When a school should ignore a spike in logins

A national secondary school in Johor forwarded us a proud note: logins had doubled on a Wednesday. The Wednesday was a vendor contest with a hamper. Half the taps came from a single computer in the resource room, used by pupils who had been sent to “join the challenge” during living-skills.

We now keep a list of reasons to ignore a spike: a prize, a forwarded WhatsApp from a class parent, a day when two classes were combined, and the morning after a school-wide reminder at assembly. None of those are moral failures. They are just not evidence that the scheme of work landed.

If the spike survives after you strike contest days and reminder days, then sit down. That quieter remainder is the activity worth reading against the timetable.