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Case Study:
St. Hugh’s Primary Voluntary Academy

“It’s about the breadth of the programme; it’s about flexibility and ease of use; it’s about cost of the package. But it’s the quality of content that’s the real determining factor in our choice of CPD - and we’ll definitely sign up again.”

These are the words of Gregory Hughes, who has been Headteacher for 17 years at St Hugh’s Primary Voluntary Academy.

Gregory is speaking about renewing his school’s subscription to School Membership, which is empowering the whole school workforce via an ever-growing library of video CPD.

The importance of CPD

St. Hugh’s Primary Voluntary Academy place a huge focus on ensuring that they deliver high-quality and informative CPD to their staff.

"I think the professional development of everyone, at whatever stage of their career, is very important," Gregory explained.

"You always need training to update and expand your knowledge of education."

Impressed with our CPD offering, St. Hugh’s Primary Voluntary Academy opted to sign up for School Membership.

Ease of access

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, St. Hugh’s Primary Voluntary Academy knew that staff needed to be able to access CPD remotely. Our state-of-the-art online learning platform enables them to do just that, and dip in and out of CPD whenever and wherever convenient.

"We learnt from lockdown that you can actually get that quality of provision by going online," he explained.

"What I like about the whole package, which is very reasonable in terms of cost, is that you can pause, resume and re-visit any webinar at any point you wish."

A tailored approach to CPD

We are quick to respond to an ever-evolving education sector, with webinars and courses delivered in conjunction with experts in the field, providing insight and guidance on the latest policy, practice and research.

Gregory commented: “With The National College, you can put together a CPD plan which reflects specific roles, responsibilities and subject areas."

Gregory drew attention our series of deep-dive webinars which has helped staff to evaluate current provision and consider taking fresh approach to curriculum delivery to enhance pupil outcomes.

"What I thought was very good is that for each subject, there are webinars which address curriculum intent, implementation and impact. It really has helped teachers to drill down into teaching and learning, which they have found really helpful."

"It is so up to date; it's made them feel really on top of their subject," he added.

CPD for the whole school workforce

"We decided to sign up for School Membership, as it gives all staff unlimited access to all CPD, and there is subject matter appliable to all. We can watch webinars together at a staff meeting or highlight certain subjects for independent viewing."

"It's been really positive."

There are a number of key considerations when choosing a CPD provider, but for this Lincoln-based school, quality comes first.

“It’s about the breadth of the programme; it’s about flexibility and ease of use; it’s about cost of the package. But it’s the quality of content that’s the real determining factor in our choice of CPD - and we’ll definitely sign up again.”