The Schools dashboard allows you to seamlessly navigate schools, streamline operations, and enhance decision-making processes. Within this dynamic dashboard, you can conduct targeted searches for schools, assign Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to facilitate categorisation and analysis, add essential Notes for enhanced collaboration and documentation, access a repository of contacts associated with each school, and glean invaluable Ofsted information to inform strategic initiatives.
To access the Schools dashboard, click Schools in your main toolbar.
KPIs
When selecting a particular school, you are presented with the KPIs tab.
Here, you can see and set the relevant school's KPIs. To change a grade for a KPI, select it, and a pop-up will appear, allowing you to edit the currently assigned KPIs. Hovering over a grade displays the descriptor.
For more information about a KPI, click the Show Descriptions option at the top of the tab, and any additional KPI context will be displayed. Or, select the KPI and click More Info. This allows you to make additional changes and unlocks the ability to add a Note alongside the KPI if you have additional contextual information to accompany it.
The KPIs displayed on this tab are configured by your Observatory administrators. If you have the relevant permissions, you can make changes by clicking Configure under any set of KPIs to edit that particular KPI template. For more information on configuring KPIs, please see the KPI Admin guide.
Visits & Actions
If your MAT subscribes to our Premium Observatory package, the visits and actions functionality is unlocked, and as a result, you will have two additional tabs within a school dashboard.
We have a dedicated help guide that contains more information on visits inside Observatory. For more information on that, click here.
For more information on our Actions module, click here.
Notes
Whether jotting down key takeaways from school meetings or flagging important updates. The Notes feature lets you quickly add, edit or delete notes for a particular school.
Click New Note to create a new Note against a school.
To edit or delete an existing note, click the corresponding option alongside it.
You can export all notes for a school in your preferred format via the Export All Notes option.
Groups
The Groups tab shows any groups to which the school has been assigned. There are two group categories:
Static Groups - These are groups set up by Observatory admins that you manually add particular schools to. Admins can amend these groups within the settings menu or by clicking the Configure link under the static groups list.
Dynamic Groups - These differ from static groups in that they are updated automatically based on criteria set by Observatory admin users, using specific values set in categories or grades. Admins can amend these groups from within the settings menu or by clicking the Configure link under the dynamic groups list. Click Define New Group here to set up a new Dynamic School Group quickly.
For example, you could set up a dynamic group called 'Monitor' and specify that it is based around schools with a RAG rating of red. In the future, any school assigned a red RAG will automatically be added to your group. Any school that moved away from the red RAG would automatically be removed from the group. This saves you from having to update this group each time manually!
Ofsted
This tab shows the main findings and recommendations from the school's last Ofsted inspection and, depending on Perspective Premium use, shows a side-by-side comparison of the school's SEF grades so you can instantly spot alignment or gaps and prioritise the right support.
We have also included your own organisational and target grades here.
To see the school's SEF history, click See Ofsted SEF History underneath the School SEF table.
This function is only available provided the SEF module is switched on, the relevant school uses Perspective Premium, and data-sharing is enabled.
For more information on data sharing in Observatory, please see the School Data Sharing in Observatory guide.
Perspective
This tab lets you download the school's latest SEF, SDP and team reviews and plans. Simply click the relevant button to download the respective reports.
Please note that to download any of these reports, the relevant modules have to be switched on, with the school using Perspective Premium and they must have data sharing enabled. For more information on data sharing in Observatory, please see the School Data Sharing in Observatory guide.
News
In this tab, you can see a list of News items sent to the relevant school. If the school has read a news item, this will be indicated by a tick in the Read column.
To see a news item's details, simply click on the relevant news item title - you can also recall news items from there. For more information on sending news items to all your schools, please see the News help guide.
Websites
This tab contains a collection of helpful web links. Each link is specific to that school and will pass in the school's URN or DfE number where appropriate, taking you to the relevant webpage for that specific school.