Curriculum

Course objectives

• to explore strategies to enthuse and support pupils through the writing process
• to explore opportunities for pupils to demonstrate ‘assured and conscious control over levels of formality’ based on an understanding of audience and purpose.

Participants will:

• use high-quality reading experiences as a stimulus to motivate and enable pupils to produce sustained and engaging pieces of writing with a clear sense of audience and purpose, covering both fiction and non-fiction
• explore opportunities for pupils to demonstrate ‘assured and conscious control over levels of formality’ based on an understanding of audience and purpose
• consider ways to enable pupils to make appropriate vocabulary choices. There will also be a brief focus on the high-level punctuation required to be assessed at greater depth

Session dates and times:

• 04 February @ 3.45 – 5.15pm
• 11 February @ 3.45 – 5.15pm

A new course offered to Humanities subject leaders to support them in understanding the implications of the new Ofsted framework on their leadership role. The new Ofsted Framework focuses on ensuring that learners receive a high-quality education, through the school’s rich curriculum offer. This 1 day course is aimed at empowering History subject leaders to:

• Understand the implications of the new Ofsted framework on their leadership role
• Explore how intent, implementation and impact relate to each other within the context of a school’s History curriculum
• Consider the key elements of a ‘Deep Dive’ in History.
• Evaluate practical ways to drive forward improvements in History.

Leaders will also have the opportunity to consider:

• What knowledge and understanding are pupils expected to gain at each stage of their schooling and in each subject?
• How does our whole-school curriculum hang together?
• How does the school’s context inform the curriculum?
• Do pupils know more and remember more of the planned curriculum? How does this compare to expectations?

This 2 session course will support Maths subject leaders and class teachers, especially those in Year 4, in developing the approach to teaching multiplication tables across the school, including preparation for the multiplication tables check in Year 4.

It will cover:

• A whole school approach to the teaching and learning of times tables
• Securing conceptual knowledge and quick recall of multiplication tables
• The requirements of the multiplication tables check in Year 4
• The impact of games and ICT to support the learning of multiplication tables

Session 1 will be delivered via an online platform. Session 2 will be delivered at our usual venue in Causton Street, SW1.

Please see Session 1 to book your place ›

Course objectives

• to explore strategies to enthuse and support pupils through the writing process
• to explore opportunities for pupils to demonstrate ‘assured and conscious control over levels of formality’ based on an understanding of audience and purpose.

Participants will:

• use high-quality reading experiences as a stimulus to motivate and enable pupils to produce sustained and engaging pieces of writing with a clear sense of audience and purpose, covering both fiction and non-fiction
• explore opportunities for pupils to demonstrate ‘assured and conscious control over levels of formality’ based on an understanding of audience and purpose
• consider ways to enable pupils to make appropriate vocabulary choices. There will also be a brief focus on the high-level punctuation required to be assessed at greater depth

Session dates and times:

• 04 February @ 3.45 – 5.15pm
• 11 February @ 3.45 – 5.15pm

 Please see Day 1 to book your place ›

This one day course, suitable for teachers and subject leaders, will support schools with developing effective assessment procedures. Participants will explore possible models for assessing both science knowledge and skills. The course will focus on both formative assessment for learning and making robust summative judgements.

• Developing assessment for learning strategies
• Expectations for science assessment
• Different models used to assess science

Naomi Hiscock works for the Science Learning Centre London as a trainer, delivering INSET both at The Centre based at the Institute of Education and in schools.

This new course is being offered to Phonics and Reading leaders and phase/middle leaders to support them in understanding their leadership role. This course will support you as you revise and enhance the application of Phonics in Reading and Writing by:

• Evaluating the quality of teaching in phonics and early reading
• Using data to identify key trends in communication and language, phonics and reading links across the EYFS, KS1 and KS2
• Using resources effectively to support high quality teaching, including the use of decodable texts.

Resources will be available to purchase at an extra cost at the end of the session.

The course will be led by a highly experienced early reading and phonics consultant who has trained leaders, teachers and teaching assistants nationally and internationally and was an approved supplier of phonics training under the DfE matched funding scheme (2011-2013)

• “This course is very good, all very helpful and good to listen to how other teachers/leaders are delivering and closing gaps.”
• “If only Raj Mehta’s courses were free! I would attend them all.”

This practical course focuses on how to teach reading to ensure that pupils make the necessary progress from KS1 to KS2. In two 90 minute sessions, we will explore the complexities of reading comprehension and reflect on what we do as ‘good’ readers to help develop our pupils’ ability to make sense of text.

Course objectives

• explore a range of active reading strategies to develop pupil’s understanding of text
• develop questioning skills to extend pupils’ thinking
• discuss ways to encourage pupils to read more widely

Participants will:

• explore a wide range of active reading strategies to improve and develop pupils’ reading comprehension, with a particular focus on inference skills
• consider how to develop questioning skills to extend pupils’ thinking about a text and deepen their responses.
• have the opportunity to discuss ideas and explore resources for reading fiction, non-fiction and poetry, for use in whole-class, guided and independent reading
• discuss the importance of text selection to ensure fair representation of BAME characters and culture
• also discuss how to motivate our pupils to read more widely by promoting a culture of reading in our schools

Session dates and times:

• 08 March @ 3.45 – 5.15pm
• 15 March @ 3.45 – 5.15pm

This course will provide guidance and support to teachers new to the RE leader role with ready-to-use ideas to engage staff and pupils. It will give participants the knowledge and confidence they need to be an effective and inspirational leader of RE. The day will cover:

• Roles and responsibilities of leading RE in a church school
• How to promote and maintain a high profile of the subject within the school
• The law and the national picture for RE
• Understanding the LDBS agreed syllabus

Mary Thorne leads on many of our RE courses. She leads on RE for the LDBS primary schools and runs the RE network meetings.

“I went away feeling encouraged and equipped to carry out my role. Lots to think about, but also lots of great ideas shared.”

This practical course focuses on how to teach reading to ensure that pupils make the necessary progress from KS1 to KS2. In two 90 minute sessions, we will explore the complexities of reading comprehension and reflect on what we do as ‘good’ readers to help develop our pupils’ ability to make sense of text.

Course objectives

• explore a range of active reading strategies to develop pupil’s understanding of text
• develop questioning skills to extend pupils’ thinking
• discuss ways to encourage pupils to read more widely

Participants will:

• explore a wide range of active reading strategies to improve and develop pupils’ reading comprehension, with a particular focus on inference skills
• consider how to develop questioning skills to extend pupils’ thinking about a text and deepen their responses.
• have the opportunity to discuss ideas and explore resources for reading fiction, non-fiction and poetry, for use in whole-class, guided and independent reading
• discuss the importance of text selection to ensure fair representation of BAME characters and culture
• also discuss how to motivate our pupils to read more widely by promoting a culture of reading in our schools

Session dates and times:

• 08 March @ 3.45 – 5.15pm
• 15 March @ 3.45 – 5.15pm

 Please see Day 1 to book your place ›

This new course is being offered to KS1 teachers and Phonics and Reading phase leaders to support them in delivering Letters and Sounds Phase 6 and the spelling programme as outlined in The National Curriculum, English Appendix 1 : Spelling.

Participants will gain the knowledge and skills to teach Phase 6 and alongside the spelling programme in KS 1 that extends and builds on children’s phonics knowledge and segmenting skills for spelling.

Course aims & objectives:

• Deepen phonemic and morphological knowledge essential to the teaching of spelling conventions and patterns.
• Understand the teaching sequence and plan for the teaching of spelling conventions which is progressive and with a cross curricular focus.
• Enable teachers to explicitly teach spelling strategies that are applied to high frequency words, subject related vocabulary and individual pupils’ bank of known words.

The course will cover:

• Phase 6 of Letters and Sounds
• Knowledge of the Spelling System
• The teaching sequence for spelling
• Analysis of pupils’ writing samples with a specific focus of the application of phonics and knowledge of spelling

The course will be led by a highly experienced early reading and phonics consultant who has trained leaders, teachers and teaching assistants nationally and internationally and was an approved supplier of phonics training under the DfE matched funding scheme (2011-2013).

In this highly practical one day course, participants will look at the types of science enquiry that should be incorporated into the primary curriculum. They will consider the individual working scientifically skills that are required for independence and progression. Participants will become familiar with:

• The types of science enquiry that should be incorporated into the curriculum
• The skills required to work scientifically and age related expectations

Naomi Hiscock works for the Science Learning Centre London as a trainer, delivering INSET both at The Centre based at the Institute of Education and in schools.

This one and a half day course is delivered in an interactive, multi-sensory manner with a good balance of theory, information and practical activities. Participants will:

• Acquire the necessary phonics subject knowledge and skills to deliver high quality phonics lessons.
• Understand the expected pace and progression for phonics teaching in Reception and KS1 classes to ensure children acquire the phonics skills to support successful reading and writing and how it applies to KS2.
• Know how the Letters and Sounds programme, teaching sequence and activities support effective phonics learning.

We will cover:

• Current national trends.
• Phonics knowledge and skills that underpin teaching each of the phases in Letters and Sounds.
• The recommended pace and progression and assessment of phonics teaching in Letters and Sounds phases 2-5.
• The application of phonics skills to reading and writing.
• Use of 100% decodable books to match the Letters and Sounds programme.
• Implementation—a key features of high quality phonics teaching to include planning, teaching, assessment and tracking of pupil progress.

All participants will receive a comprehensive phonics booklet to use back in school.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this course will now be delivered live via an online platform as follows:

• Session 1-3: 22nd March @ 9.30am – 3pm
• Session 4: 23rd March @ 9.30am – 11am

This course is delivered by a highly experienced early reading and phonics consultant who has trained leaders, teachers and teaching assistants nationally and internationally and was an approved supplier of phonics training under the DfE matched funding scheme (2011-2013).

This one and a half day course is delivered in an interactive, multi-sensory manner with a good balance of theory, information and practical activities. Participants will:

• Acquire the necessary phonics subject knowledge and skills to deliver high quality phonics lessons.
• Understand the expected pace and progression for phonics teaching in Reception and KS1 classes to ensure children acquire the phonics skills to support successful reading and writing and how it applies to KS2.
• Know how the Letters and Sounds programme, teaching sequence and activities support effective phonics learning.

We will cover:

• Current national trends.
• Phonics knowledge and skills that underpin teaching each of the phases in Letters and Sounds.
• The recommended pace and progression and assessment of phonics teaching in Letters and Sounds phases 2-5.
• The application of phonics skills to reading and writing.
• Use of 100% decodable books to match the Letters and Sounds programme.
• Implementation—a key features of high quality phonics teaching to include planning, teaching, assessment and tracking of pupil progress.

All participants will receive a comprehensive phonics booklet to use back in school.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, this course will now be delivered live via an online platform as follows:

• Session 1-3: 22nd March @ 9.30am – 3pm
• Session 4: 23rd March @ 9.30am – 11am
• Please see Session 1 to book your place ›

This course is delivered by a highly experienced early reading and phonics consultant who has trained leaders, teachers and teaching assistants nationally and internationally and was an approved supplier of phonics training under the DfE matched funding scheme (2011-2013).

In this session, we will consider approaches for developing pupils’ vocabulary – from explicit teaching of language in context, ie going beyond “what does this word mean?” to a rich exploration of language and relationships between words.

We will explore activities and strategies so that pupils ‘own’ the words and can use them in different contexts. There will be a focus on developing vocabulary for both reading and writing.

Course objectives:

• to consider ways to support pupils to work out and explain the meaning of unknown words
• to explore activities and strategies to enable pupils to learn new words and to make appropriate vocabulary choices in their writing

Two key questions facing school leaders with regard to the quality of education on offer are, ‘what research do we need to know?‘ and ‘how can we use it in our school?‘

Course objectives:

This one day course will give headteachers and school leaders the opportunity to explore the often impenetrable field of education, including the research underpinning the new inspection framework. The research will be demystified by translating it into practical strategies that can be implemented in school.

Participants will:

• gain a greater awareness of the key concepts that impact on curriculum design including progress, learning, automaticity, limitations of short-term memory, and cultural capital
• explore current research underpinning curriculum design, including cognitive science supporting the progression model etc and consider the 3 I’s in relation to this research
• explore research on meta-cognition and consider practical examples of what this looks like in the classroom
• explore learning & pedagogy practices including deep learning v shallow learning, and turning information into powerful knowledge
• benefit from reflection through reference to a sample of pupils’ work in any chosen subjects using the key questions (supplied) to consider what the provision and practice is like in your school