Newsletter Autumn and Spring 2020/2021

Welcome

Firstly, may we wish a warm welcome to the many new schools that have joined us over the past few months. Our Newsletters are usually sent out each term and contain many useful reminders as well as details of the new features we have added to SOLAR and some additional information that you may find useful.

We at SOLAR understand that these are unprecedented times and all of our schools are under increased pressure due to Covid-19 so we have created new curriculum and new time saving features to save your valuable time.

Webinars

A series of new webinars are available now.

Throughout this month we ran a series of webinars with hints and tips as well as a look at all the new features available on SOLAR. These webinar recordings are available to everyone and can be accessed by clicking the 'Help' button on SOLAR and clicking on Webinars.

SOLAR Catch Up Curriculum

We have created a Literacy and Numeracy catch up curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2 to help you support your pupils catching up after missing so much school the last academic year due to lockdown. These are available free of charge for you to add to your SOLAR in Admin>Choose Assessment Framework then in the search box type ‘Catch Up’

New Function – Coloured Stars

We have added the ability for our schools to choose what colours they would like the stars to be on the assessment screen. There is a choice of 10 colours and each star in an assessment framework can be a different colour. This is on a per framework basis so you could have 1 framework with Red. Amber and Green stars and another with all blue stars.

To change the colour of the stars on your SOLAR go to Admin>Select the assessment Framework then by each star name select the colour you would like.

Engagement Model

In line with the Department for Education reducing the levels of engagement from 7 to 5 we have created an enhancement to SOLAR’s engagement levels form to allow you to reduce the areas if you wish and also rename the areas to align with the 2020 update. This means that our schools have the ability to choose if they wish to reduce the areas and can now customise the form to suit their needs.

To reduce the area from 7 to 5 go to Admin>Settings>Engagements and switch off the following fields:

Next go to Admin>Terminology and rename the fields to match the new areas

Assessment Framework Search Function.

Since the 1^st September 2020 we have loaded an INCREDIBLE 150 new assessment frameworks onto SOLAR for our schools. We have assessment frameworks raging from Early Years up to A-level and have subjects ranging from braille, construction, animal care and even DJ Skills! We wanted to save you the time taken scrolling through our ever-increasing list so you can now search our frameworks in an instant.

IEP Enhancement

We know that teachers time is precious and it’s very common for them to get called away from their desk on multiple occasions while writing IEPs for their pupils. Due to safe guarding and GDPR we must abide by strict guidelines meaning that SOLAR will auto log you out after 20 minutes of inactivity. To prevent our teachers losing their work we have enhance the IEP form so that you can now save a partially created IEP and come back to finish it later. We have also added additional save buttons throughout the form to save time of scrolling to the bottom of the page to save the IEP.

New Feature - Adding evidence to multiple stars

We have now added the highly requested ability to instantly add a piece of evidence against multiple stars in 1 click.

Once this feature has been turned on in Admin>Settings>Assessment>Allow selection of multiple stars you can then use the right button on your mouse to click and select the stars. A button will then appear that says 'add evidence', when clicked this will then open a star card for you to add the evidence. This evidence will then be added to every star within your selection.

Enhancement - Clearing part level or individual stars

We know that there are times that mistakes are made as well as pupils occasionally regressing and stars that have previously been marked as completed may need to be changed to back to uncompleted. Where previously you would have to click to open up a star card before you could throw the switch back to uncomplete you can now use the right mouse button on stars that are complete to switch these to uncompleted.

***Please note this feature must firstly be turned on in Admin>Permissions.***

Knowledge Base

We have an extensive help library that contains full instructions and tips for every part of SOLAR. To access the knowledge base press the Help button. This is available to every SOLAR user. The knowledge base works just like a google search so just type what you would like to do and it will point you the relevant articles

Testimonials

Here are some testimonials that we have received that we are proud of.

"My school decided to start using SOLAR after exploring several different assessment platforms. SOLAR stood out because of the ability to upload bespoke assessment frameworks and because of the flexibility it can give the user in terms of making the system unique to the school. This has enabled us to upload our own assessment frameworks and ensure that we can track pupils progress in a way that best suits both teacher and learner. SOLAR is able to produce a variety of reports that can be used for a host of different audiences. These reports are simple in their appearance yet enable the user to dig deep into a pupils progress should they wish to do so. Finally, and possibly most importantly, we have been delighted with the support we receive from SOLAR should we need any assistance. They respond promptly and go above and beyond to work with settings to adapt their platform so that it is as useful as possible. We are delighted with our SOLAR system and I look forward to working with them as we begin to transform our curriculum and associated assessment."

"Our school needed to develop a coherent and transformative means of assessing our students' progress in the post-Rochford Report environment. Our most recent Ofsted Report recognized that our assessment needs were now being fully met through the integration of our use of SOLAR assessment with the strategic direction of the school. The following text is a direct quote from our most recent Ofsted Report:"

Since the previous inspection, systems for assessing pupils’ progress have been significantly extended and revised. Led by one of your deputy headteachers, this work has transformed the way in which teachers use assessment. Teachers now plan sharply focused activities which enable pupils to make sound progress. As a result, the recommendation from the previous inspection that assessment information is shared better with teachers has been fully addressed.

Help Desk

Our Help Desk is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 16:30 pm.

You can contact the Help Desk by email or phone. We prefer email, as this creates a written record of your request and ensures that information can be passed efficiently between team members. It also helps us manage our work flow and prioritise our response more effectively.

support@solarforschools.org.uk

Sometimes we need specific information to diagnose a problem. If you see an error message, please tell us what it says. If it’s relevant, we may also need to know the assessment framework, subject, pupil, level and even the statement and star.

You can take a snapshot of your screen by using the Windows snipping tool or Apple’s screenshot facility and attach the image to your email. You can also show us a SOLAR screen by copying and pasting the URL into your email.

It would also be helpful for you to include your school name in the request as some e-mail addresses do not indicate which school you are in 😊

Recent Help Desk feedback

Many thanks for doing this so promptly - it is much appreciated. August 2020

Wow, you are so quick. Our communication and reading lead is mega impressed, so thank you. September 2020

Thank you Help desk - you're very efficient September 2020

This is fantastic! Thank you so much for uploading the framework. October 2020

Amazing - thanks so much! October 2020

Thank you so much my life is so much easier!!! November 2020