Bev Posted October 22, 2014 Posted October 22, 2014 I thought FFT normally updated for the new census in mid october, but it's nearly the end of October and I still can't see our new starters (Year 5), does anyone know when the update is due out. I can't see a date on FFTLive. I also have access to FFT Aspire but that doesn't appear to contain them either. thanks Bev
LosOjos Posted October 22, 2014 Posted October 22, 2014 You're correct in thinking it's usually around now, however I suspect they're going to bypass FFT Live in favour of Aspire this year. A document doing the rounds from our LA portal says that Aspire data will be available from w/c 20th October for Primaries, w/c 3rd November for Secondaries and December (no date mentioned) for KS5
Bev Posted October 22, 2014 Posted October 22, 2014 I'm a Middle School, but looking for KS2 data. Nothing there yet and it is w/c 20th October this week.
jonrose Posted October 23, 2014 Posted October 23, 2014 I attended a meeting 2 weeks ago at our LA where a rep from FFT was presenting the new FFT Aspire. During the meeting he told us that they won't be updating FFT Live this year, instead everything will be going live on the new Aspire system. One new feature which I really like is that instead of waiting for the census data to be uploaded to access the new intake data, a tool will be available for schools to upload new students' UPNs as soon as they are known to populate the new year groups. I suspect this means they won't be creating the new year groups themselves, rather that the emphasis is on us to set them up. I would prefer this though as we can set up the new year groups in July/August when the new intake is known which will help with advanced target setting etc. He also told us that FFT Live will be "locked" but accessible until around Christmas when it may be taken offline. In the meantime the new Aspire system will be having a phased launch with new features being made available with every update. I can't remember the time frame exactly, but I think by mid November-December everything may be online. Here's a link to the leaflet we were given in case there are people who aren't aware of the new system. http://www.fft.org.uk/FFT/media/fft/Downloads/fft-Aspire-A4_LA.pdf
Bev Posted October 23, 2014 Posted October 23, 2014 Interestingly, I've been to a very similiar meeting this morning. I also like the UPN feature a lot, but am a bit concerned that they will no longer be providing KS3 targets, and are going from KS2 directly to KS4. I'm not sure how we will manage this, but it's a big change for us.
LosOjos Posted October 23, 2014 Posted October 23, 2014 Bev - it's all to do with the 'flight path' now and 'assessment without levels'. Rather than looking at what level a student is currently at, we're now supposed to simply say whether they're making sufficient progress to meet their KS4 target. What worries me about that is a child targeted a B might be working towards a C, D, E, F, G or fail, and we're only supposed to say "no, not on target". Of course, we won't do this, we'll come up with a way of monitoring how far off target they are using some kind of granular system with varying levels of measured performance... hang on, isn't that what levels were? I've been working on our new monitoring systems this week using AWL and P8 so maybe I'm just feeling bitter, but I'm really struggling to see the benefit, to anyone, from these changes. Change for the sake of change, or so it appears to me right now...
CarpeDiem Posted October 23, 2014 Posted October 23, 2014 If I get one more phone call asking me why I haven't bothered to put the FFTs on marksheets yet....! Anyone know please if the above applies to Wales? We haven't heard anything about this but did purchase FFT Estimates this year and am keen to use it. Thanks for link @jonrose
Seb1780 Posted October 30, 2014 Posted October 30, 2014 We've just been notified by our LA that the KS4 release of Aspire has been delayed until w/c 10th November - will I get a holiday this year?
CAM Posted October 30, 2014 Posted October 30, 2014 How do we access Aspire if FFT Live isn't being updated?
Seb1780 Posted October 31, 2014 Posted October 31, 2014 @CAM - our subscription to FFT is handled by the LA so everything is being done through them. So far they seem to be handling it well!
tombry Posted November 10, 2014 Posted November 10, 2014 I got our logins for it last week, and it doesn't seem as easy to use as FFTLive. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it does confuse me - why when you change the FFT model (say from the default 50, to the much higher 5) does it give the student a better percentage chance of meeting their target? None of the stuff I actually need at the minute is up either - still can't get my new Y9s targets, and everything is still set to last year essentially.
LosOjos Posted November 14, 2014 Posted November 14, 2014 Went to a mini-conference yesterday about FFT Aspire - the speaker reckoned we'd be waiting until Christmas for it! @tombry - the slider lets you set the FFT benchmark, where 50 is top 50th percentile (i.e. national average), so 5 would be top 5th percentile. So the grades you see as suggested targets are what students with similar PA, same gender and month of birth achieved if they performed within that percentile nationally. There's also a toggle switch near the top to enable CVA, but the general advice is to use this FYI only as OFSTED will likely think you're trying to make excuses if you use CVA based figures (unless you're from an affluent area, where of course CVA will actually raise expected attainment rather than lower it)
Bev Posted November 17, 2014 Posted November 17, 2014 It now says 25th November on their website, but the date has changed 3 or 4 times already.
Bev Posted November 24, 2014 Posted November 24, 2014 I see they have added KS4 data today, but I can't access it for my year 7s. They are still showing as in Year 6. Is this the same for everyone?
studio Posted November 24, 2014 Author Posted November 24, 2014 A roadmap has been put up here. Interesting to see that we've all bought into software that is nowhere near ready!!
Bev Posted November 24, 2014 Posted November 24, 2014 It is interesting. I'm not sure what we pay, but certainly for this year we aren't getting anything for our money. According to that, new Y7 won't be included until February.
NormalDistribution Posted November 25, 2014 Posted November 25, 2014 4th of December now. A monumental cock-up.
david_craggs Posted November 26, 2014 Posted November 26, 2014 Just a thought - if your really desperate for the DATA your Local Authority should be able to help now that the Autumn Census is complete.
Banjo Posted November 26, 2014 Posted November 26, 2014 School will need to upload their own data to populate Y3, Y7 and post 16 as there is and wont be an Autumn update service. The DfE hasn't validated the academy schools data yet, so LA Admins can't download the pupil database as yet. 21/11/14 "We always knew that building Aspire was a massive project but clearly we have underestimated just how long it would take to complete. We are now about a third of the way through developing Aspire" Many thanks, Paul Paul Charman Managing Director, FFT e: [email protected]
Seb1780 Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Well, it's now close to home time on 4/12/14 and still no sign of an FFT update; it's so late now even some teachers are beginning to notice!
LosOjos Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 I think it was a major mistake on FFT's part not to update FFT Live this year. I don't think I've ever seen a large system go through such a massive change smoothly; surely they could have seen this coming? I know it's not all FFT's fault (the government were delayed releasing data they could use), but I can't help but feel that if they'd run the two systems alongside each other, at least just for this, FFT Aspire's first year, we'd have something to work with by now. I wonder if anyone has kicked up a fuss about possibly getting a refund/partial refund? Most schools I've spoken to have had to go away and think up new target setting strategies for their Y7s this year due to the lack of FFT data we've come to rely on as benchmarks - I wonder how many will adjust those targets when we do eventually get FFT data?
LosOjos Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 @MattMitchell - are you sure? I know we can access the site and see Y8+ data, but still no way of getting that crucial Y7 data as far as I can tell
QWERTY72 Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 When I check on FFT Aspire and FFT Live it seems to be lagging behind by a year! It gives me names of year 7 pupils who are now already in year 8, and obviously no data for current year 7 students. Anybody having the same issue?
LosOjos Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 @QWERY72 - yeah, everybody, that's what this thread is about TL;DR - FFT Aspire is running way behind schedule and FFT Live will not be updated.
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