AS Tracking

STEER Educational Journey

Increasingly schools want to act proactively to prevent pastoral car crashes rather than respond once they occur

AS Tracking, short for Affective Social Tracking, is a breakthrough adolescent mental health tracking tool that enables schools to identify pupils' hidden risks early. Evidence shows AS Tracking improves whole school and individual pupil wellbeing by equipping teachers with in-school, targeted action plans to reduce pupil mental health and wellbeing risks.


When is it used?

AS Tracking is used to track whole school populations twice a year from the age of 8-18. The AS Tracking data provides teachers with specific guidance to support each student in low-level, targeted ways within the school environment. At the age of 16, STEER provides each student with the USTEER app, which they use to access their own tracking data, track their ongoing steering, and set their own goals and signposts to improve their steering. Students continue to do so when they leave school to help them make a successful transition to the workplace or higher education.

How does it work?

AS Tracking works by tracking the steering biases which are developing in the mind of a student. Tracking steering biases is pioneering technology developed by 20 years of research involving thousands of students. Steering biases influence the health of social and emotional relationships which a student forms, their developing mental health, and their social competencies.

By tracking a student’s steering biases, we are able to identify when a student is developing a pattern of thinking which increases their mental health risks. Crucially, we can do this at a much earlier point in time than waiting for the mental health problem to develop and become visible. By identifying these risks earlier, we can then guide schools to act earlier and more precisely. By acting earlier and more precisely, schools can make smaller, targeted, responses, which cost less but which have a significant impact on reducing the risks for the student.

Typically, students supported in this way reduce their risks by 30% compared to students who are not. This approach compliments the traditional approach of referring students to specialist support when a problem reaches a critical level. Schools using AS Tracking have been able to reduce the number of children being referred to specialists by using the approach.

AS Tracking has had a fantastic impact in our school. It’s enabled us to identify at a really early stage those pupils who are at a hidden risk of developing social and emotional difficulties; we know how to help them and can track their progress over the coming terms. Working proactively and strategically has significantly reduced the number of pupils in need of critical pastoral support.

Head of Welfare, Monkton Combe School

Core AS Tracking features include:

Proactive pastoral care

AS Tracking enables schools to be proactive, targeted and evidence-based in their pastoral care.

Detect wellbeing risks

Detect mental health risks earlier by measuring pupils' steering biases.

Group action planning

Write year/house development plans to ensure each stage of the school is as pastorally effective.

Evidence of impact

Monitor the impact of your mental health support reliably, quickly, regularly.

Screen hidden risks

Detect hidden risks often not picked up by existing mental health assessments or teacher observation through AST's pioneering assessment.

Target priority pupils

Focus resources early, directly and strategically on those pupils who most need support.

Individual pupil action planning

Put in place effective, targeted pupil action plans without considerable additional provision of time or cost.

Track pupils from 8-18

Curate a unique 10 year record of a child’s social-emotional development, monitoring their wellbeing through adolescence.

Develop staff pastoral skills

Drive a whole-school approach by training your staff to provide joined-up, consistent, pastoral signposting.

Anonymise data for GDPR

Maintain a secure, encrypted and fully anonymised record of pupil wellbeing data, fully compliant with GDPR.

Analyse whole-school trends

Obtain powerful insight into the trends, culture and impacts of year groups and houses in your school on the wellbeing of pupils.

Pastoral governance reporting

Produce clear, real-time, analytical pastoral reports quickly and easily for governors, using our rich array of chart/reporting facilities. our rich array of chart/reporting facilities.

Link primary- senior schools

Pass your pupils’ AS Tracking records forward securely through our unique technology to senior schools, supporting pupil transition.

Meet ISI requirements

Meet the new ISI requirements to demonstrate personal development, by producing records of each pupil’s history, your actions and your impacts at the click of a button.

Benchmark school nationally

Compare your school’s social-emotional characteristics with other similar schools in the UK and internationally.

Equip for university

Equip your leavers to thrive emotionally and socially at university using our unique USTEER app designed to help transition to independence.

Leading the field in proactive, targeted evidence-based pastoral care

Independent school organisations, including HMC, BSA GSA, have widely promoted AS Tracking since its commercial launch 18 months ago. A new school adopts AS Tracking every week.

View More Schools

  • Detect Risks

    There is increasing evidence the AS Tracking system detects risks such as self-harm, bullying and anxiety/depressive/controlled thinking concerns. There are also striking indicators it may identify and be diagnostically useful for emerging neuro-developmental conditions such as ASD, ADHD and others. This tracking data, collected twice/year, year on year, can be passed to clinicians, such as nurses, counsellors, CAMHS, psychiatrists and GPs.

    • Frank O’Kelly MBE MB BS MRCGP DA(UK) DCH DRCOG
    • School doctor, GP 30 years, Clinical Commissioner

  • Pupil Support

    Supporting new pupils joining Wellington is a pastoral priority which we take very seriously. Where AS Tracking records are able to be forwarded to us, it enables us to understand the needs of a specific boy or girl that much sooner. This only strengthens the start that pupil is able to make at our school.

    • Head
    • Wellington College

  • Focus

    It is very striking how the system works to identify the right children. It enables us to work out, with even more certainty, which boys need help and where to focus in that boy’s life.

    • Senior Master
    • Harrow
See everyone's comments

  • Detect Risks

    There is increasing evidence the AS Tracking system detects risks such as self-harm, bullying and anxiety/depressive/controlled thinking concerns. There are also striking indicators it may identify and be diagnostically useful for emerging neuro-developmental conditions such as ASD, ADHD and others. This tracking data, collected twice/year, year on year, can be passed to clinicians, such as nurses, counsellors, CAMHS, psychiatrists and GPs.

    • Frank O’Kelly MBE MB BS MRCGP DA(UK) DCH DRCOG
    • School doctor, GP 30 years, Clinical Commissioner

  • Pupil Support

    Supporting new pupils joining Wellington is a pastoral priority which we take very seriously. Where AS Tracking records are able to be forwarded to us, it enables us to understand the needs of a specific boy or girl that much sooner. This only strengthens the start that pupil is able to make at our school.

    • Head
    • Wellington College

  • Focus

    It is very striking how the system works to identify the right children. It enables us to work out, with even more certainty, which boys need help and where to focus in that boy’s life.

    • Senior Master
    • Harrow

  • Measurement

    What AS Tracking does is provide measurement and evidence to back the knowledge we have and potentially identify children ahead of a crisis or who are struggling without us knowing. Also, for new children arriving in the school at the age of 13, whom staff don’t know so well, we are able to get a much fuller picture.

    • Pastoral Leader
    • Wellington College

  • Clarity

    We received an email from a set of distraught parents yesterday as issues have been arising for her son. The boy was flagged as a priority following the assessment in January. Before we had AST this would have made me quite anxious about what to do next. It's so useful to have the assessment data/action planning to hand to get clarity on the issues and specifically how to help.

    • >House Parent with 17 years experience
    • UK Shool

  • Being specific

    One of the strengths of AST has been to help us fine tune action plans for specific pupils, where, although the presenting issues are the same, the root causes are not.

    • Houseparent
    • Monkton Combe School

  • Insight

    I was blown away by their conviction but even more, I was impressed by how articulate they were in analysing and describing their pupils. There was real insight, texture and sophistication.

    • Delegate speaking of the skills of teachers using AST at the recent AS Tracking Practitioner Conference

  • Powerful

    I vividly remember the AST consultant calling us to say she was particularly worried about the results she saw for one pupil, and it was a teenager who had, unbeknown to her, had a serious meltdown only a few days before. That was a striking moment, realising that a simple but clever online test could be that powerful. It was astonishing and very compelling.

    • Headmaster
    • London Day School

  • Focused Targets

    AS Tracking has enabled us to develop highly detailed and well-focused targets for our pupils. Over time, I am confident that the system will allow us to redress the balance of our assessment systems: increasing the focus on children’s social and emotional development; highlighting individuals needing further support and allowing us to monitor the impact of interventions with the same degree of rigour currently applied to the analysis of pupils’ academic progress.

    • Head teacher
    • London academy

  • Measuring Data

    With the emphasis of inspections shifting to place the emphasis solely on outcomes for pupils' achievement and personal development, schools will want to find ways of measuring the impact of their provision in order to review and refine what they do to help pupils flourish. AS Tracking provides us with the data to support that requirement.

    • Headmaster & ISI inspector

  • Accuracy

    One of the hardest things for Governors to monitor is ‘Are we REALLY looking after our pupils’ emotional wellbeing?’. Seeing the accuracy and focus that AS Tracking brings to the school's pastoral care means that we, as a Board, have huge confidence that we are discharging our duty effectively.

    • Governor
    • UK independent school

  • Understanding Needs

    AS Tracking offers the opportunity to track and better understand the needs of individual pupils as they progress through their school career. A tool such as this potentially helps schools to better help their pupils to deal with the stress of modern life and, in doing so, be more likely to perform to the maximum of their academic potential.

    • Chair
    • Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference 2015-16

  • Better Health

    As a clinician who, over many years, has seen CAMHS services overwhelmed, I have no doubt that these AS Tracking action plans are likely to achieve a better health outcome for the child for two reasons. Firstly they equip teachers, who know the child best, to act rather than relying on external professionals, who do not know the child. Secondly they are put in place within the school environment, so that the child is not separated from peers, but supported within the context of school.

    • School Doctor
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To discuss how your school can adopt a STEER service call or email us today

+44 01225 667232

fiona@steer.global