There are a whole series of issues that we can expect to see in our pupils in the coming months.  To help you spot the signs and take appropriate action, I’ve outlined a range of potential concerns, when to worry and suggested next steps.  

Maths is like Marmite, some love it, some shudder at the mere thought of it. However, teaching Maths doesn’t have to feel scary! This course is designed to support those who want to become confident when delivering all types of Maths lessons. We will explore efficient preparation before a lesson and how small changes can make BIG differences in your teaching and the children’s learning.  

In this course, Matt Bromley explores the second of his three steps of teaching for long-term learning: ensuring students think hard but efficiently about curriculum content in order to encode it into long-term memory.  Matt argues, in order to learn, students must accept the challenge of hard work and this means pitching lessons in students’ struggle zones so that it is hard but achievable.  Sometimes, in order to make students think, we must introduce desirable difficulties, artificial blocks and barriers that slow down students’ thinking, induce cognitive strain and therefore ensure information is actively processed.  One effective means of pitching learning is to teach to the top.  To help students focus on the curriculum content to be learned, we should make use of teacher explanations and modelling, as well as questioning and classroom discussion.  But we must also help them to avoid cognitive overload by providing a means of thinking efficiently and cheating the limitations of working memory capacity.     As well as being useful for individual CPD for teachers, this course could form the basis of whole-school INSET.   

In this course, Matt Bromley explores the importance of teachers and the quality of their teaching on student outcomes.  He shares some of the habits adopted by effective teachers, defines the complex process of ‘learning’, and explains the difference between ‘performance’ and ‘learning’.  He then sets out his three steps to long-term learning that can help teachers to plan and deliver effective lessons and help students to ensure that what they learn today, they can remember and apply tomorrow.      As well as being useful for individual CPD for teachers, this course could form the basis of whole-school INSET. 

In this course, Matt Bromley explains the differences between the 2019 EIF and its predecessor, the Common Inspection Framework (CIF), and why the inspection regime has changed. Matt provides an overview of the 2019 framework and the schools inspection handbook and explains the methodology of inspection. He also dedicates a module to each of the four key judgments: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. As well as being useful for individual CPD for school leaders, this course could form the basis of SLT discussions or whole-school training. This course has been developed by Matt Bromley who has over twenty years’ experience in teaching and leadership including as a headteacher and a director of education. He is now a school improvement advisor, teacher-trainer and public speaker. He regularly speaks at national and international conferences, and he is a regular contributor to a number of education magazines including TES and SecEd. He is the author of a number of books on education including How to Learn and School & College Curriculum Design.

Supply teaching, NQTs, trainees, cover supervisors, Covid19 lockdown rotas and ‘oh, Sue’s away – can you just cover her year 9s period 4?’…throughout our teaching careers there are many times that we will be required to cover classes and teach lessons that we may have had little or no time to prepare for. This course gives you an overview and practical solutions to establishing relationships with pupils when you might only have 47 mins with 34 of them.

During this course, Pooky summarises a simple, evidence-based approach to promoting resilience in the face of adversity.  You’ll learn about the evidence underpinning the approach and how the 4Ps of parents, peers, problem-solving and passion can be used as a framework for promoting resilience in the children in your care using a very simple action planning template which focuses on both risk and protective factors. This course has been developed by Dr Pooky Knightsmith, an internationally recognised mental health expert and author. The content is based on a paper commissioned by Health Education England and Young Minds as part of the ‘Addressing Adversity’ project.  Pooky has run workshops on the 4Ps approach across the UK and internationally and this simple, evidence based approach has provided a practical focus colleagues from across a wide range of settings.

This is a course for anyone who is working with pupils with autistic tendencies or diagnosis. Following on from our ‘Spot and Support Autism’, we take a more in depth look at how being on the Autistic Spectrum can affect attainment in school. We will unpick the triad of impairment; the 3 core areas that help define ASC and develop our understanding of how a child may be operating within these. From here we can unpick the areas of the English curriculum which present the most challenges. Most importantly we’ll look at what practically we can do to support our pupils navigate what can often be a very difficult, confusing and unfulfilling journey. 

In this course, Matt Bromley defines metacognition and self-regulation and explains what it looks like in the classroom.  He also walks you through six practical teaching strategies you could adopt in the classroom to help teach, model and promote your students’ metacognition and self-regulation skills. As well as being useful for individual CPD, this course could also form the basis of group discussions or training in-school, perhaps as part of a teacher learning community or lesson study project.

In this course, Matt Bromley shares his tips for managing your time and working with other adults in school. Matt looks at the types of people you’ll need to work with in your new school including your headteacher and subject leader. He then homes in on how to forge an effective working relationship with your teaching assistant (TA). Matt then turns his attention to time management, offering some practical tips to ensure that you maintain a healthy work life balance and don’t burn out. Finally, he shares some tips for making a success of lesson planning. As well as being useful for individual CPD for new teachers, this course could form the basis of coaching and mentoring activity in schools.

This is a course for anyone new to Autism and wanting to find out more about it. It aims to give you the basics so that you can start to identify pupils who may be displaying traits and work with those pupils to support their needs. We’ll therefore give you advice and simple ideas you can put into practice straight away and approaches to adapt and trial. It may be that the pupil needs further support so we’ll talk about what other avenues you may want to pursue. Great for teachers new to the profession, support staff or anyone wanting to check their understanding and support pupils to have the best possible outcomes.

Eating disorders are really hard to understand and can leave us very worried about doing and saying the wrong thing, fearful that we’ll make things worse. Consequently, many people do not try to help at all. In this course I’ve tried to help you build your current strengths and understanding to give you some ideas about how to support a child or young person with an eating disorder even though you’re not an expert. You won’t get it right all the time, none of us do… but these simple ideas will build your confidence and enable you to make a difference to any child you are working with or caring for regardless of your role and experience.

Wellbeing action plans are an evidence-based approach to promoting wellbeing.  They can be used by children or adults and give a clear, simple framework for staying well. This course gives you an overview of the different elements of a wellbeing action plan and some clear pointers for developing an effective plan.  The framework provided can help to clarify your thoughts and actions whether it’s your own wellbeing that you’re looking to promote or if you’re supporting a pupil or colleague.  The process of writing the plan is every bit as important as actually implementing it and this is especially true when it comes to planning ahead for the holidays with more vulnerable pupils. This course is suitable for anyone interested in developing a wellbeing action plan for themselves or in supporting a child or adult to write one. The course has been developed and delivered by Dr Pooky Knightsmith, a mental health expert who has supported hundreds of adults and children to develop wellbeing action plans through workshops and also through her book “The Mentally Health Schools Workbook” which has an entire chapter dedicated to supporting staff to develop wellbeing action plans.

In this course you will learn about the characteristics of Pathological Demand Avoidance - PDA, a profile of the autism spectrum. Children who present as demand avoidant will also have high levels of anxiety, making everyday tasks seem overwhelming to them and result in refusing, withdrawing or shutting down to avoid doing things.  This can be very challenging in a school environment and can often be overlooked or misinterpreted. We will look at all the ways that a child may present with PDA and how to spot the triggers alongside strategies to help support these children. While autism approaches may be helpful for addressing sensory issues we will also look at the flexible and collaborative approaches that are needed for the child who is demand avoidant.  This course will help you to learn new creative strategies and knowledge to support the child in school as well as enabling the child to feel understood and supported through their time in education. This course is for anyone who would like to gain greater knowledge of PDA and be better equipped to support the child in feeling able to engage with their environment and learning.

In this course, which is the first of three courses on the subject of effective differentiation, Matt Bromley explores some possible dangers of traditional approaches to differentiation and advocates ‘teaching to the top’ for all pupils.  He explains what this might look like in practice, including through the adoption of a mastery learning model.    

As well as being useful for individual CPD for teachers, this course could form the basis of in-school departmental training.   

This course has been developed by Matt Bromley who has over twenty years’ experience in teaching and leadership including as headteacher, principal and MAT director of education.  He is an experienced teacher of English and successful former head of department.  He is now a school improvement advisor, teacher-trainer and public speaker.  He regularly speaks at national and international conferences, and he is a regular contributor to a number of education magazines including TES and SecEd.  He is the author of a number of books on education including How to Learn and School & College Curriculum Design.  

In this course, Matt Bromley shares his tips for managing your classroom. He explores ways of creating a classroom environment that’s conducive to learning, shares top tips for managing behaviour, including how to deal with five common forms of misbehaviour, and explores the role that rewards and sanctions play in classroom management. As well as being useful for individual CPD for new teachers, this course could form the basis of coaching and mentoring activity in schools.

In this course, Matt Bromley shares his tips for making a success of your NQT year. He will explore ways to ensure you pass your induction year, how to take your first steps as an NQT in a new school, and exhort the importance of taking it one term at a time. He will also share advice on how to develop your presence in the classroom. As well as being useful for individual CPD for new teachers, this course could form the basis of coaching and mentoring activity in schools.

When a friend, colleague or member of your community is bereaved, it can be difficult to know what to say or do.  In this course, I walk through some simple ideas to give you confidence in providing the right kind and amount of support to an adult who is grieving.

In this course, which is the third of three courses on the subject of behaviour management, Matt Bromley shares ten top tips for managing behaviour, shares three principles to guide your behaviour management approaches, and articulates the importance of developing a presence in the classroom to exude authority and control. As well as being useful for individual CPD for teachers, this course could form the basis of whole-school training or 121 coaching.

In this course, which is the second of three courses on the subject of effective differentiation, Matt Bromley explores the importance of lowering the threat level in our classrooms so that all pupils can accept the challenge of hard work and achieve.  He shares five strategies for engendering the growth mindset in our classrooms and explains the importance of high expectations.  He shares two practical strategies for identifying pupils’ ‘struggle zones’ so that work is pitched appropriately, and he analyses some of the most common methods of in-class differentiation. As well as being useful for individual CPD for teachers, this course could form the basis of in-school departmental training.