Image of Woodland Academy Trust

Case Study:
Woodland Academy Trust

Catering for a family of primary schools in the London Borough of Bexley and North Kent, the Woodland Academy Trust have used The National College to roll out statutory training to their entire school workforce.

Looking for a slicker, more streamlined platform with which to offer high-quality CPD, the trust have been delighted with the ease in which stakeholders can complete statutory and also personal interest training.

We spoke with Chloe Cunningham, Trust Business Associate and Lauren Claxton, Strategic Coordinator at the trust, to garner their thoughts on using our award-winning remote video CPD.

Getting started with The National College

An obvious deciding factor in choosing a provider was the quality of training on offer, and The National College triumphed with regards to this.

Speaking about the decision to solely undertake CPD training with The National College, Chloe explained: “I reviewed the standard of training and the overview of what you can offer and ultimately decided that you do the better package, which is why we’ve gone solely with The National College for our training.

“It’s not monotone, it’s not boring and I find that it gets to the point. Whereas with other training we’ve done, we found that it’s read from a PowerPoint and you (The National College) don’t do that, which is so much more engaging.

“Normally, when I say that statutory training is coming up, we get the groans, but we’ve not had that this year, because it’s so much more relevant.

“It’s definitely more engaging and it appeals to us more with it being school focused.”

Completing statutory training

All staff have bought into the ethos of undertaking training, and this has really been evident across the trust’s family of schools.

“We’ve recently appointed a new Safeguarding Lead and she’s also doing her safeguarding training through The National College too,” Lauren revealed.

She continued: “It’s really handy for our governors as well, because it’s all in one place. Because they’re not staff members, they’re not in school and, especially in these times as well, it’s been a good tool for them to have.

“All of our staff have to complete a set number. We do the GDPR with you, all the safeguarding for DSLs, safer recruitment, health & safety in schools – so all of our staff have to do that as a minimum, Chloe highlighted.

“We have noticed that other certificates are on there for people, so they are going off on their own initiative to do more specific training for themselves.

“With you having such a variety, that’s perfect for staff to be able to get so much from The National College, without having to look into other areas.”

Overwhelming benefits

A theme throughout their assessment of The National College was that constant efficiency that you simply don’t get elsewhere – which subsequently makes all staff’s lives easier during these challenging times.

Chloe said: “I know that the School Business Managers have been chuffed that they can log on and see the certificates, do the reporting, whereas with other providers we’ve had to keep a manual spreadsheet.

“Just having that one membership where it’s all in one place, is really beneficial.”