Development of P7 Profile : Case Study
Carstairs Primary School / South Lanarkshire Council
Introduction
Carstairs Primary School is a village school of just over 100 pupils. Children come from Carstairs and
the surrounding rural area. We are situated about 4 miles from Lanark. We have 11 P7 pupils this
session. The majority of the children are ICT adept and are happy and confident in talking about their
progress in learning and achievements.
Our school has a lot of reflective practice and pupils are encouraged to self and peer assess and
evaluate to help improve their learning outcomes and direct future targets setting.
Currently pupils set regular targets related to Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing and time
for reviewing these targets is built into weekly timetables. Evidence of progress includes written
work in folders and jotters, summative and AifL strategies, observation of practical and oral tasks,
photographs and video footage.
Planning
When developing these profiles we considered the information and principles of profiling detailed in
BTC 5 and the implications for creating a successful profile for P7. In class we then talked to the
children about the necessary contents and the format. We wanted the profiles to be user friendly
and gave enough information without being ‘over – loaded’ or repetitive. We didn’t want it to be an
identical re-run of their reports. We very much wanted the children to feel involved in and proud of
their profile and not regard it as a chore to complete. Together we came up with various ideas and
formats – Pupils liked colourful versions! Ultimately we opted into 2 versions. We felt they fulfilled
the success criteria and ultimately personalisation and choice dictated the version which individuals
completed.
Implementation
Following our discussion we thought of all the ‘profiling ‘evidence which we already had…
information which had been collected over the year, or longer in some cases. Pupils recalled their
own target setting in Literacy, Numeracy and Health and wellbeing and their progress in these key
areas and across the curriculum. We considered the self and peer assessments which they had
undertaken and the work they had done in preparation for transition to Lanark Grammar School. We
thought about pupils’ learning and achievements through the year and considered how to make
their judgements robust. How do they know where they are in their learning? Moderation work has
been undertaken across the school so the discussion the pupils had with teachers endorsed the
pupils’ statements.
With these thoughts in mind, pupils worked with me to complete their profiles. The children are all
ICT literate and by taking part in the reflections and discussions about their learning ,progress and
achievement in order to complete their learner’s statement they were further developing their skills
in literacy, health and wellbeing and ICT in a meaningful context. The discussion around the content
of their profiles was helpful, with prompts such as … ‘do you remember when’, think how you did…’
etc
Challenges
It is important that pupils could take ownership of the profiles. If they contain too much information
they are unwieldy and a burden to complete. If they don’t contain enough information then they are
not ‘fit for purpose.’
Another challenge is recalling the evidence which helped pupils make their judgements about
‘where they were’ in terms of achievements and learning. This is why the profiles should be built
into classroom practice throughout the course of P7. ‘Profiling’ information should be collected
during the course of the year and the final term should identify time for the completion of the actual
profiles.
It is important that consideration is given to consistent practice across the LA and learning
community. Interestingly consistent practice may not mean that every pupil completes an identical
profile as different formats can contain the same types of information.
We also need to further consider the links the profiles will have with transition and what
expectations our secondary colleagues may have.
Next steps
Involvement in the development of these profiles was worthwhile and made us all – teachers, HT
and pupils – consider the profile in detail. It would be worth considering the process over a whole
school session so that the ‘profiling’ could feed meaningfully and gradually into the finished ‘profile’.
Completing the profile should be integrated into classroom practice in the final term as part of the
transition process and as part of pupils’ ICT / literacy work. It would be worthwhile in the future
involving parents in the reflective process and to gauge their perspective. This could be integrated
into parents’ meetings.
Collaboration with secondary colleagues would also be worthwhile and the profile could be used as
part of the transition programme. With this in mind the profile should be used consistently
throughout a learning community.
Looking to the future, thought must be given to future S3 profiles… will the P7 profile be updated or
will there be an entirely new version? This leads to another question… Who will manage the profile
until S3? It is important that pupils have copies but duplicates should be available in secondary
school.