As a Headteacher in Northern Ireland, you juggle immense responsibilities. You steer your school's vision, support your staff, and are accountable for outcomes, all while preparing for the rigorous scrutiny of the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI).

The heart of this process—your self-evaluation and School Development Plan (SDP)—is critical. Yet, too often, this vital work becomes a source of administrative strain. Many school leaders tell us they feel "worn down by systems which seemed to be competing for increasing complexity", resulting in endless Word documents that are difficult to manage, harder to share, and almost impossible to turn into a living, breathing process for your team.

What if you could reclaim this process? What if your self-evaluation wasn't a static report, but a dynamic, collaborative hub for genuine improvement?

That is the simple, powerful idea behind iAbacus. We are not just another software tool; we are a proven, research-backed methodology designed to bring clarity to your improvement journey.

A Single Hub for Your SEF and SDP

At its core, iAbacus is a "blessed relief from wading through pages of Word document plans". It provides a single, visual, and online platform for your entire self-evaluation (SEF) and development planning (SDP) cycle.

Our platform is built on a "deceptively simple" yet powerful process that guides your thinking:

  1. Evaluate: You start with your professional judgement, sliding a bead to make a visual assessment against your chosen criteria.
  2. Evidence: You attach your proof—notes, data, or documents—directly to that judgement. No more hunting for files.
  3. Analyse: This is the most critical step. You identify the "Helping and Hindering Factors". This moves you from what is happening to why it is happening.
  4. Plan: You create targeted actions that directly address your analysis—strengthening what helps and tackling what hinders.

This transforms your SDP from a compliance document into a live, strategic tool that your whole team can understand and contribute to.

Empowering Every Role in Your School

A sustainable culture of improvement isn't just top-down. iAbacus is designed to be versatile for every role in your school, creating a "common language" for improvement:

  • For You and Your SLT: Lead your whole-school self-evaluation with confidence. We can provide templates fully aligned with the ETI framework, allowing you to build a robust, evidence-backed narrative for inspectors and governors.
  • For Your Middle Leaders: Empower your Heads of Department and pastoral leads. They can use iAbacus to run their own focused departmental reviews, build evidence-based action plans, and sharpen their strategic thinking. You, in turn, can see all their evaluations in one place.
  • For Your Teachers and Staff: Support meaningful professional growth. Staff can use a personal abacus for self-reflection against professional standards, making the PRD (Performance Review and Development) process a developmental dialogue, not a bureaucratic chore.

A True Partnership, Not Just a Product

We know that a new tool is only as good as the support behind it. A core part of our philosophy is that we are your partners in improvement, not just software vendors.

Every iAbacus subscription includes unlimited, bespoke support at no extra cost. This is not just a helpdesk; it is a complete partnership:

  • Bespoke Template Design: We will work with you to create a template that perfectly matches your school's unique context, whether it's the ETI framework, your SDP priorities, or a specific focus like SEN or pastoral care.
  • Unlimited Training: We provide whole-staff INSET sessions, one-to-one coaching, and flexible online training for your SLT, middle leaders, and teachers, ensuring everyone feels confident.
  • Strategic Project Support: If you have a specific goal, like embedding a new literacy strategy, we provide project management support to help you structure it effectively within iAbacus.

Start Your Journey to Clarity

If you are looking for a way to move beyond the paperwork and build a sustainable, collaborative, and evidence-based culture of improvement, we are here to help.

iAbacus gives you and your team the clarity and confidence to focus on what truly matters—making a lasting, positive impact on your pupils.

To see exactly how iAbacus could be tailored to your school's specific priorities, you can book a personal one-to-one walkthrough with our creator, Daniel O'Brien.

There is no hard sell, just a conversation about your goals. Book a slot that works for you at: meet.iabacus.com