This is a course for anyone new to dyslexia 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 tendencies 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.

The aim of this course is for those new or experienced leading a team of support staff in school. It focuses on how to be a team player, as often the transition to a leader from being a team member yourself, can be fraught with challenges. Here we look at different methods of enabling a team to be effective and choosing a method of working with the team, which supports your aims and keeps you in control. We look at how keeping a child centred approach, enables you to monitor impact and challenge performance. 

Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs are needs that can be an obstacle to formal learning in a similar way to other SENDs, and yet the differentiation for learning is sometimes hazy. In addition, some pupils with SEMH also have other SENDs – how do you account for both in your classroom? 

This course gives you an overview of practical approaches and solutions to supporting the needs of these young people – how to prevent behaviour getting in the way of learning and how to support the pupils’ strengths to help them understand that education can be for them too. 

This online course explores the issues and offer some practical solutions for FE college leaders to implement immediately.

The teaching profession is a leaky sieve and the prevalence of unfulfilled teaching posts as well as a growth in the numbers of unqualified teachers in our colleges is proving to be both costly and damaging. One in 10 teachers left the profession in 2016. Of these, an increasing proportion left the profession for other sectors rather than retiring, suggesting working conditions rather than age were driving them out. So, why are teachers quitting the profession in record numbers? Although there are myriad reasons, topping the table in every survey is workload... 

For example, a report by CooperGibson Research on behalf of the Department for Education entitled ‘Factors affecting teacher retention: qualitative investigation’ published in March 2018, found that workload remained the most important factor influencing teachers’ decisions to leave the professionand most solutions to address retention were linked in some way to workload.

So, the theory is simple: reduce teacher workload and solve the teacher retention crisis.  But how can we reduce teacher workload without adversely affecting student outcomes?  And is it just about cutting workload or might it also be about changing the nature of the work that teachers are expected to do?

 

Ready to move up and take on more responsibility? Our “Step Up to the Role of Higher Level Teaching Assistant” course is designed to boost your skills and confidence, helping you transition smoothly into a more influential role at your school. Discover practical tips and proven strategies that will empower you to support your classroom more effectively, all while advancing your professional journey.

The aim of this course is for those new or experienced leading a team of support staff in school. It’s about standing back from the day to day actions and engagements to reflect on the kind of leader you really want to be. Looking at the qualities of great leaders, you will be encouraged to reflect on your own existing skills and skills you may want to develop. Some of the pitfalls such as losing confidence in yourself or struggling with the challenging conversations are also addressed, giving you food for thought and clear areas for personal development.

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.  It addresses the professional standards for teaching assistants and provides you with the skills, knowledge and understanding you'll need to maximise your impact in your role, and enable you to enjoy it too!

The course covers:

• Personal and professional conduct
• Knowledge and understanding
• Teaching and learning
• Working with others 

This course is suitable for solo study or for delivery by a team leader to a group.  At the end of each section, a module sharing extra advice and guidance is provided for team leaders wishing to cascade this training to their teams.

Sleep is absolutely vital for positive physical and emotional wellbeing. This course will give you an understanding of how sleep works and why it’s so important. We will look at some of the potential barriers to getting a good quality night’s sleep and then give you some practical strategies and tips to help improve sleep. If you are a parent this course will also help you to understand a bit more about supporting your child to get a good night’s sleep.

The biggest jump from TA to HLTA for most is the introduction of ‘Professional Skills’, that is the expectations around planning, teaching and learning, monitoring and assessment. Whereas TAs are very much directed by teachers, stepping up to working with and contributing to these areas can be daunting. Here we take this section of the professional standards for HLTAs and look at which approaches, theories and structure can help guide you in making the best decisions when monitoring and assessing. This course is therefore aimed at TAs aspiring to become HLTAs, or HLTAs wishing to develop their knowledge in this area.

Research and surveys tell us that high quality instruction is one of the most important influences on student outcomes. This course is based on research on how effective instruction works.  

Newly and recently qualified teachers finding their feet with their first classes will find this course invaluable.  It explores a wide range of topics and issues to help those newer to the role of teacher to overcome common challenges and really flourish in the role.  This course will build skills and confidence and providing a wealth of ideas to try right away in the classroom and is suitable either to be worked through individually, with a mentor or as part of a peer support group. During the course you'll cover:

• Passing the induction year
• Classroom management
• Time & people management
• Putting pedagogical theory into practice
• Providing pastoral and SEND support
• Mental health: yours' and your students'

This is a playback of a past live webinar.  How can we create a culture where boys have high aspirations and their potential is maximised?  There is no simple or one size fits all answer to this question, but in this session we’ll explore a range of ideas that have worked well in everything from changing whole school cultures to supporting individuals to flourish.

Every student deserves a chance to shine. Our “Understanding Special Needs in Schools” course is designed to give you the simple, practical tools you need to support students with extra needs. Through easy-to-follow sessions, you'll learn how to turn everyday challenges into opportunities for growth—both for you and the children you work with.

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Teachers can feel nervous about providing their pupils with mental health support. They can feel under-qualified, inexperienced and lack confidence. The result can be that some pupils’ needs are ignored. But helping our pupils with their mental health doesn’t have to be so hard. This course offers practical ways for leaders to give their school community care and support when they need it most. 

This is a course for anyone new to ADHD 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 tendencies 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.

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. The expectations around knowledge and understanding is shifting from training being ‘given’ to staff, to TA’s sharing responsibility to ensure their own knowledge is up to date. With support from the school TA’s should be looking to gain qualifications or experiences and from this, be able to demonstrate theses expertise in their role.  Here we explore how TA’s may do this, where to look and what may be good routes to explore. 

This is a recording of a past webinar, Pooky explore 5 simple ideas for engaging with parents and carers whose personal experiences of schools mean that they are fearful or untrusting of school and are less likely to engage. There is no quick win, but these simple ideas which don't need to cost anything to implement have worked well in many schools.”

This is a playback of a past live webinar.  How can you hit the ground running in the first year – and especially when that first year coincides with a global pandemic? During this one hour webinar you’ll explore a range of tried and tested strategies for having an early impact in the role as well as exploring some common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

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. The expectations around how teaching assistants present themselves can often be based on a set of ‘unwritten rules’ that are deduced through careful watching and mirroring. It is therefore hard to know when you may have ‘crossed the line’ as without a guide to professional conduct how do you know? Here we look at the professional standards set out around the area and specifically talk about what these may look like in a real life/school context.