‘Teachers are the foundation of the education system – there are no great schools without great teachers. The quality of teaching is the single most important in-school factor for improving pupil outcomes.’

^{Teacher Training and Development, DfE April 2021}

Balcarras Teaching School hub facilitates outstanding training and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for all teachers. The extensive courses that we offer are delivered by worldclass specialists and practitioners and are designed to ensure all staff are supported in their training and development at all stages of their careers.

Balcarras Teaching School Hub will be offering two forms of CPD for teachers accross the hub region. 

1 - CPD Project Groups:

These groups are action research focused and have been approved by the DfE. This will be a group of 10-15 teachers who follow a program and meet 3 times over the course of 6-12 months. Our first project group will be launched in September. The title is 'Supporting the Social, Emotional and Mental health needs of students with Physical Disabilites'. It will be led by Louise Young the SENDCO at Balcarras School. If you are interested in being part of this group then do let us know.

2 - Network clusters:

Gloucestershire has historically been a county of huge collaboration when it comes to networking. The aim of Balcarras TS Hub is to continue that work by facilitating networks across the county. This will include Subject networks at secondary level, Primary networks, EYFS, SEND, transition groups, leadership networks and any other network that we think will support teachers and school staff at all stages of their career. 

Our aim is to do an audit of the networks currently in place and then to support the continuation of those groups, plus to introduce new networks. We will carry this audit out in the Autumn term and hope to have some running by October. If you currently run a network, or are keen to be involved in setting one up then please do get in touch. 

Curriculum Hubs

As part of our role as a Teaching School Hub we can signpost you to other CPD being delivered by Curriculum Hubs and Research Schools in the region. For more information on the Hubs and their offer click on the link. 

The DfE have a list of approved CPD provision and you can find that here: