Stone Soup Academy & PAGS

At a glance

1% → 70%

Attendance improvement for targeted learners

Average qualifications per student, including English and Maths

Highest qualifications achieved by one student

3×

Consecutive Ofsted Outstanding (most recent June 2025)

1.5+ hrs

Saved per student per week

3 → 5

Students per day SEND Lead can now see

The challenge

Stone Soup Academy supports learners with complex needs in alternative provision, young people who have often experienced significant disruption to their education. For a school like Stone Soup, the quality of SEND provision isn't just a compliance question. It is the difference between a young person who leaves with qualifications and life chances, and one who doesn't.

Before PAGS, that quality was being undermined by a fragmented information problem. SEND data was scattered across paper files, emails, hard drives and multiple systems. Accessing a learner's full picture before a session meant navigating several places, and that took time that should have been spent with the learner instead.

Before we started using PAGS, the SEND data was all over the place. We used a paper trail, emails, hard drives, and different systems. The focus ended up on the paperwork rather than the children.Younes Henini, Principal, Stone Soup Academy

Interventions were managed by one person, the SEND Lead, rather than the whole staff. There was no consistent school-wide progress reporting. SLT had no real-time view of what was happening with SEND learners. And the administrative burden was large enough that the SEND Lead could only see three students per day.

What changed

Stone Soup made a deliberate decision: PAGS would not be a tool for the SENCO alone. It would be embedded as a whole-school platform, used by every member of staff who works with learners.

How we use PAGS in our school is from the top to the bottom. Everybody who works with the children records their work in PAGS and anybody can access it.Younes Henini, Principal

The SEND Lead uses PAGS for assessment and target-setting. Teachers access targets and strategies before every session. The pastoral and engagement teams record their interactions. SLT can see the full picture at any time. Students now receive SEND progress reports every term.

Before and after

Before PAGS	With PAGS
Data scattered across paper, email and hard drives	Everything in one place, centralised SEND tracking
Interventions managed by one person	Whole-school recording and delivery
SENCO could see 3 students per day	SENCO sees up to 5 students per day
No consistent progress reporting	Every student receives a SEND progress report every term
Focus on managing paperwork	Focus on the children
SLT had no real-time SEND overview	SLT access full student data and contribute directly
Assessment and recording were time-consuming	1.5+ hours saved per student per week

I've worked in education for 20 years. By using PAGS, that journey has been made a lot easier. Instead of seeing three children a day, I can now see up to five. Before, interventions were not being recorded. Now the whole school is doing them.

Michelle Bramhall · SEND Lead, Stone Soup Academy

Now sees up to 5 students a day, up from 3

The results

Attendance improved from 1% to 70% for targeted learners. On average, students achieved seven qualifications, including English and Maths. The highest-achieving student completed thirteen.

In June 2025, Stone Soup Academy received its third consecutive Ofsted Outstanding judgement. Inspectors cited progress across attendance, behaviour, academic success and destination outcomes.

In our last Ofsted inspection in June 2025 we were recognised as Outstanding for the third time. PAGS has been an amazing resource. It should be used in all schools.

Younes Henini · Principal, Stone Soup Academy

Ofsted Outstanding, June 2025 (third consecutive)

Why it worked

Whole-school ownership

Every staff member records in PAGS, creating a shared, consistent understanding of each learner. When any teacher, TA, pastoral lead or principal sits down with a student, they see the same complete picture.

Precision in intervention

PAGS highlights underlying developmental needs rather than surface behaviours. Stone Soup could deliver more targeted interventions and focus staff attention on the right areas rather than responding only to what was visible.

Built-in evidence

Every intervention, target and piece of progress is recorded and time-stamped, creating a complete SEND evidence base without the administrative overhead of building it separately. When inspectors arrived, the evidence was already there.

Could PAGS work for your setting?

Stone Soup operates in specialist alternative provision, but the underlying challenge, fragmented data, inconsistent provision, hard-to-evidence progress, is one that mainstream schools, PRUs and MATs face too.

Talk to us about your setting →See all customer stories

Stone Soup Academy: From fragmented files to three consecutive Ofsted Outstandings.