Background - St. Farnan's Post Primary School
St. Farnan’s is a co-educational post primary second level school in Prosperous, Co. Kildare under the patronage of Kildare and Wicklow ETB. The school opened in 1941 with three classrooms. Over the years, student numbers have grown significantly and the school now has over 640 students. The catchment area for our school is Prosperous, Timahoe, Donadea, Allen, Allenwood, Coill Dubh, Robertstown & Staplestown.
St. Farnan’s Post Primary School has been using the Athena Tracker since 2022.
Sinéad Noonan is an AP1 Holder, Irish teacher and Athena Tracker SuperUser, who has been the driving force behind successfully rolling out the Athena Tracker in St. Farnan’s Post Primary School. She is also the year head for the sixth year year group.
We recently had the opportunity to speak to Sinéad about the Athena Tracker and how the school has changed since it integrated with the software.
Challenge - Prioritising Academic Monitoring
Sinéad Noonan was relatively new to the school when she noticed a gap in the school’s academic monitoring processes. At the time, St. Farnan’s PPS was receiving annual reports on its state exam results via Athena Reports. However, having spoken to other schools, Sinéad noted a way in which the school could build on that.
“Our school has an excellent reputation for AEN support (Additional Education Needs). And when I was appointed to an AP2 post, I had a conversation with the principal about what duties I’d like to have. Having spoken to other schools, I became aware of the Athena Tracker as a way of bringing academic monitoring more to the fore.
We also have DEIS status at the school, and attainment is a very important strand within that framework. Athena Tracker ticked that box as well, making it much easier to track targets and the work we are doing within that area.”
St. Farnan’s PPS decided to integrate the Athena Tracker in 2022 and, as Sinéad explained, the school embraced the software with a very clear objective in mind.
“Because we are so good at AEN and supporting our AEN students, we found that there might be something missing for students that didn’t fall under the AEN register. For all students, no matter their ability, we wanted a means of showing them how much potential they have and what they need to do to reach it.
Whereas in the past, a teacher might have said “Mary, you have loads of potential,” we could actually show them real data that shows where their potential lies and backs up what the teachers are saying. Having this data allows us to show students what we could already see in them.”
Solution - Rolling out the Athena Tracker and Going Slow
With the help of their account manager, St. Farnan’s Post Primary School integrated with the Athena Tracker in May 2022, prior to the summer holidays. But only after the resumption of the academic year in September did Sinéad and her team start a formal rollout.
When embarking on this rollout, Sinéad kept in mind some important advice.
“When it came to rolling out the software, the best advice we received was to start slow and take your time. And that first year was very slow, where we drip-fed the software little by little. We first rolled out the software to the year heads and showed them how they can start using the software right away. All the teachers were set up with their own log-in details and, when it came to parent-teacher meetings, I created a video that showed how teachers could use the software during them.
With everything, we were very careful not to be obnoxious about it or shove the software into the teachers’ faces. However, without putting the Athena Tracker front and centre, it was always mentioned in the background so that it stayed in the teachers’ consciousness.
I mentioned the software at teacher meetings and teachmeets. If a new teacher came to the school, I’d talk to them about the tracker. After a while, we added Athena Tracker comments to Christmas and summer exam results. If I found out something new about the software, I’d email staff about it. We had a page in the student and teacher’s diaries. It was always there.”
When it came to getting buy-in from staff, Sinéad took a similarly gentle approach.
“The most important thing with getting staff buy-in was assuring them that using the Athena Tracker was going to help them with their workload, rather than add to it. And once they could see the benefits from using the Athena Tracker during parent-teacher meetings, that was a massive plus.”
Results - How the School Has Changed Since Rolling Out the Tracker
St. Farnan’s Post Primary School has changed a huge amount in recent years. Student numbers have increased and the school’s entire philosophy has changed.
“The tradition in the school has changed. Students are seeing that they have potential and our entire attitude to academic achievement has shifted as we compare students to their own individual potential. And it’s changing how students see themselves.
I recently had a conversation with a student who had what I can only describe as having Imposter Syndrome. He was in a top honours Irish class and felt like he shouldn’t be there. I showed him his data on the Athena Tracker and he could see that he was exceeding his own potential and doing really well. He walked out of that meeting on cloud nine. He could see that he was there on merit and that he should be there, and immediately noticed a change within him and how he saw himself.”
Sinéad has been a brilliant advocate for Athena Tracker and has done an incredible job of rolling out the Athena Tracker in her school. When it came to passing on advice to other schools, she had the following to say:
“Go slow. Keep niggling away and reminding staff about the software and its benefits.
Get year heads on board first. We have an API meeting with the year heads every week and we take the opportunity to mention the Athena Tracker and make sure they are fully aware of the software. Once you’ve received buy-in from them, it’s easier to roll out to tutors and other teachers. Email has been really valuable as it allows us to share insights to staff about the tracker.
But more than anything, go slow, be patient, be positive and be approachable to staff who have questions or concerns. It’s the best advice we ever received.”
Want to learn more about the Athena Tracker?
We would like to thank Sinéad Noonan for her insight.
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