Rainham Mark Grammar School
URMANT was originally concieved at Rainham Mark Grammar School (RMGS) by Paul Nicholls of VBE Software (then ICT Technician) and Andy Wilson (then Head of ICT). RMGS began using the beta release of the system in the 2006-2007 academic year. Assistant Headteacher and Head of Sixth Form Emma Horstrup supplied this testimonial regarding the system in just in its beta form.
URMANT was the tonic for many of my headaches regarding the process of writing UCAS references in school in 2005/6.
The problems I had encountered previously were tedious: a huge paper trail that was duplicitous and time-consuming; a lack of knowledge and control of the stages of reference writing; and an administrative burden on support staff. I felt that subject teachers were writing paper references only to have them rewritten by Form Tutors and the sixth form team unnecessarily and in duplicate. Like many schools, the UCAS reference writing process began slowly in Term 6 and then got progressively more frantic and over-whelming in Term 1 of the next academic year.
So what did URMANT change? Paul ran training sessions for AS & A2 teachers at a staff meeting and then Y12 & 13 Form Tutors at Year Team meetings in Term 6. This training ran alongside our two-day course for the students on university applications. It meant that all subject teachers were taught how to write and save their previously hand-written subject UCAS references electronically. Teachers could access the site form anywhere in the school and perhaps, more conveniently, from home using their own internet provider. Some teachers worried about writing a reference before knowing students’ actual AS results, but the fact that these references were electronic meant that should a reference need to be edited post-results, it was a swift process. In reality, many teachers found that what they had written prior to results was accurate. Perhaps one of the biggest boons was teachers being able to use their gained time at the end of Term 6 to do this important and time-consuming job then rather than in the frantic Term 1.
URMANT also “talked” to SIMS which meant that form group information and predicted A2 and actual AS grades could be imported into URMANT early in Term 1, ready for Form Tutors to construct their tutees’ consolidated UCAS references. From a Form Tutor’s perspective, the need for chasing missing subject references was almost entirely removed as they could see which references were missing from a tutee’s site immediately.
The construction of consolidated UCAS references simply involved Form Tutors cutting and pasting subject references displayed on their Form Tutor screen, checking the fluency of the reference and its predicted grades before sending it to me as the administrator.
As the Head of Sixth, I could then attach the UCAS reference to the UCAS form, save a copy on one of our school drives (as an extra precaution on my part) and see clearly which UCAS references had been processed and those which had not. This has relieved a huge and rather inefficient burden on the school administrative staff who had to deal with all the previous paper work. Their role now simply involves logging the submission of a UCAS form on the system, the processing of the payment and then notification via email or paper to the relevant Form Tutor that a tutee has submitted his/her UCAS form and that the UCAS reference needs finalising and sending to me to attach to the UCAS form.
One final perk is that URMANT can archive old references meaning instant access to those students’ references who delay university application or employment for a year or two. Obviously, the format of these references makes them amenable to any other application be it college or employment, saving hours of time on the numerous requests for references that Heads of Sixth receive for past students.
I would thoroughly recommend URMANT. Whilst it has had a few teething problems and minor glitches, it has gone from strength to strength and has improved the speed of the reference writing process enormously. Paul always acts immediately when it comes to solving any minor problems and delivers training in an effective and comprehensive manner. It makes that frantic time of year so much easier.
Emma Horstrup, May 2007