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.

This is a playback of a past live webinar. During this webinar, Pooky explored some simple steps to take us a little closer to meeting the mental health needs of every member of our school or college community.

This is a great course for all teaching assistants, especially those new to the role, or new to a school and helpful for supporting and training colleagues. With the majority of teaching assistants expected to lead an intervention at some point during the week, it is often the case that no formal training has been given. Here we take a step by step walk through the key areas that need to be considered in order to run a successful intervention and give you the confidence to adapt and amend plans for the benefit of your pupils.

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 these two linked courses, Matt Bromley explores the vital role transition plays in pupils’ academic and pastoral progress in school. He explains why transition matters, shares five broad categories of school life - sometimes referred to as 'bridges' - in which the transition process can be improved and three features by which an effective transition can be measured. Matt also explains how to make best use of transition days and how to support the transition of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. He argues the importance of collaboration, saying that what is needed is long-term, genuine and sustainable collaboration between schools.  Matt sets out what effective collaboration might look like in practice.  He then turns his attention to the particulars of primary to secondary transition, transitions within KS3, and from KS3 to KS4, and secondary to post-16 transition. As well as being useful for individual CPD for primary and secondary school leaders, this course could form the basis of SLT discussions or whole-school training. The two courses in this mini series are: Plan an Effective Transition for Your Students and Make Transitions Work for Every Student (inclusion)

In these two linked courses, Matt Bromley explores the vital role transition plays in pupils’ academic and pastoral progress in school. He explains why transition matters, shares five broad categories of school life - sometimes referred to as 'bridges' - in which the transition process can be improved and three features by which an effective transition can be measured. Matt also explains how to make best use of transition days and how to support the transition of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND. He argues the importance of collaboration, saying that what is needed is long-term, genuine and sustainable collaboration between schools.  Matt sets out what effective collaboration might look like in practice.  He then turns his attention to the particulars of primary to secondary transition, transitions within KS3, and from KS3 to KS4, and secondary to post-16 transition. As well as being useful for individual CPD for primary and secondary school leaders, this course could form the basis of SLT discussions or whole-school training. The two courses in this mini series are: Plan an Effective Transition for Your Students and Make Transitions Work for Every Student (inclusion)

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 second of three courses on the subject of securing a SLT position, Matt Bromley talks about the recruitment process.  He offers advice on writing the covering letter and application, and on preparing for and performing well in panel interviews and during the presentation. As well as being useful for individual CPD, this course could form the basis of in-school 121 coaching for prospective members of SLT.

In this course, which is the third of three courses on the subject of securing a SLT position, Matt Bromley concludes his exploration of the recruitment process by looking at simulations such as team meetings, at written tasks such as the in-tray exercise, and at the final interview.  He then explores what great senior leaders do once appointed. 

As well as being useful for individual CPD, this course could form the basis of in-school 121 coaching for prospective members of SLT. 

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.

In this course, Matt Bromley explores three waves of differentiation and support: quality first teaching; in-class differentiation; and additional interventions.  He also examines the role of the teaching assistant in providing differentiated support to lower-performing pupils and those with SEND. As well as being useful for individual CPD for teachers, this course could form the basis of in-school departmental training.