Background - Gorey Community School, Wexford
Gorey Community School is a co-educational, multi-denominational school under the joint patronage of the Loreto Sisters and, Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board. It is the largest secondary school in Ireland, with over 1,600 students. The school was established in 1993 with the amalgamation of Loreto Abbey, the Christian Brothers and the Vocational College.
Davnet Neary has been working with Gorey Community School since the very beginning and recently celebrated her 30th year at the school. Davnet is one of four guidance counsellors and plays an active role in the school’s academic monitoring programme.
Challenge - Seeking a More Uniform Approach to Academic Tracking
Prior to reaching out to Athena Analytics, Gorey Community School had an academic tracking system but there was a slight disconnect between how students were monitored.
“Due to the large size of the school, the year head teams play a crucial role. Each year group can include up to 275 students, and every team is made up of a year head supported by two or three assistant year heads. These teams operate almost like small schools within the larger one, taking responsibility for discipline and the overall welfare of their students. They are dedicated, hardworking, and consistently do an excellent job.
That said, the way each team operated could vary significantly. Some year heads focused heavily on monitoring the top 30 highest-performing students in their group, while others prioritised completely different areas. As a result, the approach tended to be somewhat ad-hoc, with each year group managed according to the preferences of its team.”
Because of this discrepancy, Davnet and the senior staff team wanted to bring in a system that was more uniform and user-friendly. This eventually led them to the Athena Tracker.
Solution - Shining a Light on The Forgotten Middle
The Athena Tracker is an academic tracking software system that uses machine learning to identify a student’s baseline potential for each subject. The software alerts teachers if a student falls below their baseline score and may require additional support.
For Davnet, the Athena Tracker provided Gorey Community School with a way of getting an overall picture of the student body. As is often the case, Gorey Community School had a system which tracked students at the extreme ends of the spectrum but often struggled with students in the ‘forgotten middle’. The Athena Tracker has provided the perfect solution.
“Our school’s SEN department does an outstanding job of supporting students with learning difficulties and special needs. At the other end of the spectrum, the high-achieving students are placed in honours classes and often receive recognition at various award ceremonies. However, it has been challenging to identify those students who fall in between—students who mightn’t be excelling but aren’t visibly struggling either.
Given the size of the school and year groups, students who don’t draw attention can easily slip under the radar. The introduction of the Athena Tracker has made it significantly easier to monitor and support these students, ensuring they no longer go unnoticed.”
Result & Impact
Since the very start, Davnet and Gorey Community School have been exemplary in how they have rolled out the Athena Tracker, allowing it to seep into all facets of the school’s education programme.
Dedicated Academic Tracking Role: Each year group has a designated ‘academic monitor’ who monitors and trackers each student’s academic progress.
Academic Tracking Committee: Not long after integrating with the Athena Tracker, Gorey Community School set up the Academic Tracking Committee. The academic Tracking Committee includes the academic monitor along with the school’s guidance counsellors, tutors and members of the care team. The committee meets up regularly to discuss all aspects of student performance and academic monitoring.
Spotting Students That Are Falling Behind: During meetings with the Academic Tracking Committee, Davnet shares a list of students who are falling below their potential in the greatest number of subjects. The onus is then on the academic monitor to meet with these students to tease out the reasons why they’ve been struggling. If the reason for their recent decline is something personal, the issue is escalated to the guidance counsellors.
Academic Strategy Success Sheet: Many of the assistant year heads didn’t have much experience in conducting individual student performance meetings. For this, Davnet set up a ‘Academic Strategy Success Sheet’. This sheet runs through ten key points, covering the basics of student achievements and identifying where a student is falling down. At the end of the meeting, each student is given 3 key areas to focus on over the coming weeks and months.
Setting Goals and Career Meetings: Outside of the Academic Tracking Committee, the Athena Tracker has become an integral part of career meetings, particularly with sixth year students. At these meetings, Davnet is able to discuss past results, required Leaving Cert points and set targets collaboratively with students.
A New Way of Acknowledging Student Potential
The Athena Tracker has changed the way that Gorey Community School views the achievements of its students. This is reflected in the annual awards ceremony where the school honours its top performers, with academic awards handed out to the top 30 students in the school.
However, not long after introducing the Athena Tracker, the school introduced a number of ‘Achievements Awards’. These awards, which are based primarily on Athena Tracker data, are given to 10 students who have exceeded their own unique potential and demonstrated the greatest improvement throughout the year. This outstanding initiative has allowed Gorey Community School to acknowledge and applaud the efforts of a number of students who may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
At Athena Analytics, we are delighted to have played a small part in making this award possible.
