Andy Milne/Bill Oates Department for Education and Knowledge and Analytical Services, Welsh Government

Andy Milne/Bill Oates

Department for Education and Knowledge and Analytical Services, Welsh Government

What is My Local School?

• Fully bilingual data portal containing information on all maintained schools in Wales

• Designed to open up access to schools data for parents and others with an interest in their local school

• Contains performance data plus a wealth of supporting contextual information

• Launched February 2013

• Updated at various points throughout the year as data becomes available.

Welsh GovernmentMy Local School

Background

• Thomas Review (March 2011) – The Structure of Education Services in Wales

Recommendation 5: “Recommend a single national IT data platform…available to all with an interest, including parents”

• Push from Minister for Education and Skills to make this a priority in March 2012

• Cabinet Office data transparency agenda

• Criticism for lack of access to data… Governors, press etc.

• All Wales Core Data Sets – data packs updated at various points throughout an annual cycle for schools and local authorities but not publically available.


Background

Mar 12 – first

prototype developed

Feb 13 – MLS full launch

Oct 12 – Beta 1

Internal version available

Jan 13 – Beta 3

Nov 12 – Beta 2

• Initial scoping exercise• Brainstorming sessions – statistical staff + policy colleagues

• Investigation of existing sites

• Focus mainly on performance data – available from existing sources (AWCDS)

• Difficulties with presentation and format• League tables scrapped in Wales, however, providing comparisons still

important

• Policy driver was to enable parents to engage with and challenge schools

My Local School

Background

Mar 12 – first

prototype developed


Oct 12 – Beta 1 Jan 13 –

Beta 3

Nov 12 – Beta 2

• Initial version of the site developed and shared with key stakeholders:

• Minister for Education and Skills

• Directors of Education

• Estyn

• Governors Wales

• Unions

• Parental focus groups• Visual appeal / colour schemes

• Format / functionality

• Supporting information



Background

Mar 12 – first

prototype developed



Beta 3

Nov 12 – Beta 2

• Restricted version of site made available to schools and other key stakeholders

• Facilitated feedback and testing on a much larger scale

• Major issues identified and resolved:• Browser compatibility

• Chart load issues

• Suggestions / feedback on data items included / excluded



Background

Mar 12 – first

prototype developed



Beta 3

Nov 12 – Beta 2

• Further restricted Beta launches as new data became available

• Fixed bugs identified in previous iterations

• Allowed schools and other stakeholders to familiarise themselves with the site prior to full launch



Background

Mar 12 – first

prototype developed



Beta 3

Nov 12 – Beta 2

• Launch promoted through school newsletters, WG website, Twitter

• Positive feedback at launch – TES Cymru, head teachers, local authority data contacts

• Site developed in-house with existing resources alongside current workloads. External project manager brought in for approx. 6 months


My Local School

Data

• Important that site was launched without errors in data in order to establish credibility

• Much of the data drawn from existing sources – minimised the risk of errors

• Disclosure risk assessment undertaken

• Increased level of intelligent data use in the education sector

• Runner-up prize in RSS Excellence in Official Statistics awards.


Site Demo

http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk


http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk/

Facts and Figures

• Millions of data items covering all maintained schools in Wales

• Approximately 100,000 site hits

• Average of 5 pages viewed per visit

• Launch day – over 6,000 hits, average visit length around 5 minutes

• First annual cycle of updates under business as usual just completed

• My Local Health Service launched – http://mylocalhealthservice.wales.gov.uk


http://mylocalhealthservice.wales.gov.uk/

Future Developments

• Comparison tool for a selected group of schools

• Data exportable into Excel format

• New data items – Sport Survey

• Data items re-used by other sites – My Local Council


Any Questions?


Documents

Andy Milne/Bill Oates Department for Education and Knowledge and Analytical Services, Welsh Government