Image of Abbey Park School

Case Study:
Abbey Park School

Providing innovative ways for staff to undertake high-quality CPD is a challenge for schools and colleges, even without the disruption caused by Covid-19.

That’s no different in the case of Abbey Park School in Wiltshire, who’ve been able to utilise our remote video update service in order to keep staff up to speed with their own personal development.

We recently spoke with Vice-Principal, Laura Hunter, who explained the value of having a school membership with The National College during what is a demanding time for all.

The power of remote CPD

With our platform and remote learning hub offering the opportunity for educators to dip in and out of training whenever they choose, Abbey Park have been delighted at the flexibility afforded to them.

Speaking about the remote CPD capability which The National College offers, Mrs Hunter said: “It’s been really good!

“I always give staff what I like to call a ‘CPD menu’, which gives them the title and a brief of what it does.

“Staff always send me across their certificates, so that I can keep a spreadsheet of what everyone’s completed, just so I can see the range and the different titles.

“Everybody was really positive and they really liked the fact that we’ve allowed them to personalise it.”

Responding to policy updates and changes

At The National College, we pride ourselves on responding quickly to the latest policy, practice and research, which therefore gives senior leaders the essential information they need, fast.

Mrs Hunter was quick to praise the speed at which subsequent CPD has come the school’s way and says that it’s invaluable to staff.

“The National College is live information and is very quick at responding to an update that’s happened, and then having the CPD to follow it,” she explained.

“That’s what made it attractive to us and, particularly with staff working remotely, we could keep them up to date with policy changes.

“With The National College’s training normally being around half-an-hour to an-hour-and-a-half maximum, it means that it’s short and sharp and you get the information which you need.”

A positive response across the board

The response as a whole has been overwhelmingly positive says Mrs Hunter, with a breadth of CPD being completed by vast numbers of the workforce.

She revealed: “A lot of staff have undertaken the webinars on scaffolding, metacognition and they’ve done either the training on structured remote learning or facilitating remote learning.

“We’ve also been doing a lot of work on retrieval – so things like the high-quality feedback and mastery, along with spacing and retrieval, which have been quite popular as well.

“It’s been the pace of updates, the range of CPD on offer and the ability that staff can take ownership of it that have really stood out for us.”