The pupil side of things has been designed to mimic the MTC. When they login they will see Baz Wynter asking for some help with doing the Soundcheck because he’s running late. They’ll click through a conversation, practice with three warm-up questions – that only really serves to get them in the mindset and reminds them of the format – then back to Baz to complete the Soundcheck game. The results of the Soundcheck game are taken as their Officially Unofficial score. Once the game is complete, they’ll be thanked and returned to the main Play page. This is what it looks like:

You are in control and decide when the pupils can start the OUMTC. To set up access for the OUMTC, visit the OUMTC Setup tab within the MTC Hub. If your school is not enrolled, you will need to click Enrol my school.

Next, check if the correct pupils are shown on the “Enrolled pupils” list and add/unenrol pupils if necessary. They must be in Year 4 to take part.

Once the OUMTC starts (for the Autumn Edition the dates are 2nd to 20th October), you can turn the OUMTC ‘On’ for your class or individual pupils using the OFF/ON toggle. When you switch the toggle to “ON”, the pupils will be taken through the steps to complete their OUMTC at next login.

In summary: enrol your school > check pupils are on the enrolled list > turn the OUMTC on between 2nd and 20th October. All pupils have to do at that point is login and follow the steps. They don't need to go anywhere in particular.

When a pupil completes the Soundcheck they can use the rest of TT Rock Stars as usual. You’ll be able to view their results as they come in on the Pupil Results tab (only visible once you opt in).

When all the enrolled pupils have completed their game, nothing special happens but you now have your school average score and the % who got 25/25.

After the OUTMC closes, you’ll be able to view the National and Local Authority averages too in the School Results tab within the MTC Hub.

Pupils can see their score in their usual Soundcheck history. You and colleagues can see the pupil results and you’ll be able to see an average for the LA and an average for the country. You won’t see other schools’ averages though.

Your local authority can’t see any of the data, nor will it be shared with them. The Department for Education can’t see any of the data, nor will it be shared with them.

So it’s just you and your colleagues who can see your school’s results.

No. In no way can another school see what another school got. Not even your average.

We think not – it’s just a few practice questions then one Soundcheck game that they’re guided through – but you’ll know your pupils best. There are things you can do to minimise their anxiety, principally not to overstate the importance. This isn’t a high stakes test for them or for you so in your messaging to parents/carers and pupils, keep it low key.

Something like "we're planning ahead for delivery of times tables next year and hope to capture a record of where the year 4s are at now."

You can include "We will create a quiet environment for year 4 pupils to login to TT Rock Stars and concentrate for 5 minutes on [insert date here]. They will be guided through two Soundcheck games and that’s it. The first one is a warm-up but they should give both of them your best shot."

We think it would be relatively useful to you to have a sense of how your year 4s would perform on the MTC if they did it in October, January and April. We can’t recreate the conditions but nonetheless, if we dedicate a 3-week window for them and somewhat standardise the process for pupils it can still be more of a thing than if each school were to simply say "Right, play some Soundcheck games."

We couldn’t provide LA and national data if every school did it on their own terms, which would immediately rule out comparison data. Conversely, if all TTRS schools do it then you've got some fairly robust data from which to draw your own conclusions.

We’ve designed it in such that you don’t need to take any action if taking part in the Officially Unofficial MTC isn’t right for your school. That is to say, by default, all schools are opted out. Schools that do want to take part need to opt in by heading to the MTC Hub.

Yes, during the date windows for both OUMTCs, you can turn the OUMTC 'On' or 'Off' for individual pupils. We suggest only turning it 'On' when you're ready for that pupil to do it in school. Once the pupil has completed the OUMTC, the OUMTC status will be greyed out and the pupil score will appear.

In addition, the OUMTC will only appear during school hours. As default these will be 8:30am to 3:30pm but can be amended via your School Settings.

To make this a valid data gathering exercise on your year 4s and to be able to compare to Local Authority and National averages, the OUMTC is only for year 4s. Remember that you can always ask classes to play in Soundcheck at any time.

As with the real MTC, the access arrangements include: changing the colour scheme (pupils control that themselves before the OUMTC in their Settings) and being able to press 'Next' in between each question rather than it auto-advancing. The 'Next' feature is controlled by you and you can enable for each eligible child once you get to the OUMTC Setup tab with the MTC Hub.