Broadford Primary Accredited As Teaching School

We were delighted to hear this July that our application to become a National Teaching School had been accepted. As a teaching school, we will identify, develop and co-ordinate expertise for the benefit of pupils across a network of schools, resulting in:

• better results for pupils
• fewer poorly performing schools
• more good and outstanding schools
• a self-improving and sustainable system
• There are 6 core areas of responsibility for teaching schools.

In addition we will be responsible at Broadford for developing 3 key areas for the benefit of not just our pupils, but all of those in Havering.

1. School-led initial teacher training
We expect  to develop opportunities to provide school-led initial teacher training.

• lead the development of school-led initial teacher training through School Direct or by gaining accreditation as an initial teacher training provider
• take an active role in the recruitment and selection of trainee teachers
• have a clear plan for teacher training, including:
• give access to outstanding lessons and teachers for observation and planning
• provide mentoring training and development
• provide quality assurance
• co-ordination of initial teacher training with professional development opportunities

2. Continuing professional development
We expect to offer a range of professional development opportunities for teachers and school support staff, extending our strong learning culture to schools we work with. These must build on initial teacher training and induction. We will:

• identify the best teachers and leaders from across the alliance to provide school-based professional development
• tailor development to meet the specific needs of schools
• offer coaching and mentoring
• evaluate the impact of professional development across the alliance
• offer opportunities for formal accreditation or school-based research

3. Supporting other schools
We expect to lead the co-ordination of school-to-school support. This usually involves working with a school or academy in challenging circumstances to bring about improvement.

We will need to identify priorities in our area and support under-performing schools and academies. Local authorities, dioceses and chains may also work with us to support schools in need of improvement.

We will help to ensure that the best leaders are working to improve the quality of teaching and leadership where it is most needed.

This includes deciding how to use the services of system leaders to provide support to other schools, such as:

• middle and senior leaders working as specialist leaders of education
• headteachers working as local and national leaders of education
• chairs of governors working as national leaders of governance
• Information on these can be found in our guide to system leader roles.

4. Identifying and developing leadership potential
We expect to develop successful succession planning strategies to identify and develop people to fill leadership positions in the future.

To meet this responsibility, we will:

• develop future headteachers to help meet the most pressing national needs in primary, small rural, special, challenging urban/coastal and faith schools
• take action to help to more women and leaders from black and minority ethnic backgrounds to become senior leaders
• put processes in place to identify potential leaders in areas of need
• develop potential leaders within and across your schools
• build strategic governance and partnerships in order to make decisions about developing and placing potential leaders

It is a great opportunity to develop the culture at Broadford further and use the progress we have made to have a positive impact on others in our local and national school communities.

Gill Gordon - Chair of Governors