Barton Peveril College Uses Rittman Analytics To Pioneer AI-Accelerated Analytics for UK Education

The Download

Barton Peveril Sixth Form College is one of the UK's leading providers of post-16 education, consistently rated Ofsted Outstanding across all key judgements. Serving nearly 5,000 students from across Hampshire, the college has built a reputation for academic excellence, with value-added performance in the top 10-20% nationally and 75% of students progressing to university degrees. From its origins as a pupil teachers' centre in 1904 to its current status as a flagship sixth form college, Barton Peveril has always embraced innovation in pursuit of better student outcomes.

This forward-thinking approach led the college to become the UK's first "Google Gemini Academy" in 2024, equipping every teacher with AI-powered tools. But the leadership team recognised that true data-driven decision making required more than cutting-edge technology—it demanded a fundamental shift in how performance data was accessed, analysed, and acted upon.

The Challenge

Barton Peveril Sixth Form College had data, but it was fragmented across multiple systems—ProSolution MIS for student records, ALPS for external benchmarking, and various PDF reports for equity analysis. Leadership needed consolidated insights to support strategic decision-making, but building a traditional analytics platform would take months the college couldn't afford.

With a director demonstration scheduled for early January and just 19 working days available, Barton Peveril needed a partner who could deliver enterprise-quality analytics at startup speed. They chose Rittman Analytics to help them build a modern data platform that would serve as a strategic asset for years to come.

The Solution: AI-Augmented Process, Human-Led Judgment

At Rittman Analytics, we use AI as a co-pilot—not an autopilot—to accelerate data transformation while keeping expert teams in complete control.

Our approach uses AI to automate repetitive tasks and accelerate feedback loops, freeing teams to focus on what matters most: complex business logic and stakeholder collaboration. The Barton Peveril Analytics Platform project showcased this full AI-accelerated methodology.

Accelerated Prototyping

Within hours of the initial discovery session, AI-generated dashboard mockups were in stakeholder hands—not as finished products, but as conversation starters.

Over an intensive discovery day, we conducted requirements workshops with Directors, Subject Leaders, and Senior Leadership to understand their specific analytical questions. We then used AI to generate interactive dashboard mockups directly from those requirements, making stakeholder conversations concrete and productive from day one.

Each mockup was cross-referenced against actual source data DDLs. AI produced a deliverability analysis identifying which visualisations could be built with available data and which required additional sources—surfacing gaps before development began, not after.

Governance at Speed

Every AI-generated artifact passed through explicit human-led review gates. We maintained 100% explainability, semantic clarity, and trust throughout delivery.

Together with Barton Peveril, we designed and implemented a dimensional data warehouse in Google BigQuery—a star schema architecture optimised for analytical queries. AI (Claude Code) accelerated the generation of dbt models, staging views, and warehouse tables, while human engineers validated business logic, reviewed JOIN patterns, and ensured data quality.

To ensure trust in the platform, we implemented 107 automated data quality tests covering primary keys, foreign keys, referential integrity, and business rule validation. AI generated the test definitions; human reviewers confirmed coverage was complete. Documentation coverage was enforced at 100% across all models—every column, every business rule, fully explainable and auditable.

Faster Iteration

AI instantly generated boilerplate code, documentation, and tests—allowing engineers to focus on solving unique business problems, not repetitive tasks.

With the warehouse in place, we extended the platform to include a complete Looker semantic layer and eight production dashboards organised by audience (SLT, Course Directors, ALPS Analysis). AI generated LookML views and dashboard definitions from specifications in a single session; work that would traditionally take weeks was completed in hours.

For ALPS benchmarking data locked in PDF reports, Google Gemini 2.5 Pro provided structured extraction using native document vision. When extraction accuracy proved insufficient for production use, the team pivoted to spreadsheet sources—AI accelerated the exploration; human judgment made the call.

Deeper Collaboration

With core infrastructure built in days rather than weeks, Barton Peveril's team was freed from waiting on slow builds and manual processes. More time was spent with stakeholders validating insights and less time debugging pipelines.

Just three days after kickoff, domain experts were validating enrolment counts and demographic breakdowns against their source system knowledge—not waiting for a build to complete, but actively testing real data.

We introduced Looker's Conversational Analytics as a technology preview, then spent four days refining it through iterative testing with the MIS team. Staff tested questions, identified interpretation issues, engineers corrected SQL logic, and agent instructions were refined. The cycle repeated until accuracy met stakeholder expectations.

AI-Powered Training and Support

To ensure successful adoption beyond initial delivery, we provided comprehensive training materials and an AI-powered support system designed to scale with Barton Peveril's needs.

Staff can get started with a platform overview presentation introducing the analytics architecture and key features, then progress to video tutorials covering dashboard navigation and the self-service Explore interface for creating ad-hoc reports.

For ongoing support, we deployed a custom voice and chat support bot built on ElevenLabs, trained specifically on Barton Peveril's platform. Staff can ask natural language questions about dashboard details, data sources, and common platform queries—getting immediate answers without waiting for MIS team availability.

This AI-powered support layer extends the benefits of our AI-augmented approach from development into ongoing operations.

Business Benefits Delivered

Through our AI-augmented engagement with Barton Peveril, Rittman Analytics delivered a range of impactful benefits, including:

• Accelerated delivery of a complete MVP analytics platform in 15 working days—a timeline that would traditionally require several months
• Comprehensive data quality assurance through 107 automated tests with 100% documentation coverage, ensuring trusted outputs for senior leadership and governors
• Self-service analytics capability enabling staff to explore student outcomes through interactive dashboards, natural language queries, and AI-powered support
• Consolidated data foundation integrating ProSolution student records with ALPS benchmarking data in a governed, maintainable architecture
• Scalable training and support through video tutorials and an AI-powered chatbot that reduces ongoing support burden while improving staff adoption
• Strategic asset for future growth with full operational documentation and a platform designed for long-term extensibility

Together, the outputs of this engagement provide Barton Peveril with the foundation to leverage data more effectively in supporting student outcomes and institutional decision-making.