Continuing Professional Development

It is clear that outstanding schools who deliver outstanding practice and student progress year-on-year are based on one key foundation – continuous school based CPD. It is our ambition to be a Trust of outstanding schools and practitioners providing aspirational, transformational education for every one of our students. To do this we must all work together to share and improve so that attainment and individual progress improves for all of our schools and students.

The quality of learning and teaching is central to achieving this goal. As colleagues within the Trust, we are committed to providing opportunities for our students to truly achieve their potential and not only raise aspirations but actually deliver them. To achieve this we must continue to challenge and develop our own practice.

This commitment ensures we are constantly striving for ‘Great’ learning and teaching that is not constrained by external parameters or past experiences.

  • 19th June 2015 – We came together to hear from speakers that challenged our preconceptions of teaching, and offered techniques that support us to be truly transformational.
  • 4th January 2016 – We worked as one trust to embed our learning in departments across all of our schools. We learnt from our own areas of best practice. We looked at opportunities to develop as professionals and support each other.
  • 1st July 2016 – We met as a Trust for the third time to focus not only on our students, but also on our staff team. We took the time to invest in ourselves, in our personal wellbeing as well as in our professional development.
  • 9th January 2017 – we met together as a Trust for the fourth time to collaborate as departments across the Trust. We will have time to consider developments and techniques within our individual subject areas as well as share best practice and resources with our colleagues.
  • 30th June 2017 – The programme has been designed to challenge and inspire our professional practice and has a departmental focus. The day will comprise of keynote addresses, workshops and practical sessions. We will have time to consider developments and techniques within our individual subject areas as well as share best practice and resources with our colleagues.
  • 22nd December 2017 – Continued work within departments, focused on franchising good practice and accelerating progress.Alongside the external speakers, the senior executive team from the Times Educational Supplement (TES) joined us for the event, bringing their mobile training/presentation facility with them.
  • 29th June 2018 – The morning focus is staff and student wellbeing, with a focus on mental health and providing practical ways to help us in our day to day work. The afternoon sessions allow us to develop our practice further in sessions appropriate to our work roles.
  • 21st December 2018 – One Vision. The focus of this One Vision day for our classroom-based staff is our trust-wide focus on the principles of teaching and learning, and the sharing of all of your good and outstanding practice. For staff outside of the classroom, you will have the opportunity to further reinforce the solid foundation you provide upon which our students and classroom-based staff depend so heavily.
  • 28th June 2019 – The focus of the morning is thinking more about what extra skills and experiences we can either develop or provide for our students. To assist us in developing our thoughts and action plans, we asked a group of external contacts to share their views on what our ambitions should contain and why.
  • 20th December 2019 – A morning focused on understanding and removing the barriers that our students experience & prioritising the mental health and wellbeing for all within the Northern Schools Trust.