Continuing Professional dEvelopment 22/23

Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.” Dylan Wiliam

At St Marys Catholic High School, we strive to have a developmental culture. Great teaching happens when teachers are inspired to make continuous improvement. A supportive professional environment has powerful potential for progress.

As part of the whole school CPD programme all teachers in school make a collective commitment to engage in development of their pedagogy and subject knowledge. The development programme this year has a half termly teaching and learning focus, enabling staff to make long lasting improvement and impact.

Half Term One – Behaviour and Relationships

Half Term Two – Curriculum Planning

Half Term Three – Explanation and Modelling

Half Term Four – Questioning and Feedback

Half Term Five – Practice and Retrieval

Half Term Six – Reflection and Adaptation

During each half term staff receive expert input from within St Mary’s. Staff then identify three specific research informed teaching techniques to develop their pedagogy. 

These techniques are; one whole school technique, one departmental technique and one individual technique. One technique to develop as a teaching staff body as part of our collective responsibility, one technique to develop as a departmental team and one technique to develop individual teaching practice.

These techniques are proudly displayed in all classrooms across school, showing the whole St Mary’s community that we are developmental and that for us, there is no such thing as “good enough”.

Truly powerful CPD does not just change what people think but also what people do.

With over 100 teaching staff at St Mary’s, this year there will be over 1800 instances of explicit professional development, changing what we do, having significant positive impact on our learners.

Mr D Haste – Senior Assistant Headteacher – Teaching and Learning