Over Thursday 19 and Friday 20 June, Data in Schools Melbourne 2026 brought together some of Australia’s most forward-thinking school data leaders at Melbourne Connect in Carlton. Principals, directors of data analytics, heads of learning analytics, deputy principals, curriculum leaders and data coordinators from schools across Australia and internationally gathered for two days of roundtable discussions, peer learning and expert presentations. Education360 was proud to attend as a Silver Sponsor and on Day 2, our CEO and Founder Matthew Willie took to the stage to present Beyond Student Data: Unlocking a Whole of School Intelligence, a session that explored what truly data-driven schools look like and the practical steps to get there.

Education360 at Data in Schools Melbourne

Across both days, the roundtable format made this event genuinely special. Rather than passive conference-style sessions, school leaders including directors of data analytics, heads of learning analytics, deputy principals and data coordinators from organisations like Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, Caulfield Grammar School, Barker College, Knox Grammar School and many more gathered in small groups to tackle real challenges together. The conversation flowed between schools of all sizes, sectors and states.

The conversations were honest. It was clear that schools are still grappling with:

• Hours wasted manually compiling reports from multiple disconnected systems
• No clear picture of financial health in real time
• Difficulty identifying at-risk students early enough to intervene
• Decisions made on gut feel rather than data, not by choice, but by necessity

These are not small problems. They are the kind of operational friction that costs schools time, money and in some cases, student outcomes.

What Is Whole of School Intelligence?

When most people talk about school data, they mean student data: NAPLAN results, attendance rates, behaviour incidents. And while student data is critical, it tells only part of the story.

Whole of school intelligence means having a centralised, real-time view of every business unit in your school, including student outcomes, staff performance, enrolments, finances, wellbeing and more, all rolled up into a single dashboard view that decision-makers can actually use.

Built on top of Domo, a NASDAQ-listed, market-leading cloud Business Intelligence platform, Education360 gives school principals, business managers and governing bodies direct, simplified, near real-time access to the data that matters, with minimal IT involvement.

Stop Building Dashboards. Start Answering Questions.

Matthew’s presentation opened with a challenge to the room:

“Most schools start by asking: ‘What reports do we want?’ The better question is: ‘What decision are we trying to make?’”

Matthew Willie, CEO and Founder, Education360

This distinction, from report-first thinking to question-first thinking, is at the heart of modern school data analytics. A dashboard that nobody uses is not an analytics solution. The Education360 Philosophy flips the script entirely: every objective should drive a question, every question should be answered by metrics and every insight should result in action.

Think of Metrics Like LEGO Bricks

One of the most memorable moments from Matthew’s presentation was a simple but powerful analogy: think of each metric like a LEGO brick.

Each metric is simply one visualisation: a bar chart, a KPI card, a line chart, a pie chart, a heat map. On its own, it tells you something. But stack the right bricks together around a specific business question and you have a dashboard that drives real decisions.

For example, if your business question is “How financially healthy is our school?” you do not need one number. You need Revenue, Expenses, Payroll, Cash Flow, Budget Variance, Fee Collection, Debtors, Enrolments and Government Funding, all in one view.

The dashboard is simply the collection of those metric cards. A single data point rarely tells the full story. The value comes from combining the right metrics to provide context.

Real Examples: What Does This Look Like in Practice?

Here is how Education360 approaches four of the most common school leadership questions:

The Analytics Maturity Journey: Where Is Your School?

Not every school starts at the same point. During the presentation, Matthew outlined the Analytics Maturity Journey, a practical roadmap for schools building a data-driven culture:

1. 1
   Establish executive sponsorship and visible leadership support. Data culture starts at the top.
2. 2
   Start small. Pick a few high-value use cases and demonstrate success before scaling.
3. 3
   Build data literacy through ongoing training and professional learning for all staff.
4. 4
   Develop Data Champions within each business unit or faculty.
5. 5
   Embed analytics into regular meeting rhythms. Make data a standing agenda item.
6. 6
   Automate alerts and notifications so the right people are informed at the right time.
7. 7
   Connect insights to action. Track what changed as a result of a data-driven decision.

The goal is not to have the most data. It is to make better decisions, faster.

Best Practice Principles for School Data Analytics

For schools ready to build or improve their analytics capability, these are the ten best practice principles Education360 recommends:

1. 1
   Start with business questions, not data
2. 2
   One question requires multiple metrics, never rely on a single data point
3. 3
   Match the right visualisation to the right metric, a bar chart is not always the answer
4. 4
   Allow users to explore, interactive dashboards empower decision-makers
5. 5
   Provide context through annotations, numbers without context mislead
6. 6
   Automate alerts and notifications, do not wait for someone to notice a problem
7. 7
   Turn insights into action, track what you did and what changed
8. 8
   Integrate project management, link data insights to tasks and accountability
9. 9
   Collaborate around the data, share dashboards with the right stakeholders
10. 10
    Measure outcomes, close the loop and assess whether actions worked

Case Study: Penola Catholic College

One of the most powerful moments of the day came from sharing the story of Penola Catholic College, a school that implemented Education360 to solve a very common problem.

Before Education360, their data was scattered across ten different platforms. Staff had to visit ten different locations just to understand what was happening with a single student.

“We had data in ten different places, forcing staff to go to ten different locations to find out everything they needed to know about their students. It was too much to expect.”

Anthony Austin, IT Manager, Penola Catholic College

After implementing Education360:

• Data access was centralised — one dashboard for all student and school data
• Seamless integration connected on-premise and cloud systems effortlessly
• Near real-time insights enabled faster, smarter decisions
• At-risk students could be identified and supported before issues escalated
• Hours of manual work were eliminated every week

Two Ways to Deploy Education360

Education360 can be deployed in two flexible ways to suit the operational and financial needs of schools and governing bodies. Both approaches deliver the same full platform capabilities.

About Education360

Education360 is a leading school analytics platform built on top of Domo, designed to give school principals, business managers and governing bodies a 360-degree view of their entire school, from student outcomes to finances, enrolments, staff and wellbeing. We proudly support schools across Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and India.

If you were at Data in Schools Melbourne last Friday, thank you for the fantastic conversations. If you missed us and want to learn more, we would love to hear from you. Book a free demo or reach out at info@education360.com.au or 1800 950 667.