Staff Continuing Professional Development

Intent

At The Bemrose School, we recognise that effective CPD offers one of the most efficient ways to improve student performance, increase staff retention and develop a culture of excellence. The overriding purpose is to help teachers continually improve the quality of education so that both they, and our students, can exceed their expectations and be inspired to achieve their full potential throughout their whole life whilst ensuring we meet statutory requirements.

Our core CPD offer is built around our school priorities and alongside this, our masterclasses allow for staff to build a more bespoke CPD programme to develop their own pedagogy.

Implementation

Department CPD Time/Teaching and Learning Communities – We know how much staff value time to work together in departments and understand the impact of subject specific CPD and so ensure that there are regular opportunities for staff to access subject specific CPD and sharing of good practice. Having an all through school, allows us greater access to colleagues in all key stages to network and share curriculum resources across the subject areas.

Leadership at Bemrose recognise the importance of giving departments the freedom to identify, through self-review, areas for development. Time is calendared for every department to run a subject specific session (Teaching and Learning Community (TLC)) at least once per half term and this comes from department self-evaluation and is informed by outcomes. For example, if mock examinations demonstrate an area that scored lower than others, heads of department should look at whether or not subject specific CPD in this area and shared planning may support improved outcomes.

Leadership Development – Access to NPQs and other professionally accredited leadership courses are encouraged for staff at appropriate stages in their career and we also support staff to deliver NPQs for external agencies. This work builds expertise in leadership development that we can utilise back in our school.

There are continued opportunities for staff to develop their professional career within Bemrose through Associate Leadership positions (a period of shadowing of the leadership team and responsibility for middle leader meetings), leadership of whole school initiatives (such as DofE, extra curricula clubs and trips)

Instructional Coaching

A team of staff have been trained in Instructional Coaching utilising Ambition Institute’s training package and supported by Steplab as a platform for delivering coaching sessions and packages.

These staff work with colleagues to develop practice across all areas with a focus on increasing dialogue around pedagogy.

Instructional coaching through Steplab is also utilised as part of our ECT Programme.

Our aim is to continue to train staff as coaches and build capacity with a vision that all staff will have access to regular coaching discussions as part of our self-evaluation process.

Masterclasses – Through staff feedback and quality assurance, we regularly review and identify areas that will make the biggest difference without impacting negatively on staff workload and well-being. Masterclass Sessions led in-house by expert colleagues have been well received as they are context specific, minimalise change required and develop greater staff buy-in. These also allow staff to select the courses most appropriate for them and take into account well-being in allowing a remote option.

Each member of staff selects a strand to follow across the academic year from the areas below and takes part in 4 remote sessions, delivered at the start of each half term. These are then followed by a period of reflection and implementation before staff feedback on impact on pupils. The final session is an in person review of that strand of whole school development and feeds into the following year’s School Improvement Plan. Staff voice around what works and what supports learning is crucial in all aspects of school improvement.

Staff are free to attend more than 1 strand or “dip into” additional sessions if they wish but all staff must follow at least 5hours of one strand across the year.

The strands for 24/25 are:

Adaptation for all – adapting lessons and/or resources to ensure stretch and challenge is available and accessible for all in the classroom. Setting high expectations and outcomes through challenging learning objectives and then supporting all to reach them.

Formative Assessment – day to day practise within the classroom through questioning and low stakes quizzing, making the most of formative assessment to inform planning for subsequent lessons and building towards effective summative assessment throughout the year.

Application and Embedding of Knowledge – how to ensure that all lessons offer opportunities for pupils to apply what they have learnt during the lesson, looking at the percentage of teacher delivery and pupil application in the classroom and how to extend this.

Literacy/Oracy – How to embrace a culture where we are all teaches of literacy and feel confident to offer opportunities regularly for pupils to stretch and implement literacy and oracy skills in lessons.

External Affiliations We utilise external memberships with organisations such as The Key for School Leaders alongside our bank of recorded Masterclasses to allow us to direct staff towards CPD in line with their own development priorities. All staff have access to the evidence based “Walkthru” series and all associated resources. The ease of systems such as this with a library of webinars that staff can watch at any time provides additional flexibility to busy teachers.

We work in close partnership with Landau Forte, University of Derby and The Spencer Teaching Hub, to welcome ITT students into several departments every year and have this year expanded to include Teach First and Teaching Apprenticeships. We recognise the value that having individuals at the start of their career can bring to departments and the wider school.

PGCE, TEACH FIRST AND SCITT TRAINING

We work closely with a number of providers including Derby College and Landau Forte to play a key role in developing the next generation of teachers. We recognise, as a school, the benefits of having trainees in departments and welcome their contributions. Each trainee will have a subject specific mentor whom they will meet with weekly, as well as a professional mentor whom they will meet with at least once a fortnight. In addition, trainees will have access to all of our timetabled staff CPD sessions as well as bespoke sessions led by a member of staff in a specialist area.

INDUCTION PROGRAMME

This will include:

  • Welcome meeting and Health and Safety Briefing
  • Introduction to the form group you will be working with
  • Tour of the school with members of the Student Body
  • Meetings with key members of the Senior Team
    • Ms R Broderick – Safeguarding Procedures at Bemrose
    • Mrs A Kearney – SEND provision at Bemrose
    • Mr D Dark – Behaviour and Attendance
    • Mrs S Baird – Professional Mentor and Teaching and Learning
  • Introduction to the role of the Head of Year and Pastoral team at Bemrose
  • Pupil trail to experience what a day in the life of a student at Bemrose is like and an opportunity to observe lessons in a range of subject areas
  • Lunch with Apple Tree and Elm Tree students

WEEKLY CPD PROGRAMME

Each week, associate teachers will have the opportunity to attend additional timetabled CPD sessions in areas such as:

  • Lesson Planning
  • Assessment for Learning and Feedback
  • Questioning
  • Peer and Self Assessment
  • Learning and Memory
  • Post 16 Teaching and Learning
  • Adaptive teaching
  • Stretch and Challenge
  • Behaviour Management

These sessions are run by expert staff in these areas and the delivery forms a part of their development CPD.

This programme is supplemented with regular meetings with the Professional Mentor to discuss progress through the programme and the opportunity to meet with groups of students to ask questions about what makes an effective teacher/lesson.

ECT Provision at The Bemrose School

We are proud to continue to welcome a growing number of Early Career Teachers to Bemrose and take our responsibility to them for early career professional development very seriously.

We partner with the Spencer Teaching School Hub to deliver a robust and outstanding programme of individualised support to our teachers new to the profession.

We also have teachers start their career with us through the Teach First Programme and go on to begin their ECT journey in their second year of Teach First.

Intent of the Programme

The programme aims to ensure that all aspects of the National Framework for induction are met whilst ensuring that we personalise it to meet the needs of our local context. The programme makes use of evidence led training designed around what really works, and how pupils learn, for effective improvement in teacher practice and student outcomes.

Our over-arching aim is to develop and support new teachers into the profession so that they continue to develop their love of learning and want to stay in the classroom for many years to come. The programme of study is matched by a supportive environment in which to train and the well-being of staff is at the heart of training plans.

Implementation

We follow the funded training provider route for all of our ECTs and partner with the Spencer Teaching School Hub as our lead provider.

All first year ECTs have at least a 10% reduction in their timetable and time to meet each week with their subject assigned mentor.

All second year ECTs have at least a 5% reduction in their timetable and time to meet at least once a fortnight with their subject assigned mentor.

In addition to this, the Induction Tutor (Deputy Head, Shelley Baird) meets regularly with the ECTs and their mentors to ensure that all support required is being provided and offer additional support as needed. We run half termly ECTea and Biscuit sessions which offer informal opportunities for the ECTs to meet as a group and share challenges and successes and gain additional support.

ECTs are invited to attend all additional masterclass training to support their pedagogy and benefit from school experience across all phases from EYFS to KS5.

Impact

In the last 3 years, we have successfully taken an increasing number of ECTs through the programme at Bemrose and we have several ECTs currently on programme. Of those who have successfully completed their induction all have remained in teaching at Bemrose for the start of their career.

RECENTLY QUALIFIED TEACHERS

We recognise that many teachers are still developing aspects of their practice following their ECT years and we will continue to offer a structured programme of support.

In order to help with the transition from ECT to RQT, we continue the work that they will have been doing with a departmental mentor and prioritise their access to subject specific CPD. These staff will also be partnered with a member of the instructional coaching team to continue the work that they will have undertaken as part of their ECT programme.

Many of our recently qualified teachers are keen to begin taking a more active role in the wider school life and begin taking some responsibility and whilst this is encouraged, we need to ensure that it is carefully managed to ensure that development of teaching practice remains the priority.

Within the departments, whilst they will continue to work closely with their departmental mentor, support from the ECT Induction Tutor (S Baird) is still available.

Last year, some of our recently qualified staff, established extra curricula activities, worked with pastoral teams to gain insight into the role and delivered sessions to the ECTs and ITT students about their experiences and this will continue this year.

Recently Qualified Teachers will also benefit from support from one of the newly trained coaching team from June 2025.

Recently qualified teachers will be prioritised for teaching and learning support through lesson drop ins so that they continue to receive feedback to further their practice.