I receive a Class/Permission error when logging in to Balance.
If you receive this message when logging in, you don't have any classes or groups assigned to you. You would need to contact your Balance administrators within the school. They can correct this via the Classes/Groups tab within your user details page, available within Admin > Users.
Can I enter a 0 on the learning wheel?
If you enter a 0 on the learning wheel, it will revert to its default state, and the score will not be recorded in any analysis. This state signifies that the pupil has not been taught the objective during that learning event (e.g. lesson).
If a pupil has been taught an objective during a lesson, they should always be given a score of 1-9 (or secure) on the learning wheel for that objective.
If a pupil was present in a lesson but not taught a particular objective, the teacher should leave the learning wheel blank or enter a 0 for that pupil.
See the How to Use the Learning Wheel guide for more information.
What does Working Deeper mean?
In some of our default curriculums, you will notice there are Working Deeper objectives included. These objectives go above and beyond the national curriculum. Our subject experts have carefully put them together to allow teachers to assess their pupils' deeper understanding of a particular skill when it is clear they have secured the national curriculum KPI. You can add your own Working Deeper objectives to any curriculum; remember to set them as a KPI if you wish to assess your pupils against them.
Can I add objectives from other curriculum years to my learning?
Yes, it's easy to add objectives from any curriculum year when planning new learning. You can use the Curriculum Year
drop-down as often as possible. Once you have chosen objectives from one curriculum year, use this drop-down to choose an alternative year and select more objectives. Continue this process until you have selected all the required objectives for your learning event/lesson.
See the Capture New Learning guide for more information.
Do I have to record learning every day?
It's up to you! Balance is flexible, so you can record learning whenever you want. Some teachers like to record learning immediately after (or during) every lesson, some use it once at the end of each day, and some prefer to record a whole week in one go. Others choose to record learning even less frequently but selecting a more significant number of objectives when they do so.
Ultimately, it's down to each school or teacher to decide how often they want to record learning. However, it's worth noting that the more frequently teachers use Balance, the more powerful its analysis becomes.
We recommend that teachers make Balance a regular part of their teaching routine over time. Research has consistently shown that regular use of formative assessment makes the most significant difference to pupil achievement. And the Commission on Assessment Without Levels recommended that "new forms of assessment should become an integral part of day-to-day teaching to avoid the need for unnecessary tracking and recording."
Using Balance regularly will naturally build a clear picture of how each pupil is progressing with their learning, and will help teachers plan pupils' next steps.
What should I do when a pupil is absent?
Don't worry. When you capture a new learning event, you can leave all learning wheel(s) empty (or enter a 0) for any absent pupil. The learning wheel will show a dot
in the centre to indicate that no value has been given, and the learning event/lesson will, therefore not appear in any analysis for the absent pupil.
Similarly, suppose pupils in your class were taught different objectives, or were absent for a lesson and therefore missed some objectives. In that case, teachers should leave the relevant learning wheels blank (or enter 0) to indicate that those objectives were not taught to those pupils.
See the How to Use the Learning Wheel guide for more information.
How can I check on an individual pupil's learning?
Navigate to My Pupils
in the top navigation* and select a pupil’s name. (Use the universal filter at the top of the page to find pupils quickly!) From here, you will see attainment pies for that child.
The large coloured pie charts show the percentage of objectives from the national curriculum in which pupils have secured their understanding. The smaller pie chart shows the percentage of working deeper objectives
, and the animated dial shows the percentage of objectives taught to that pupil (so far). You can drill down into a deeper-level analysis of the pupil's learning if you wish.
* Alternatively, teachers can access individual pupil analysis via the Analysis
tab in the top navigation.
See the Individual Pupil Analysis guide for more information.
Can I create groups within my class?
Yes! Groups are easy to make. Please see the help guide on Class Groups for more details.
Can I see analysis for my groups?
Do I need to do anything to prepare my account for the next academic year
To get Balance ready for the next academic year, please ensure you complete all Learning Events and Professional Judgements for the current academic year by 11th August. Avoid logging in or making changes during the week of 11th August, as we’ll be working behind the scenes to get everything set up for September. Completing these essential steps in advance will mean Balance can fully support you as teachers from the very start of the Autumn term. Don’t worry, we’ll send you a few reminders before 11th August, so you’ll have plenty of time to prepare and know exactly what’s happening.
If you have any questions at all about this rollover, please just reply to this email or contact our friendly support team directly at balancesupport@angelsolutions.co.uk.
Do I need to let you know when my MIS is up to date?
Yes. To help ensure your Balance refresh in September goes as smoothly as possible, an SLT member, SBM or main Balance contact should let us know if you’ve changed MIS provider in the last 12 months. Make sure your MIS synchronisation tool, such as Wonde, is active and the connection is working. Confirm when your MIS will be updated for the new academic year by responding to emails sent out regularly during the summer term, or get in touch in September when your MIS is up to date.
See the Rollover guide for more information.
KPIs (Objectives) seem to be missing when creating Learning Events or looking at the analysis of what still needs to be taught.
If you're unable to see certain KPIs in your Learning Events or Analysis areas, please check the following:
Admin > Curriculum: Ensure the missing KPIs are toggled ON within the curriculum settings. This enables them to be visible in relevant parts of your account.
Draft vs. Published: It's likely that the 'missing KPIs' are still in the Draft version of your curriculum. Only Published curriculums, with KPIs toggled ON, will appear in the Learning Events and Analysis sections of your account.
Please contact balancesupport@angelsolutions.co.uk if you are still experiencing issues.
I am a Subject Lead but do not have access to the 'Curriculum' option, and therefore cannot edit or create a new curriculum.
To edit or create a new curriculum, a user must have both Teacher and Admin permissions enabled.
Steps to Update Permissions:
Navigate to Admin > Users.
Locate and select the user requiring the permissions update.
Go to the Permissions tab.
Ensure that both Teacher and Admin permissions are selected.
For more information, please refer to the Permission Guide.