At Queensmead, we offer all of our staff members a variety of personalised and enriching CPD to help them with their teaching practice and career progression.
Early Careers Framework
We are delivering the two-year programme of training for Early Careers Teachers using resources provided by UCL, but adapted and delivered by a team of experienced mentors. Early Careers Teachers have an induction period in July, which prepares them for September, and have weekly mentor meetings with their mentors to support their progression.
Professional Qualifications
We have had numerous members of staff who have undertaken the prestigious DfE-funded National Professional Qualifications (NPQs). We have also arranged for, and supported, staff in getting qualified to become Mental Health Leads, SENCOs and Mental Health First Aiders. In addition to this, we have supported two members of staff in achieving a Masters qualification.
CPD Programme
Our CPD programme is constantly flexible and adapting, depending on the needs of our staff and students. Recently we have offered whole-school CPD in areas such as adaptive teaching, retrieval practice, challenge and active engagement. We have welcomed several high profile guest speakers in recent years, including Adam Boxer, Caroline Bentley-Davies and Bradley Busch from InnerDrive.
Also, as part of our CPD programme, we have regular SEND training from our SENCo, which includes strategies on how to support students with specific learning needs in lessons and how to deploy LSAs effectively.
Current research has highlighted the importance of subject-specific CPD in improving the quality of teaching and student outcomes. Consequently, we have built into our school calendar time dedicated to subject-specific training, where staff have the opportunity to improve their subject knowledge and pedagogy.
Teaching and Learning Newsletter
Every half term we send out a Teaching and Learning newsletter. This includes a huge variety of information related to teaching and learning, including tips and strategies related to our whole-school CPD priorities, book reviews by staff; shout-outs to staff from learning walks/observations; CPD opportunities and much more.
Teaching and Learning Thought for the Week (T+LTFTWs)
Every Monday after school, from 3.15-3.30pm, staff of all different experience-levels share ideas related to teaching and learning.
Teaching and Learning Resources for Staff
Staff have their own library dedicated to books on professional development.
Developing Staff
Investing in staff is a key element that contributes to a successful school and staff at Queensmead are constantly being offered exciting opportunities for progression and development. A wide variety of roles were offered to staff last academic year including Climate Change Coordinator; STEM Coordinator; Outreach Coordinator and Music Promotion Coordinator to name a few.
Pre-training scheme
We are fortunate to have a number of support staff who join Queensmead School as a stepping stone into teaching. For these members of staff, we have put together a unique programme of study to introduce them to teaching. This programme is designed to lead into the Early Careers Framework.
Pre-training scheme
To ensure that our expectations for effective lessons are consistent across the school we have designed a set of Teaching and Learning Values. Staff are encouraged to use these when planning and observing lessons. Please find a copy of the Teaching and Learning values here.
Subject Specific CPD
Current research has highlighted the importance of subject-specific CPD in improving the quality of teaching and student outcomes. We have built into our school calendar time dedicated to subject-specific training, where staff have the opportunity to improve their subject knowledge and pedagogy.