We have been using 4Matrix at The Wellington Academy for the past 2 examination cycles. It has fast become an invaluable analytical tool for SLT, Curriculum and Progress Leaders and staff leading raising achievement plans. With almost every new release, comes new tools and enhanced functionality, the past handful of releases have really impressed our staff.
3.3.6 introduced the Gap Analysis tool, 3.3.7 saw the introduction of the Groups Panel, a sophisticated, multiple variable filtering tool (eg disadvantaged and more able). 3.3.8 was primarily a patch and coefficient update, but 3.3.9…
3.3.9 brought Performance Tracking, a Press Release style display for multiple series at the same time. Below, I tracked the headline measures for our Y11 through to their forecast grade, the Group Panel on the left and the new easy access “series” panel on the right. Powerful.
Also in this release, the ability to use the groups filtering panel on both sides of the Gap Analysis Tool and still the team were not done. Making full use of the half term break, they added a handful of KS2 APS enhancements in the Flight Path, Transition Matrices and LoP by Subject tools, improvements to the Progress 8 tool and visual enhancements to Series Comparison tool. Lastly, the team quietly included in the release notes that the KS5 framework has been added to database. That will certainly grab the attention of our 6th Form Assistant Principal.
Why would I go to the effort of sharing these enhancements and improvements with you? It is simply to show my appreciation. The team at 4Matrix are exceptionally open to feedback and responsive to our calls for enhancements. The new Performance Tracking tool a great example, a tool that will expedite our governor reporting and support achievement investigations and dialogue. The least I could do was to share their excellent hard work with a wider audience.
Thank you Mike, Ian and Chris.