Before joining Bedrock, I spent several years in classrooms – first as a new Teach First teacher, later leading the English department and becoming the whole school literacy coordinator. Those years never really leave you. You carry the rhythms of lessons, the students who need an extra moment, the ones who ask the brilliant questions, and the quiet pride when something finally clicks. 

That’s why spending a week in November back in classrooms felt so valuable. Over five school visits, we sat alongside students as they worked through the prototype of the next stage of the Bedrock experience in real lessons, guided by teachers who know them best. It was a chance to see the ideas we’ve been shaping land with the people they’re designed for.

Whenever we build something new, we start with a simple belief: if it does not help a student feel more confident, or help a teacher see progress more clearly, it is not ready.

Classrooms show us things no internal test can. They reveal where a student pauses, what draws them in, where accessibility makes all the difference, and how small design decisions can either support or distract from learning.

This is not about reinventing Bedrock. It’s about strengthening it: removing friction, sharpening clarity, and creating a learning journey that genuinely supports every student who logs in.

Across five days, we sat with students from Year 7 through to Year 10 in English, Geography and Biology lessons. Each school had its own pace and personality, but the experience was the same: students were ready to show us how they learn, not how they think they should learn.

Some moved through the new journey without hesitation. One said: “I knew exactly where to go and where to start.” Others went straight for the details: “What does a mastery score mean? It seems helpful”, one student asked, pointing out a feature we’ve been refining for months.

Many explored the custom accessibility settings before they did anything else – adjusting fonts and colours until things felt right. For one student with dyslexia, the change made an immediate difference: “This makes it easier to read.”

Teachers added another layer altogether. In one school, the Head of English described the new progress view as: “Clear as day – especially the micro-population impact.”

One of the strongest patterns of the week was how naturally students used accessibility settings when they were easy to find. They didn’t treat them as “extras”, just as tools that helped them learn in their own way.

For some, a quick tweak of font or background colour made the text noticeably easier to process. Seeing that change land in real time reminded us that accessibility isn’t the last pass of a build; it’s the start of helping every student feel at ease.

The visits helped us see exactly where the settings felt clear – and where we can make them even more intuitive.

When students said the questions “made us think”, it wasn’t an offhand comment. We saw it. Heads down, scratching out ideas, swapping definitions with friends, even planning to challenge a teacher’s understanding of 'hubris'.

Challenge, when pitched well, builds pride. Students engaged more strongly when they felt stretched, not when they were completing a task. This gives us a helpful steer on where to maintain rigour and where to build in more subtle support.

Teachers were honest about what helps them move quickly. They don’t want more information - they want clarity they can turn into action.

That’s why the reaction to the new progress views was so encouraging. Teachers immediately picked out the elements that mattered to them: sub-skill progress, group-level patterns and the ability to spot what has shifted since last week’s lesson.

The feedback sharpened our sense of where the insight is landing and where we can bring even more focus and simplicity.

Watching students move through the learning journey showed us exactly where the pathway supported them – and where we could smooth the bumps.

One student summed it up neatly:

"I didn’t need to be told what to do – it was easy to know."

When navigation works well, it fades into the background. Students think about the content, not the interface. The moments where they clicked instinctively – and the moments where they paused – have already influenced how we shape the next round of improvements.

How these insights are shaping what comes next.

The themes we saw – accessibility, challenge, clarity and confident navigation – are already shaping the next stage of our work. Some improvements are close; others are in early trial stages. All focusing on strengthening the Bedrock experience students and teachers already know, rather than replacing it.

Updates will continue rolling out across the next 9-12 months, guided by what we heard and saw in real classrooms.

Classroom visits always bring us back to the heart of product development: real students, real teachers, real learning. They show us where things land, where things miss, and where small adjustments can unlock much bigger confidence.

We’re grateful to every school that opened their doors to us. Their insight is shaping our next steps – and will continue to influence the decisions we make from here.