Utilising Pearson Edexcel’s Mocks Service had an obvious yet notable impact on teacher workload and wellbeing. Releasing our teachers from the significant time and effort ordinarily dedicated to marking scripts energised them to be able to sustain higher-quality provision for all their classes, whilst maintaining a more manageable work-life balance.

Teachers appreciated that their wellbeing had been considered and recognised the benefits of having externally-validated assessments to compare with their own, using the process and feedback as a source of motivation for their pupils.

Exceptionally useful and intuitive. Using the question and topic level analysis, our subject leaders were able to instantly identify strengths and weaknesses for each of our Trust schools. It was then a simple exercise to match-up those schools who didn’t perform as well on particular questions with those that did. This informed partnership working including: joint planning and delivery of targeted intervention to address knowledge and skill deficits and misconceptions; developing consistency in pedagogical approaches; making adaptations to curriculum delivery and improving outcomes for present and future cohorts.

The process allowed our subject leaders and teachers to identify team and/or individual areas of strength and or areas for improvement. This proved to be empowering as they took ownership for further developing their partnership work with other colleagues within the Trust. At the most basic level, our teachers shared resources and planned together. There was also evidence of more sophisticated sharing, for example, the latest pedagogical research into how learning takes place.