Case Study:
Yorkmead Primary School

Many schools were looking for alternative CPD solutions after the coronavirus pandemic hit, with remote learning becoming the new normal.

Yorkmead Primary School were impressed by our platform’s complete online functionality and the opportunities it provided for continuous professional development throughout an unprecedented time.

Accessibility despite adversity

Having the scope to improve the quality of staff training while reducing overheads was too good to turn down for Yorkmead.

Deputy Headteacher Nadine Abeng said: “We signed up to The National College with a dual purpose. Firstly, due to the pandemic, it made CPD accessible for us.

“The idea of being able to move to an online model really spoke to us, as we could get several staff members trained up. It also really has helped us to upskill our teachers and subsequently keep our costs down.

“We can say to staff that we’re having a CPD afternoon and, that at some point between certain dates we’d like them to have a look at a certain webinar, along with adding training to the watchlists for them too.”

A flexible mobile app

Utilising our new mobile app, Mrs Abeng revealed that staff have been able to undertake CPD at times which suit them – a crucial possibility in challenging times.

“There were several other aspects of The National College too, like your app which comes with the subscription, which means that our staff can do CPD on their terms,” she explained.

“They can do it on their phone on the way home from work, at the weekend and at a time which suits them. It also means that we can be far more flexible in terms of when teachers are actually in the building.”

Reducing disruption

Things are frequently changing it seems, but with a school membership through The National College, the Birmingham-based school are confident that they’re equipped to have “seamless progression” when it comes to staff training.

She stated: “Being the administrator, I like being able to see how far along staff are, I can send reminders to staff who haven’t completed certain tasks and I can also log other CPD which they’ve had. I can have our entire CPD record in one place, which I haven’t been able to have as an option before.

“It’s a name that we trust. We know that the training is going to be of a very high quality and it always comes from renowned experts within the education field.

“The ability to keep the seamless progression of training alongside school closures, bubbles and having limited staff in school has been absolutely invaluable to us.

“It’s really transformed the way we do CPD. We really like the remote aspect of it and the autonomy which it gives teachers.”