00:15:23.629 --> 00:15:25.470
three different activities. I've got all the

00:15:25.470 --> 00:15:28.149
statements there that are meaningful, that are

00:15:28.149 --> 00:15:32.509
realistic, that are appropriate and are working

00:15:32.509 --> 00:15:34.710
towards the outcome ultimately of learning about

00:15:34.710 --> 00:15:37.269
seasons. When you walk into my room, you might

00:15:37.269 --> 00:15:39.809
not think it looks like learning about seasons.

00:15:40.830 --> 00:15:43.190
But through using those statements and looking

00:15:43.190 --> 00:15:45.649
at that linear line, you can see where we're

00:15:45.649 --> 00:15:47.470
heading. We're all heading for the same outcome.

00:15:47.570 --> 00:15:49.129
And that's what I really love about that. It's

00:15:49.129 --> 00:15:52.210
a really great way of justifying those sensory

00:15:52.210 --> 00:15:57.350
-based learning, those interactions that don't

00:15:57.350 --> 00:15:59.470
look like learning about Vikings, for example.

00:15:59.730 --> 00:16:02.679
Well, actually, what is that? looking in mirrors

00:16:02.679 --> 00:16:04.860
it's building interaction learning about ourselves

00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:07.080
learning about our senses because how can we

00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:09.259
learn about our history if we don't know have

00:16:09.259 --> 00:16:12.299
a sense of self but i wouldn't know that if i

00:16:12.299 --> 00:16:14.259
didn't have those statements to fall back on

00:16:14.259 --> 00:16:17.080
i would just be pulling it out of thin air and

00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:18.740
i don't think that's ever a good thing it needs

00:16:18.740 --> 00:16:21.700
to be research -based and evidence -based doesn't

00:16:21.700 --> 00:16:23.620
it and that's what b squared gives me for sure

00:16:23.620 --> 00:16:25.919
so it's a couple of things you hit on there so

00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:27.799
one of them is i think teachers have a comfort

00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:29.929
zone that year four teacher We'll know the year

00:16:29.929 --> 00:16:31.809
four curriculum off by heart. Year three, pretty

00:16:31.809 --> 00:16:34.269
well. Year two, below that, they're at their

00:16:34.269 --> 00:16:37.149
comfort zone. And I see saying, oh, my teachers

00:16:37.149 --> 00:16:40.429
can't write smart targets. They can within their

00:16:40.429 --> 00:16:42.830
comfort zone, within that world they know they

00:16:42.830 --> 00:16:47.289
can do that. So having that framework that actually

00:16:47.289 --> 00:16:49.509
year four teacher, you've got a child working

00:16:49.509 --> 00:16:51.909
18 months. This is what 18 months looks like

00:16:51.909 --> 00:16:53.710
developmentally. These are the next steps. This

00:16:53.710 --> 00:16:55.289
is what you should be working towards. It really

00:16:55.289 --> 00:16:59.490
helps with our. content we really focus on the

00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:03.210
skills not the knowledge so science is one of

00:17:03.210 --> 00:17:05.509
the one is the only one which kind of doesn't

00:17:05.509 --> 00:17:07.869
do that i'll get to that in a second but we really

00:17:07.869 --> 00:17:12.289
focus on was reading writing all that stuff geography

00:17:12.289 --> 00:17:14.210
history all the subjects we do we look at the

00:17:14.210 --> 00:17:16.990
skills so it doesn't matter what curriculum you're

00:17:16.990 --> 00:17:19.750
doing so you could have a child working at year

00:17:19.750 --> 00:17:22.829
one in year six but they can do that year six

00:17:22.829 --> 00:17:26.309
curriculum at the year one level rather than

00:17:26.700 --> 00:17:29.240
I know some schools, especially in science, they

00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:31.980
think a child's working at year two. I need to

00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:33.980
do year two science with them because when I

00:17:33.980 --> 00:17:35.500
look at year two science, it's telling me to

00:17:35.500 --> 00:17:37.640
do this. So the rest of the class will do this

00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:39.819
because it's year six. They're doing space, I

00:17:39.819 --> 00:17:42.579
think, is year six. But they're year two, so

00:17:42.579 --> 00:17:44.259
we'll do a completely different topic. Yeah,

00:17:44.259 --> 00:17:48.039
we'll do light. Yeah. Whereas we've differentiated

00:17:48.039 --> 00:17:51.359
every topic down to the bottom of primary steps,

00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:54.359
which is 18 months developmentally. So it doesn't

00:17:54.359 --> 00:17:57.220
matter where they're working. at year six child

00:17:57.220 --> 00:17:59.799
in working at year one can still do earth and

00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.180
space and that's inclusion isn't it and it also

00:18:02.180 --> 00:18:04.200
supports the teaching assistant because off so

00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:05.740
often especially when you move up the school

00:18:05.740 --> 00:18:08.779
to year six the ta becomes so crucial they are

00:18:08.779 --> 00:18:11.180
the teacher for these sen children because it's

00:18:11.180 --> 00:18:15.099
so separate that it's the gap is so wide that

00:18:15.099 --> 00:18:18.119
you need to rely on your support staff so heavily

00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:21.240
for for that teaching well with these statements

00:18:22.299 --> 00:18:26.000
It's providing them the skills and the outcomes

00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:28.940
they need and the progress statements that they

00:18:28.940 --> 00:18:31.819
need in order to know next steps, wherever they

00:18:31.819 --> 00:18:34.880
are, what does it look like for this child, which

00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.400
really, really helps and gives them confidence,

00:18:37.559 --> 00:18:40.380
gives them that backing that they need in order

00:18:40.380 --> 00:18:43.480
to do their job. And it gives them a voice because

00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:46.019
when you've got a saying, if you go back to the

00:18:46.019 --> 00:18:47.640
old levels, you had the big level descriptors

00:18:47.640 --> 00:18:49.140
and it's like, which one of these paragraphs

00:18:49.140 --> 00:18:52.359
best fit this child? even three teachers come

00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:55.019
up with three different answers it's a big decision

00:18:55.019 --> 00:18:57.279
there's lots of nuances but when you split that

00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:00.220
down into lots of statements you can say yes

00:19:00.220 --> 00:19:02.779
they can do that yes they can do that we're working

00:19:02.779 --> 00:19:05.740
on that he's doing that when the ta can start

00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:07.640
saying that they're part of that conversation

00:19:07.640 --> 00:19:09.799
you but you're upskilling them you're giving

00:19:09.799 --> 00:19:12.509
them a voice you're helping them see these are

00:19:12.509 --> 00:19:13.910
things we're looking out for this what we're

00:19:13.910 --> 00:19:15.549
hoping to achieve but actually if you see any

00:19:15.549 --> 00:19:17.730
of these as well or see an opportunity to drop

00:19:17.730 --> 00:19:19.490
that in go for it because that's actually one

00:19:19.490 --> 00:19:22.930
of his targets as well absolutely and it helps

00:19:22.930 --> 00:19:24.670
the conversation when they're talking back to

00:19:24.670 --> 00:19:26.829
teacher they've got a framework to have those

00:19:26.829 --> 00:19:28.910
conversations around what happened in the lesson

00:19:28.910 --> 00:19:30.890
where the progress was where they're struggling

00:19:30.890 --> 00:19:34.569
it makes that so much more rich so we're using

00:19:34.569 --> 00:19:37.190
b squared for learning objectives we're using

00:19:37.190 --> 00:19:39.589
b squared for our assessment we're using b squared

00:19:39.589 --> 00:19:43.569
to add levels to ehcp and ieps apparently when

00:19:43.569 --> 00:19:45.470
you can use b squared to write reports i've got

00:19:45.470 --> 00:19:47.529
a meeting about that in half an hour that's exciting

00:19:47.529 --> 00:19:48.849
do you want to tell us a bit about that because

00:19:48.849 --> 00:19:51.910
i feel like this is coming out in april uh so

00:19:51.910 --> 00:19:54.150
i feel like now's the time to share that with

00:19:54.150 --> 00:19:57.109
teachers can you help us write our reports yes

00:19:57.109 --> 00:20:00.549
yes we added in ai a couple of years ago it was

00:20:00.549 --> 00:20:02.559
we had one of these really random I wonder if

00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:03.900
we could do that. And we talked to one of the

00:20:03.900 --> 00:20:05.759
developers and he literally a week later went,

00:20:05.900 --> 00:20:08.740
have a play with this. And at the moment we haven't

00:20:08.740 --> 00:20:10.400
moved on from it because it just is so simple.

00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:14.000
It works so well. So what you can do is in connecting

00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.180
steps, you've done your assessments. You've got

00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:18.420
all the things you've marked green, which means

00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:20.900
achieved independently. You've got yellows and

00:20:20.900 --> 00:20:23.119
oranges when they're working towards it. Kind

00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:24.900
of maybe it's different levels of support or

00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:26.920
levels of engagement. But when you have those

00:20:26.920 --> 00:20:30.059
greens, what you can do is you can select a number

00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:32.470
of those greens. So these are the key achievements

00:20:32.470 --> 00:20:35.190
that this child achieved this year. And then

00:20:35.190 --> 00:20:36.809
in the top right is a little brain icon. You

00:20:36.809 --> 00:20:38.569
click on that brain icon and you want to summarize

00:20:38.569 --> 00:20:41.089
the key achievements to the child or the parents.

00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:44.089
And you can also translate into 40 different

00:20:44.089 --> 00:20:48.309
languages. So if the parent's home language is

00:20:48.309 --> 00:20:51.869
not English, a Ukrainian or whatever, it will

00:20:51.869 --> 00:20:54.450
give you an English version and a Ukrainian version.

00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:57.980
And it takes your key statement. So it's ones

00:20:57.980 --> 00:20:59.900
you've chosen about that child. So it's still

00:20:59.900 --> 00:21:02.640
very, very personal, but it does that really

00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:05.099
boring part of writing into lovely sentences

00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:07.599
with correct he's and she's and all that stuff.

00:21:08.099 --> 00:21:10.940
It does all of that for you. It generates that

00:21:10.940 --> 00:21:12.900
you copy to clipboard and paste it into your

00:21:12.900 --> 00:21:15.440
report. Great. And then you can personalise it

00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:16.960
and add little bits, add photos and all that.

00:21:17.059 --> 00:21:18.920
And we're going to be adding photos when we do

00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:21.799
our reports from Eversense, which is another

00:21:21.799 --> 00:21:23.680
one of your programmes. It's very linked, actually,

00:21:23.740 --> 00:21:26.819
is it? It's kind of like a sister to B Squared,

00:21:26.839 --> 00:21:29.960
I would say. Do you want to explain a little

00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:33.380
bit about Eversense? So Eversense has been around

00:21:33.380 --> 00:21:37.400
for eight years about now, but it really took

00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:41.259
off last year when we did our new version. But

00:21:41.259 --> 00:21:44.339
what we found was... connecting steps and everything

00:21:44.339 --> 00:21:47.400
previously is it was okay i said i can do it

00:21:47.400 --> 00:21:51.200
but i can't show it it was i said he can do this

00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:53.440
and if you've got exercise books if you've got

00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:54.920
children working year one above you can just

00:21:54.920 --> 00:21:56.759
pull out an exercise book you can pull out a

00:21:56.759 --> 00:21:59.900
great but at the other end of the scale if they're

00:21:59.900 --> 00:22:02.960
in post 16 and doing uh life skills they're going

00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:06.200
to the shops again that's not in an exercise

00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:08.319
book you're watching them giving money getting

00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.240
change or just going beep on the card now um

00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:13.690
but All those life skills crossing the road,

00:22:13.769 --> 00:22:15.569
that's not in an exercise book. You're showing

00:22:15.569 --> 00:22:18.769
them doing it. They couldn't show that as well.

00:22:19.130 --> 00:22:24.150
So we developed Eversense and what we always

00:22:24.150 --> 00:22:26.369
wanted to be is really, really simple and really,

00:22:26.470 --> 00:22:30.789
really easy to use. So we basically made an orange

00:22:30.789 --> 00:22:33.410
Facebook for a school. Yeah, it does feel like

00:22:33.410 --> 00:22:35.789
social media. It does. It feels like safe social

00:22:35.789 --> 00:22:38.900
media. because so many systems have taken that

00:22:38.900 --> 00:22:41.599
approach on teams things like that we get it

00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:44.700
we understand it and but it's a really flexible

00:22:44.700 --> 00:22:46.960
system i think some systems are child by child

00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:49.700
and ever since you could have the whole school

00:22:49.700 --> 00:22:52.740
in a feed or you could have just your class but

00:22:52.740 --> 00:22:55.319
you see all the input from the different tas

00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:59.299
the teachers the pe teacher the speech and language

00:22:59.299 --> 00:23:01.740
therapist the pet everyone can feed so you get

00:23:01.740 --> 00:23:04.039
a really nice holistic view of all the things

00:23:04.039 --> 00:23:07.730
going on with that child but you can filter it

00:23:07.730 --> 00:23:09.250
in lots of ways. You can look across the whole

00:23:09.250 --> 00:23:11.990
school and go, right, how are we supporting communication

00:23:11.990 --> 00:23:14.509
interaction across the whole school? And it would

00:23:14.509 --> 00:23:16.390
just filter. And it's one of the things that

00:23:16.390 --> 00:23:18.710
if you had paper, and the reason we created Eversense

00:23:18.710 --> 00:23:21.589
is my child was in a nursery, or no, childminder,

00:23:21.710 --> 00:23:25.289
and she gave us the paper -based early learning

00:23:25.289 --> 00:23:28.970
journal. And I went, oh my God, thank you. This

00:23:28.970 --> 00:23:31.450
is amazing. It's lovely to see the photos, isn't

00:23:31.450 --> 00:23:33.269
it? It's lovely. And she went, no, no, that's

00:23:33.269 --> 00:23:36.289
mine. You can look at it for the weekend. she

00:23:36.289 --> 00:23:39.910
if ofsted come i have to have this and i was

00:23:39.910 --> 00:23:42.309
just like and there were so many amazing little

00:23:42.309 --> 00:23:44.269
observations written on post -it notes like the

00:23:44.269 --> 00:23:46.670
conversation she said what did daddy do this

00:23:46.670 --> 00:23:48.490
weekend while she's at the park and she most

00:23:48.490 --> 00:23:52.970
most most random stuff and it was just so lovely

00:23:52.970 --> 00:23:55.589
and i wish we had that as a permanent record

00:23:55.589 --> 00:23:58.210
it was like if this was on software i could have

00:23:58.210 --> 00:24:01.329
printed two copies yeah Yeah, exactly. And it

00:24:01.329 --> 00:24:03.210
doesn't get lost. It doesn't get damaged. It

00:24:03.210 --> 00:24:05.809
doesn't take long to do as well. Let's talk about

00:24:05.809 --> 00:24:08.930
that. Like teacher time is so precious. I couldn't

00:24:08.930 --> 00:24:11.269
do half the things that I do in my classroom

00:24:11.269 --> 00:24:14.849
if it wasn't for the use of this, using the software.

00:24:15.750 --> 00:24:18.490
Yeah, it's as simple as the kids are doing something.

00:24:18.829 --> 00:24:22.130
You take a photo of it or a video or a few photos

00:24:22.130 --> 00:24:24.750
or videos and you upload it as if you were to

00:24:24.750 --> 00:24:26.529
a Facebook page and then you can link it. You

00:24:26.529 --> 00:24:27.990
can write a little statement about it like you

00:24:27.990 --> 00:24:30.000
would with a caption on Facebook. And then you

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:31.579
can link it to the statements that we were talking

00:24:31.579 --> 00:24:35.220
about earlier as well. So it all links to the

00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:37.279
learning objectives. It all links to their assessment.

00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:40.859
It all feeds into that ultimate picture of where

00:24:40.859 --> 00:24:43.400
that child's at. And it's the proof, isn't it?

00:24:43.420 --> 00:24:45.960
Yeah, like you say, none of my 10 children have

00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:48.799
anything on paper, very, very little. It's all

00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:51.799
through doing and practical. So photos and videos

00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:54.970
are really crucial. Another thing that is. given

00:24:54.970 --> 00:24:58.009
us not only is getting the proof it's also building

00:24:58.009 --> 00:24:59.470
really strong relationships with our parents

00:24:59.470 --> 00:25:01.029
we've noticed this year we've only been using

00:25:01.029 --> 00:25:03.750
it this year this year our parents our relationship

00:25:03.750 --> 00:25:06.109
with the parents has really improved we don't

00:25:06.109 --> 00:25:08.569
so often get to chat at the gate because they're

00:25:08.569 --> 00:25:11.269
brought in on taxi so those relationships can

00:25:11.269 --> 00:25:15.690
become quite difficult to build that trust yeah

00:25:15.690 --> 00:25:19.029
sending home daily photos and videos of their

00:25:19.029 --> 00:25:22.250
children happy thriving feeling safe you know

00:25:22.250 --> 00:25:25.900
and the captions clearly celebrating their children

00:25:25.900 --> 00:25:28.200
for just being them and all their achievements

00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:30.279
seeing them with their friends you know all those

00:25:30.279 --> 00:25:32.299
things that our parents don't get the privilege

00:25:32.299 --> 00:25:36.039
to witness is really really wonderful we've noticed

00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:39.519
a huge difference this year in that so with Eversense

00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:42.500
it is I think especially with children as soon

00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:44.519
as you add school transport in you lose that

00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:48.119
talking at the gates so that's a really big barrier

00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:52.420
but also if you think about when a lot of schools

00:25:52.420 --> 00:25:55.599
communicate with the parents of scnd it's negative

00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:59.319
communication it's when things go wrong so any

00:25:59.319 --> 00:26:01.660
communication comes in you're already dreading

00:26:01.660 --> 00:26:04.000
it oh something from the school what's gone it's

00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:07.299
rarely positive so having ever since where you

00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:09.980
can have that constant communication and it can

00:26:09.980 --> 00:26:12.799
be two -way if the school wants it yeah which

00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:14.799
is which works really great in holidays they

00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:16.519
can tell us what they've been doing it's great

00:26:16.519 --> 00:26:19.829
so yeah so they can either just like things they

00:26:19.829 --> 00:26:21.990
can add comments but as you get very brave which

00:26:21.990 --> 00:26:23.710
obviously what you're doing is they can add their

00:26:23.710 --> 00:26:26.490
own posts and that is you can celebrate not only

00:26:26.490 --> 00:26:27.990
the wow moments that are going on school but

00:26:27.990 --> 00:26:31.569
you get to see the wow moments from home and

00:26:31.569 --> 00:26:33.569
it's you're now bringing everyone closer together

00:26:33.569 --> 00:26:36.130
so they can actually see what their child's doing

00:26:36.130 --> 00:26:38.789
they can see their experiences and for some children

00:26:38.789 --> 00:26:41.210
the parents want to see them doing different

00:26:41.210 --> 00:26:43.210
things and experiencing things they're realistic

00:26:43.210 --> 00:26:46.430
with the amount of progress but As long as they're

00:26:46.430 --> 00:26:47.809
not just sitting in that classroom doing nothing.

00:26:48.170 --> 00:26:49.730
Actually, what are you doing? What did you do?

00:26:50.529 --> 00:26:53.049
If you ask yourself, what did you do today? Nothing.

00:26:53.630 --> 00:26:55.730
If you've got a photo where they made something,

00:26:55.950 --> 00:26:58.910
did you make a penguin today? Yes. The conversation

00:26:58.910 --> 00:27:01.130
started. And my children are minimally speaking.

00:27:01.329 --> 00:27:03.809
So it's really great to be able to have that

00:27:03.809 --> 00:27:05.849
nonverbal communication with them through that

00:27:05.849 --> 00:27:08.589
photo, through that video. And so often the children

00:27:08.589 --> 00:27:11.329
in my class love watching themselves and watching

00:27:11.329 --> 00:27:13.309
it back and sharing that because it's their way

00:27:13.309 --> 00:27:15.349
of sharing their news, isn't it? They have no

00:27:15.349 --> 00:27:17.539
other way of doing that. which is really important

00:27:17.539 --> 00:27:19.859
to help that transition between home and school

00:27:19.859 --> 00:27:22.799
and to keep that less separate, I think, which

00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:24.920
so often, especially autistic children, fall

00:27:24.920 --> 00:27:28.240
into that of those separate environments and

00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:30.480
keeping them quite separate. So, yeah, having

00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:32.359
it get a bit muddy, I think, is always a good

00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:35.180
thing. I like with connecting sex, we can show

00:27:35.180 --> 00:27:38.529
progress in lots of different ways. But I feel

00:27:38.529 --> 00:27:41.009
that sometimes those experiences may not be going

00:27:41.009 --> 00:27:43.210
forward progression, but it's that sideways progression.

00:27:43.269 --> 00:27:45.029
It's doing it in different contexts and being

00:27:45.029 --> 00:27:49.710
open to new things is progress. But also a graph

00:27:49.710 --> 00:27:52.369
can show progress to those who love the graphs.

00:27:52.970 --> 00:27:55.769
But now you've been using it for a year or so.

00:27:55.829 --> 00:27:58.470
You've got the timeline on the right on the website.

00:27:59.049 --> 00:28:01.910
You could jump back to a year ago and you can

00:28:01.910 --> 00:28:03.589
watch a video of them a year ago and what they

00:28:03.589 --> 00:28:06.509
were doing. and sometimes that is the most effective

00:28:06.509 --> 00:28:08.609
way of showing progress somebody who might not

00:28:08.609 --> 00:28:10.269
be feeling great about their writing or what

00:28:10.269 --> 00:28:12.890
they're creating okay all right hang on let's

00:28:12.890 --> 00:28:14.170
look at what you've created here now look at

00:28:14.170 --> 00:28:17.190
what you created a year ago can you see the difference

00:28:17.190 --> 00:28:19.150
you can talk about the differences and it helps

00:28:19.150 --> 00:28:22.549
them see how far they've come yeah which you

00:28:22.549 --> 00:28:24.250
don't get from a graph and not just the students

00:28:24.250 --> 00:28:26.170
but the parents the teaching assistants as well

00:28:26.170 --> 00:28:29.930
so often we get stuck day by day in the oh we

00:28:29.930 --> 00:28:31.869
haven't done anything today or oh they're not

00:28:31.869 --> 00:28:34.349
you know whatever well actually yes so often

00:28:34.349 --> 00:28:36.410
you look a year back and think my goodness they're

00:28:36.410 --> 00:28:39.130
not i don't know They're not wearing their blanket

00:28:39.130 --> 00:28:41.809
as much as they are now. Or do you remember they

00:28:41.809 --> 00:28:43.529
had to have their hood up and their ear defenders

00:28:43.529 --> 00:28:45.630
on all the time and now they're not. It might

00:28:45.630 --> 00:28:47.210
not even be the thing that we wrote the caption

00:28:47.210 --> 00:28:48.990
about, but photos and videos looking back is

00:28:48.990 --> 00:28:51.890
so important. Look at how they move. You know,

00:28:51.890 --> 00:28:53.950
they still do that even though they're double

00:28:53.950 --> 00:28:55.269
the size now because we have had children for

00:28:55.269 --> 00:28:58.319
seven years in my classroom. So we can... In

00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:00.339
six years, we'll be going back seven years on

00:29:00.339 --> 00:29:02.740
Eversense. And I just know the difference is

00:29:02.740 --> 00:29:04.640
going to be huge. And we're going to really be

00:29:04.640 --> 00:29:07.240
celebrating their journey with us, which, yeah,

00:29:07.299 --> 00:29:09.500
is so exciting to do through photos and videos.

00:29:09.559 --> 00:29:13.500
So, so much more, yeah, meaningful. It's clearer

00:29:13.500 --> 00:29:17.220
when you see through a video. And also as a teacher

00:29:17.220 --> 00:29:18.900
as well, because I don't do all of the teaching

00:29:18.900 --> 00:29:21.319
in my room, I do rely on my support staff to

00:29:21.319 --> 00:29:23.869
do a lot of those interventions. So I can't be

00:29:23.869 --> 00:29:25.890
there for all of them. So when I'm looking at

00:29:25.890 --> 00:29:29.450
EverSense at the end of the day, I can have a

00:29:29.450 --> 00:29:31.769
really clear picture of where they're at, what

00:29:31.769 --> 00:29:33.890
they did, what support they needed, what scaffold

00:29:33.890 --> 00:29:36.349
they needed. Do we need to repeat that activity?

00:29:36.529 --> 00:29:38.390
Do we need to move that on? And it really informs

00:29:38.390 --> 00:29:41.349
my planning. Whereas sometimes if I just ask

00:29:41.349 --> 00:29:43.690
the teaching assistant or read the notes, it's

00:29:43.690 --> 00:29:46.589
not as clear as to what that activity really

00:29:46.589 --> 00:29:51.710
did involve. And the video can't lie. No, I love

00:29:51.710 --> 00:29:53.450
video for that. And what you can do is as a teacher,

00:29:53.509 --> 00:29:56.089
you can edit their posts. So there's TAs. So

00:29:56.089 --> 00:29:58.710
you can go in and go, actually, because I'm thinking

00:29:58.710 --> 00:30:01.490
about something else, it also means this. Therefore,

00:30:01.589 --> 00:30:03.730
you can then link it to the assessment points

00:30:03.730 --> 00:30:05.670
in connecting steps. And if you want, you can

00:30:05.670 --> 00:30:07.809
then assess. So you don't even have to go into

00:30:07.809 --> 00:30:09.650
connecting steps. Yeah, that's new, isn't it?

00:30:10.029 --> 00:30:13.509
Yes. That excited me because, yeah, it just felt

00:30:13.509 --> 00:30:15.450
like two jobs. You felt like you have to do it

00:30:15.450 --> 00:30:16.710
on the app and then you did it on the computer.

00:30:16.789 --> 00:30:19.470
Whereas now, you just do the job once, which

00:30:19.470 --> 00:30:22.170
is very exciting. I always like doing a job once.

00:30:22.769 --> 00:30:25.470
There's so many things we do are about that.

00:30:25.529 --> 00:30:27.710
So you talked about children on different frameworks,

00:30:27.849 --> 00:30:31.009
those overlappers. But if a skill appears in

00:30:31.009 --> 00:30:33.609
one framework and another, or it appears in,

00:30:33.650 --> 00:30:36.650
let's say, spoken language and PSHE with the

00:30:36.650 --> 00:30:39.890
social and communication ties out of it, if I

00:30:39.890 --> 00:30:41.670
fill it in in one place, it gets filled in everywhere

00:30:41.670 --> 00:30:44.650
it appears. So as you transition one framework

00:30:44.650 --> 00:30:47.380
to the next, as they move... stuff is filled

00:30:47.380 --> 00:30:49.619
i think that might be my favorite thing because

00:30:49.619 --> 00:30:52.380
it saves so much time so often especially for

00:30:52.380 --> 00:30:54.480
our emerging learners that are working at that

00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:57.519
18 month kind of level so much is cross -curricular

00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:00.480
you know who's to say that if you're working

00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:04.119
on engagement it's not communication or vice

00:31:04.119 --> 00:31:07.460
versa for example yeah so ticking off that one

00:31:07.460 --> 00:31:10.720
box in one then ticks off all the same statements

00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:13.299
across all of the different areas the you know

00:31:13.299 --> 00:31:15.720
the areas of learning they're working on Great!

00:31:15.819 --> 00:31:18.140
That is so helpful to me to see that because

00:31:18.140 --> 00:31:22.720
it is so cross -curricular. Where we have special

00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:25.460
schools where they're using us for every child

00:31:25.460 --> 00:31:27.500
and they have things like the engagement model,

00:31:27.640 --> 00:31:31.240
our progression steps, our autism progress and

00:31:31.240 --> 00:31:32.940
our communication interaction frameworks, they

00:31:32.940 --> 00:31:34.759
all overlap hugely. There's communication in

00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:36.279
autism, there's communication in the natural

00:31:36.279 --> 00:31:40.200
curriculum, it's everywhere. Whoever fills it

00:31:40.200 --> 00:31:43.660
in... it overlaps everyone so the speech and

00:31:43.660 --> 00:31:45.380
language of therapies is working on something

00:31:45.380 --> 00:31:46.859
they feel something that's going to affect the

00:31:46.859 --> 00:31:48.200
engagement model it's going to impact the progression

00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:50.940
steps so each person is looking at that child

00:31:50.940 --> 00:31:54.740
through their lens through that framework but

00:31:54.740 --> 00:31:56.559
it's impacting everyone so you're getting that

00:31:56.559 --> 00:32:00.319
holistic view that much bigger picture of that

00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:02.900
child rather than everyone working in isolation

00:32:02.900 --> 00:32:04.920
and not sharing what they've been working on

00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:07.740
and not seeing the impact it's all done for you

00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:10.259
Yeah. And then parents as well can add to those

00:32:10.259 --> 00:32:12.819
photos, can't they? And kind of put in their

00:32:12.819 --> 00:32:15.400
impact from home as well, because often in different

00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:18.240
environments, they can do different things. So

00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:21.380
that's really, really crucial too. I mentioned

00:32:21.380 --> 00:32:22.680
parents. I meant to say something earlier. You

00:32:22.680 --> 00:32:24.019
talked about when you're kind of using it for

00:32:24.019 --> 00:32:26.440
seven years. A nice little feature you'll find

00:32:26.440 --> 00:32:29.579
at that point is when kind of children are leaving

00:32:29.579 --> 00:32:31.799
your school or at any point, but more when they're

00:32:31.799 --> 00:32:34.099
leaving the school, when the parents log in,

00:32:34.180 --> 00:32:37.970
there is a download all evidence button. So they

00:32:37.970 --> 00:32:41.589
can download a zip file of all those photos and

00:32:41.589 --> 00:32:44.569
videos that you've shared with them. That would

00:32:44.569 --> 00:32:47.410
be amazing. Because I think I've got so many

00:32:47.410 --> 00:32:50.349
memories. Yeah, that's it. Do you know what would

00:32:50.349 --> 00:32:51.930
be really lovely? If you could work this out

00:32:51.930 --> 00:32:55.089
in the next six years before my kids leave, if

00:32:55.089 --> 00:32:58.250
there could be an AI way of auto -editing to

00:32:58.250 --> 00:33:03.099
music. and create a little leavers video of all

00:33:03.099 --> 00:33:04.960
the evidence that we've had for the last seven

00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:06.519
years if you could work on that Dale that'd be

00:33:06.519 --> 00:33:08.720
fantastic and would you also like me to throw

00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:11.619
in a photo book as well yeah they could buy a

00:33:11.619 --> 00:33:14.500
photo book yeah great you can keep the profit

00:33:14.500 --> 00:33:16.980
one of the things I think with AI coming on the

00:33:16.980 --> 00:33:20.619
speed it's doing I think those are quite plausible

00:33:20.619 --> 00:33:24.019
exciting I think it'll be a case of you going

00:33:24.019 --> 00:33:27.099
through all the photos starring them and then

00:33:27.099 --> 00:33:31.240
going I want it this long, off you go. But it's

00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:32.519
one of those things, it's a really nice thing.

00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:35.700
Facebook do them, Apple do them, we get the Spotify

00:33:35.700 --> 00:33:38.019
rap. Yeah, that's exactly it. That's kind of

00:33:38.019 --> 00:33:41.319
what I'm thinking. Yeah, like a rap affair. Yeah,

00:33:41.500 --> 00:33:45.279
I think that's on the horizon. But it sounds

00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:48.740
kind of, we're joking about it, but it's really

00:33:48.740 --> 00:33:52.019
serious because it is about celebrating what

00:33:52.019 --> 00:33:54.660
they do. And I think especially in a mainstream

00:33:54.660 --> 00:33:57.509
setting where... Very often these children aren't

00:33:57.509 --> 00:33:59.109
at the top of the assembly list. They're not

00:33:59.109 --> 00:34:01.650
included. No, we had two leavers this year that

00:34:01.650 --> 00:34:05.130
didn't get their assembly in my school. And then

00:34:05.130 --> 00:34:06.910
they're not in the yearbook. They're not on the

00:34:06.910 --> 00:34:08.909
sports team. They're not in the newsletters.

00:34:09.190 --> 00:34:13.630
They're constantly below. Actually, they are

00:34:13.630 --> 00:34:15.909
having an amazing time. They are progressing.

00:34:16.130 --> 00:34:18.630
They are happy. They are joyful. They are enjoying

00:34:18.630 --> 00:34:21.269
school, hopefully. Yeah, there's so much to celebrate.

00:34:22.110 --> 00:34:24.670
Let's celebrate however small we want to celebrate

00:34:24.670 --> 00:34:27.760
it. Yeah. Because it's huge. It's small but huge,

00:34:27.940 --> 00:34:30.639
isn't it? Yeah, and the parents and the children

00:34:30.639 --> 00:34:33.119
deserve that celebration. So yeah, if you could

00:34:33.119 --> 00:34:35.800
work on that, I'll be the first to use it. I

00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:37.300
literally, I'm going to go talk to John after

00:34:37.300 --> 00:34:40.199
this. Amazing. I expect a little sponsored by

00:34:40.199 --> 00:34:42.380
Septiclass. Talking about developments on the

00:34:42.380 --> 00:34:44.960
horizon though, seriously, what are you working

00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:46.559
on? Because I know you're always thinking and

00:34:46.559 --> 00:34:50.559
developing and exploring other avenues. So currently

00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:52.940
we're trying to do things. We're going to have

00:34:52.940 --> 00:34:56.030
new features every single month. lots of little

00:34:56.030 --> 00:34:58.369
new things and one of them we updating the ai

00:34:58.369 --> 00:35:02.210
so you can adjust the text you can set whether

00:35:02.210 --> 00:35:03.449
or not you're going to be happy about the amount

00:35:03.449 --> 00:35:05.630
of progress happy with their effort i was always

00:35:05.630 --> 00:35:07.250
a child who made outstanding progress with minimal

00:35:07.250 --> 00:35:10.730
effort but also your kind of tone we've got to

00:35:10.730 --> 00:35:12.949
work in there and then if you adjust that text

00:35:12.949 --> 00:35:15.090
you can adjust it and then we do the translation

00:35:15.090 --> 00:35:18.269
so we're going to tweak the ai to make it even

00:35:18.269 --> 00:35:21.570
better big things we're working on at the moment

00:35:21.570 --> 00:35:26.289
we don't synchronize with mis's so that's That's

00:35:26.289 --> 00:35:28.070
what we're working on right now, and that will

00:35:28.070 --> 00:35:31.090
be out before the end of the year. The next bit

00:35:31.090 --> 00:35:33.929
we're doing is trust -level data. It's where

00:35:33.929 --> 00:35:36.329
we use across multiple schools. They can get

00:35:36.329 --> 00:35:38.710
that overview of all the data across their trust

00:35:38.710 --> 00:35:42.889
for their SEND children. And what we always do,

00:35:42.969 --> 00:35:45.010
the way we always write things and think about

00:35:45.010 --> 00:35:47.389
things, is we want to make sure it's always done

00:35:47.389 --> 00:35:50.070
in a positive way. So the language in the system

00:35:50.070 --> 00:35:51.949
will always be about supportive, not smashing

00:35:51.949 --> 00:35:53.309
someone over the head with a hammer because they've

00:35:53.309 --> 00:35:55.460
not done good enough. yeah it's changing that

00:35:55.460 --> 00:35:58.519
to how can we support them amazing making sure

00:35:58.519 --> 00:36:00.360
it's trying to be doing it in a supportive way

00:36:00.360 --> 00:36:02.880
so they're the two things we're working on this

00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:06.579
year once we finish that a bit that everyone

00:36:06.579 --> 00:36:08.420
gets excited about when i mention it is going

00:36:08.420 --> 00:36:10.639
to be our planning and provision mapping module

00:36:10.639 --> 00:36:13.960
hey because at the moment you've got lots of

00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:15.639
stuff you're working on but you haven't kind

00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:17.940
of you can't organize it into this is our plan

00:36:17.940 --> 00:36:19.900
this is what we're working on this is what we

00:36:19.900 --> 00:36:23.559
want to do for their ehcp So lots of schools

00:36:23.559 --> 00:36:25.760
love that, that actually we can have a list of

00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:27.360
things to work on, whether it's a curriculum

00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:30.739
plan or an annual kind of that EHCP annual review,

00:36:30.820 --> 00:36:32.340
kind of this is what we're working on this year.

00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:34.880
And when we do that, you'll be able to add in

00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:37.739
your own statements. That's great. So this is

00:36:37.739 --> 00:36:40.119
the B -square, there's evidence as well. It'll

00:36:40.119 --> 00:36:43.159
be in both. Yeah, that's really great. So you

00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:44.099
try to create the plan in the connecting steps

00:36:44.099 --> 00:36:46.079
part with these skills that are in B -square

00:36:46.079 --> 00:36:47.579
and you pull them in, like creating a playlist

00:36:47.579 --> 00:36:50.059
in Spotify. But when you've got stuff missing,

00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:52.530
you'll be able to type those in. That's great.

00:36:52.670 --> 00:36:54.809
That would be really helpful for their IEP targets

00:36:54.809 --> 00:36:56.670
because sometimes they are just personal ones.

00:36:57.550 --> 00:37:02.469
They're not as generic. Honestly, the only thing

00:37:02.469 --> 00:37:04.309
that I think is missing from Eversense is that

00:37:04.309 --> 00:37:07.710
opportunity to add those personal IEP targets

00:37:07.710 --> 00:37:11.010
to work on. But how we go around that now is

00:37:11.010 --> 00:37:14.130
we just put IEP, write the target in the caption,

00:37:14.210 --> 00:37:16.090
and then there's a little IEP button that you

00:37:16.090 --> 00:37:19.130
can tick that puts it in the IEP box. And it

00:37:19.130 --> 00:37:22.199
does the same job. doing it that way but yeah

00:37:22.199 --> 00:37:25.239
even better if you can make it official so it

00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:27.199
will be official and you lack when you can then

00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:28.780
go once you've created you're about to assess

00:37:28.780 --> 00:37:30.500
it as if it was an assessment page you'll have

00:37:30.500 --> 00:37:32.480
all your targets on a page which means never

00:37:32.480 --> 00:37:35.380
since you can link the evidence to that target

00:37:35.380 --> 00:37:39.539
and then you can say right print off all the

00:37:39.539 --> 00:37:43.559
evidence linked to this plan yeah and it's going

00:37:43.559 --> 00:37:45.679
to give you just the evidence for that plan and

00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:50.190
we can track progress and also for your children

00:37:50.190 --> 00:37:51.570
it's not a case of when you pick an assessment

00:37:51.570 --> 00:37:54.949
point you want them to master it it might be

00:37:54.949 --> 00:37:56.349
you just want them to do it with less support

00:37:56.349 --> 00:37:58.530
maybe they're doing full -on physical hand -over

00:37:58.530 --> 00:38:00.130
-hand support and you maybe want to get to verbal

00:38:00.130 --> 00:38:03.050
prompting by the end of the year so it's actually

00:38:03.050 --> 00:38:04.730
it's not that they want it to be achieved actually

00:38:04.730 --> 00:38:06.469
we want them to get to gaining skills and understanding

00:38:06.469 --> 00:38:10.949
or um interaction yeah just exposure sometimes

00:38:10.949 --> 00:38:13.050
you know we just need to prove that we're exposing

00:38:13.050 --> 00:38:17.030
them to certain things and that can be that can

00:38:17.030 --> 00:38:19.599
be it you these are all predictions aren't they

00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:22.139
how you'll be next year sometimes they completely

00:38:22.139 --> 00:38:24.940
blow it out the water and I've had some children

00:38:24.940 --> 00:38:28.780
go up three levels in in a year and other children

00:38:28.780 --> 00:38:31.480
have very much stayed at the same level but you

00:38:31.480 --> 00:38:33.380
like you say we're broadening those skills we're

00:38:33.380 --> 00:38:36.699
broadening that exposure to those opportunities

00:38:36.699 --> 00:38:39.380
and adding scaffolding and all of those kind

00:38:39.380 --> 00:38:42.119
of things in order to achieve it yeah I mean

00:38:42.119 --> 00:38:44.820
that is it that is SEMD assessment isn't it ultimately

00:38:44.820 --> 00:38:48.309
yeah because I find that we do the academic stuff

00:38:48.309 --> 00:38:50.590
really well especially like main we do english

00:38:50.590 --> 00:38:52.349
and maths english and maths there's like there

00:38:52.349 --> 00:38:54.750
is lots of other stuff there's a whole ehcp four

00:38:54.750 --> 00:38:56.329
broad areas need are you even thinking about

00:38:56.329 --> 00:38:58.829
that no so it's taking us time to get there because

00:38:58.829 --> 00:39:00.110
we want to do it right and we're trying to get

00:39:00.110 --> 00:39:02.690
everything lined up ready for it so the provision

00:39:02.690 --> 00:39:04.510
mapping we do the crown they can bring that provision

00:39:04.510 --> 00:39:07.090
mapping and loads of stuff around that but then

00:39:07.090 --> 00:39:09.150
what we want to and i every time i talk to schools

00:39:09.150 --> 00:39:13.030
none of them really do it is for your children

00:39:13.030 --> 00:39:16.449
across All those EHCPs this year, how did they

00:39:16.449 --> 00:39:18.869
do across the four broad areas of need? Is there

00:39:18.869 --> 00:39:23.090
a pattern? And most people go, don't know, never

00:39:23.090 --> 00:39:25.909
thought about it. Is it you're always missing

00:39:25.909 --> 00:39:27.690
the communication interaction targets? Is it

00:39:27.690 --> 00:39:29.769
always missing this? Yeah, because then that's

00:39:29.769 --> 00:39:32.750
not a pupil thing, is it? That's a provision

00:39:32.750 --> 00:39:37.269
thing, setting thing. And one of the ones I've

00:39:37.269 --> 00:39:39.570
always said that maybe people have said the communication

00:39:39.570 --> 00:39:42.309
interaction fails is not because of what the

00:39:42.309 --> 00:39:44.699
professional is doing. but the communication

00:39:44.699 --> 00:39:46.159
around what the professional's doing so you might

00:39:46.159 --> 00:39:47.760
have a speech and language therapist come in

00:39:47.760 --> 00:39:49.780
child leaves your class goes and works with them

00:39:49.780 --> 00:39:51.340
then comes back an hour later and the speech

00:39:51.340 --> 00:39:53.000
and language person's gone you don't know what

00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:55.519
was worked on you've got no information a term

00:39:55.519 --> 00:39:57.199
or year later you find out what was worked and

00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:00.800
you're like ah but what happens yeah if that

00:40:00.800 --> 00:40:02.519
speech and language therapist just records a

00:40:02.519 --> 00:40:05.239
little selfie video and ever since today we worked

00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:06.860
on this please can you give opportunities to

00:40:06.860 --> 00:40:08.420
practice this because that would really help

00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:11.320
you watch that when it makes sense to you like

00:40:11.320 --> 00:40:13.019
you said you review at the end of the day the

00:40:13.019 --> 00:40:15.579
parents could watch it you can then spend the

00:40:15.579 --> 00:40:18.820
next week giving those opportunities and now

00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:21.500
that speech and language therapist impact is

00:40:21.500 --> 00:40:25.699
so much more they haven't changed anything they've

00:40:25.699 --> 00:40:27.440
just communicated what you're doing and you're

00:40:27.440 --> 00:40:29.800
given the opportunity to practice or it's embedding

00:40:29.800 --> 00:40:32.980
and that has a huge impact i think that's the

00:40:32.980 --> 00:40:35.469
ultimate thing isn't it is remembering that all

00:40:35.469 --> 00:40:37.889
of this stuff, yes, it gives you the data. Yes,

00:40:37.969 --> 00:40:40.369
it gives you the assessment. Yes, it makes your

00:40:40.369 --> 00:40:42.750
life easier. Yes, it saves you time. Ultimately,

00:40:42.969 --> 00:40:46.829
what is assessment for? It's to improve future

00:40:46.829 --> 00:40:49.269
learning. It's to improve, isn't it? It's to

00:40:49.269 --> 00:40:53.309
improve. So yes, it proves what you have done,

00:40:53.349 --> 00:40:56.929
but even more importantly, it improves what you're

00:40:56.929 --> 00:40:59.750
about to do. It informs what you're going to

00:40:59.750 --> 00:41:03.010
do. So if your assessment isn't doing that, if

00:41:03.010 --> 00:41:07.210
it is just meeting this, jumping through hoops

00:41:07.210 --> 00:41:10.610
quota it's just a waste of time isn't it it's

00:41:10.610 --> 00:41:12.550
just numbers on a spreadsheet if it doesn't actually

00:41:12.550 --> 00:41:14.809
change anything it doesn't actually inform you

00:41:14.809 --> 00:41:17.050
of anything so yeah that's where i would say

00:41:17.050 --> 00:41:20.429
look at this approach instead it's far more practical

00:41:20.429 --> 00:41:23.750
it it works for you it works around your children

00:41:23.750 --> 00:41:27.329
and it ultimately is useful if you are a mainstream

00:41:27.329 --> 00:41:29.550
school listening to this i always ask when someone

00:41:29.550 --> 00:41:31.389
comes to how do you know which children to use

00:41:31.389 --> 00:41:34.360
it with And the first one is children you cannot

00:41:34.360 --> 00:41:36.579
show progress for in your mainstream tracker.

00:41:37.280 --> 00:41:39.860
And that generally is a number of children. Then

00:41:39.860 --> 00:41:42.880
the next one is you might be able to show progress,

00:41:42.940 --> 00:41:45.239
but it's not helping identify where they're not

00:41:45.239 --> 00:41:48.460
making progress. And that's the bit that sometimes

00:41:48.460 --> 00:41:50.780
they can show progress or it looks like there's

00:41:50.780 --> 00:41:53.139
progress, but it's not helping the teacher plan

00:41:53.139 --> 00:41:55.619
those next steps. Because that whole point of

00:41:55.619 --> 00:41:58.960
assessment is to inform future learning. So if

00:41:58.960 --> 00:42:00.860
your assessment isn't informing anything for

00:42:00.860 --> 00:42:03.840
that child. you're just wasting everyone's time

00:42:03.840 --> 00:42:07.980
doing that assessment yeah yeah so SENCO's mainstream

00:42:07.980 --> 00:42:11.139
teachers and SEN teachers if you're feeling like

00:42:11.139 --> 00:42:14.320
that then um there'll be a link in the description

00:42:14.320 --> 00:42:18.719
below to have a meeting with Dale his team and

00:42:18.719 --> 00:42:21.690
just to get talking about what you're provision

00:42:21.690 --> 00:42:23.530
looks like what your setting look like what your

00:42:23.530 --> 00:42:26.269
needs are and then what part of what they can

00:42:26.269 --> 00:42:29.050
offer is best for you it's not a one -size -fits

00:42:29.050 --> 00:42:31.710
-all always sometimes it's a oh you need this

00:42:31.710 --> 00:42:35.010
part or this part or actually we're still developing

00:42:35.010 --> 00:42:37.489
that let's you know whatever but um just to have

00:42:37.489 --> 00:42:39.630
that call with them is is really helpful so that

00:42:39.630 --> 00:42:41.769
link is going to be in the description below

00:42:41.769 --> 00:42:44.730
dale if for everyone else listening where else

00:42:44.730 --> 00:42:46.210
can they find your amazing stuff because you've

00:42:46.210 --> 00:42:48.110
got your own podcast as well that i was on recently

00:42:48.110 --> 00:42:51.099
and which i love listening to yeah so Tell us

00:42:51.099 --> 00:42:53.880
everything. Where can people find you? So, easiest

00:42:53.880 --> 00:42:55.860
way is Spotify, probably next to your podcast,

00:42:56.219 --> 00:43:00.960
if you've got the same cast. We've now done 230

00:43:00.960 --> 00:43:03.380
-something episodes, and we've just gone over

00:43:03.380 --> 00:43:07.000
400 ,000 downloads, which is phenomenal. And

00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:08.940
by the time this episode comes out, it will be

00:43:08.940 --> 00:43:13.230
five years old. But that again... came from going

00:43:13.230 --> 00:43:15.590
into schools hearing that feedback and going

00:43:15.590 --> 00:43:17.389
you're helping us the assessment but kind of

00:43:17.389 --> 00:43:19.090
not everyone gets SEM we're really struggling

00:43:19.090 --> 00:43:21.110
to get people to understand and think about it

00:43:21.110 --> 00:43:24.369
and there's no time or training it's always a

00:43:24.369 --> 00:43:26.829
SENCO who goes to a conference it's always miles

00:43:26.829 --> 00:43:28.550
away so the rest of the school aren't getting

00:43:28.550 --> 00:43:32.050
that training so we created that SENCAST as we

00:43:32.050 --> 00:43:35.619
need to upskill the whole Every single teacher

00:43:35.619 --> 00:43:37.420
in every single school needs upskilling. And

00:43:37.420 --> 00:43:40.179
you get such great interviewees on there and

00:43:40.179 --> 00:43:42.159
really, really crucial, important conversations.

00:43:42.440 --> 00:43:44.559
And yeah, like you say, it's access to these,

00:43:44.699 --> 00:43:48.099
you know, ultimate people in the SEND world.

00:43:48.420 --> 00:43:50.840
And you're hearing them. You're hearing you asking

00:43:50.840 --> 00:43:53.019
the questions that we want to ask them. And it's

00:43:53.019 --> 00:43:54.860
in your pocket. It's in your ears when you're

00:43:54.860 --> 00:43:57.559
on your run, when you're commuting to school.

00:43:58.280 --> 00:44:00.199
Yeah, it's really important. And you're giving

00:44:00.199 --> 00:44:03.489
us access to those people ultimately. And it's

00:44:03.489 --> 00:44:05.170
the same people, if you go to the TS show in

00:44:05.170 --> 00:44:07.289
London or the autism shows and neurodiversity

00:44:07.289 --> 00:44:10.309
shows or even BET, some of the same speakers

00:44:10.309 --> 00:44:13.090
you could go see there are having that conversation.

00:44:13.170 --> 00:44:16.429
So I infer it's not a formal lecture. No. It's

00:44:16.429 --> 00:44:18.769
much more friendlier. We bounce around like we

00:44:18.769 --> 00:44:21.610
have on this conversation. We bounce around all

00:44:21.610 --> 00:44:23.190
over the place and everyone says, I'm really

00:44:23.190 --> 00:44:24.809
great. They have a question on their brain and

00:44:24.809 --> 00:44:28.460
I seem to ask it. And it's free also, so it's

00:44:28.460 --> 00:44:31.300
so accessible. It can't be any more accessible.

00:44:31.579 --> 00:44:33.659
So, yeah, definitely check out the Sendcast and

00:44:33.659 --> 00:44:35.400
check out the Sendcast on social media as well

00:44:35.400 --> 00:44:37.679
for their updates on what's coming up. And then,

00:44:37.699 --> 00:44:40.019
yeah, reach out to Dale if you're interested

00:44:40.019 --> 00:44:43.320
in the B Squared assessment staff in the description

00:44:43.320 --> 00:44:45.539
below. And what I will also say is we're not

00:44:45.539 --> 00:44:46.960
going to sell it to you. We're not going to pressure

00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:49.280
you. We don't need to. We will show you what

00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:52.300
it does. If it's not right, and we know it's

00:44:52.300 --> 00:44:55.090
not right, we will tell you. Yeah. and if it's

00:44:55.090 --> 00:44:57.550
not there yet we'll tell you we try to be really

00:44:57.550 --> 00:44:59.730
honest we try to run the company and treat our

00:44:59.730 --> 00:45:01.289
customers that we want to be treated so we're

00:45:01.289 --> 00:45:02.170
not going to sell you something that doesn't

00:45:02.170 --> 00:45:05.230
work if it's not right for you i will say it's

00:45:05.230 --> 00:45:06.989
not right for you and especially if you're a

00:45:06.989 --> 00:45:09.369
secondary i'll highlight all the challenges you're

00:45:09.369 --> 00:45:12.409
up against yeah yeah i think my customers know

00:45:12.409 --> 00:45:15.230
that i very very rarely do ads on my account

00:45:15.230 --> 00:45:17.570
but i have worked with you guys because it's

00:45:17.570 --> 00:45:19.309
something i'm using already it's something i

00:45:19.309 --> 00:45:22.530
love already so you know it seems effortless

00:45:22.530 --> 00:45:25.150
to me to do that and they're the only ads that

00:45:25.150 --> 00:45:27.769
I run so they know that they know that I wouldn't

00:45:27.769 --> 00:45:29.989
be having you on here if I didn't truly believe

00:45:29.989 --> 00:45:33.050
it and I do I think that every SEN school and

00:45:33.050 --> 00:45:35.730
mainstream school should be using b squared I

00:45:35.730 --> 00:45:37.650
believe that whole heartedly which is why I'm

00:45:37.650 --> 00:45:39.250
so pleased that you're on here so thank you so

00:45:39.250 --> 00:45:41.730
much for chatting to me uh day on I hope you

00:45:41.730 --> 00:45:45.210
have a wonderful rest of your day you too thank

00:45:45.210 --> 00:45:47.610
you for having me on here thanks bye everyone

00:45:51.420 --> 00:45:51.920
Thank you.