3 Strategies For Tracking Student Welfare And Development In A Modern World

Keeping track of your students' welfare and development is tough, but it's a crucial part of the boarding community. Students need support throughout their years at boarding school, and understanding how to identify when they need it most is crucial to being there when it counts.Technology is helping boarding staff to better understand and engage with students by making it easy to stay up-to-date with developments. Keeping technology at the front of your welfare strategy means data is easy to record, share and analyse - allowing decisions to be made based on the real needs of your pupils.Here are 3 technology-driven strategies you can implement at your school

1. Track Behavioural Patterns

Actively monitor your students' social and emotional development to keep everyone in the loop. By recording information and making it available to boarding staff, your team are able to identify unusual behaviour and investigate the cause. You can note significant disciplinary, grievance, merit and medical details, as well as attendance activity.A tool like Boardingware ensures this type of information is not only recorded but organised in a way that makes it easy to access when needed. Behaviour traits can be organised by category to help with analysis and spot trends quickly.With cloud-based software, this information is available to staff even when they are away from their desk, such as during a community activity or immediately after a conversation with a parent. This means even the latest observations are shared amongst the team.

2. Track Student Activity On And Off Campus

As well as recording welfare information, technology such as Boardingware allows you to record club attendance and types of leave, which can provide insights into a pupil's wellbeing. Having a log of where students spend their free time and what types of activities they usually enjoy, can give you a better understanding of their current welfare. If their behaviour changes suddenly, or you see concerning patterns developing, you can analyse and monitor their activities regularly to ensure their welfare. Absences from clubs or lessons, or a change in leave activities could be a sign that something is amiss.Working with parents and families is also key to identifying new patterns of behaviour. With their straightforward parent app, they can also see where their children are and what kind of activities they are involved with. If they spot something they think is out of character, they can quickly and easily get in touch with boarding staff directly through the app.

3. Analyse And Monitor Regularly

With a wealth of student data available to you, finding ways to share it amongst staff and ensure everyone is on the same page is important. With our software you can create a watchlist so that boarding staff know which students to keep an eye on, without having to be personally updated. Extra data about the welfare of each student or their care plan can be added to their record to allow staff to work together to ensure students get the support they need around the clock.To make sure your data is meaningful and useful, Boardingware allows you to export data in ways that make sense to you and your team. Having this kind of data to hand, allows meaningful conversations between students and mentors, allowing pupils to be fully involved in their goal setting and care.The Boardingware platform allows you to do all this and more. With cloud-based apps that allow important information to be recorded and retrieved instantly, Boardingware gives staff the power to share information and work closely together. Our easy-to-use interface and integrated reporting systems mean tracking your students welfare and development is no longer a hassle or a paperwork-heavy exercise.For more information about how Boardingware can help your welfare and development tracking, contact us today for a free demo or watch the video online.