Best Practice Network - Impact Review 2022-2023

Ofsted seal of approval Inspectors praise BPN programmes PAGE 3

Completing the CPD Golden Thread Official provider of primary ITT

Impact Report 2022-2023

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Award for BPN apprenticeships PAGE 8

Welcome Welcome to our impact report – a round-up of news, developments and insights from across Best Practice Network (BPN) and its growing nationwide network of partners.

It’s been a year of twists and turns for everyone involved in the education world. Across the schools and early years sector the bad memories of the pandemic eventually began to fade away only to be replaced with an economic crisis fuelled by spiralling energy costs.

We continued to expand our programme provision: we completed the ‘golden thread’ of our CPD provision by becoming a primary ITT provider, while our Early Years SENCO programme launched in the autumn, with the aim of delivering training for up to 5,000 early years SENCos.

That has had a profound economic and social impact on every aspect of society, not least in schools. But despite those pressures the commitment of education professionals to their training and development hasn’t dimmed, as our in-depth survey – detailed in this report – has revealed.

And our high-quality work was recognised in a range of ways: our NPQ programmes and Apprenticeships provision received positive Ofsted ratings after indepth inspections and BPN won the title of Education and Childcare Apprenticeship Provider of the Year at the Annual Apprenticeship Awards. You can also read all about these achievements inside this report.

It was a year of continued expansion and so many significant achievements for BPN and its partners.

Our refreshed and expanded suite of National Professional Qualifications began delivery in September, attracting record recruitment numbers at home and abroad and plenty of plaudits from participants.

The education world will continue to twist and turn over the next 12 months. Best Practice Network and its partnership network will continue to work closely together, listening intently to the needs of education professionals, and responding with sector-leading programmes that answer those needs as effectively as possible.

Simon Little

Contents BPN in numbers.............................................................................................. 2 Ofsted seal of approval for BPN programmes....................................... 3 Completing the CPD Golden Thread........................................................ 5 Strong year for Early Years ITT................................................................... 8 Award for BPN apprenticeships................................................................. 8 Early Years SENCO programme captures imaginations...................... 9 CPD steps up in the battle to retain staff..............................................11 Delivering a boost to early career teachers..........................................13 Trust in change..............................................................................................15 Meet our new NPQ Programme Director.............................................16 NPQs: making an impression....................................................................17 Building a partnership for delivery . .......................................................19 What our partners say................................................................................20 SENCO support today and tomorrow....................................................21 BPN goes national with HLTA of the Year Award...............................22 About us..........................................................................................................23

1 | Best Practice Network

Managing Director, Best Practice Network

BPN in numbers Our programmes 3440

1170

NPQSL

NPQLBC

9,695

candidates currently participating in BPN NPQs, broken down into:

5,043 applications to BPN’s new Early Years SENCO programme

2142

NPQLT

1,387

1631

candidates participating in BPN apprenticeship programmes, made up of:

NPQH

524

NPQEL

788

NPQLTD

1049

early years apprentices

300+

trainees on BPN’s Early Years Initial Teacher Training (EYITT) programme

141

teaching assistants

197

senior leaders

2,702

Schools currently engage with BPN’s NPQ programmes

10,000+

2000+ candidates

early career teachers and mentors have trained or are currently participating in BPN’s Early Career Framework programme

Our delivery partners

from 75 countries participating in BPN programmes outside of England

86

partners across England

Impact Report 2023

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Ofsted seal of approval for BPN programmes Inspectors gave their seal of approval to Best Practice Network programmes after two in-depth inspections.

An Ofsted inspection team visited BPN’s headquarters in May for a lead provider monitoring visit – the first since BPN started to deliver the ECF and the new-look NPQ programmes.

And in September an Ofsted inspection team looked at early years apprenticeship programmes.

The inspection team’s spring report praised the leadership of the programmes, highlighting a range of positive features.

These included: Ҍ Effective systems have been established

for managing the delivery of the NPQ and ECF programmes and leaders are “highly responsive” to the needs of participants. They added: “Leaders have established strong relationships with delivery partners to ensure consistency of delivery and the speedy resolution of any issues. They check regularly that facilitators are well trained to deliver the respective programmes.”

Ҍ Self-evaluation is effective, drawing on a

breadth of information about the delivery of the programme, including the views of participants. “This information is analysed and informs leaders’ continual evaluation of the programmes and enables them to adapt and improve,” the report adds.

Ҍ Governance continued to be strengthened, the

report notes. This includes an advocacy board where delivery partners can raise concerns and share their views about the programmes.

Ҍ Leaders are highly responsive to stakeholder

BPN’s leaders and managers have made “significant” progress in ensuring that apprentices benefit from high-quality training that leads to positive outcomes.

3 | Best Practice Network

feedback, with the result that programme delivery is continually revised to reduce unnecessary workload.

Ҍ The report highlighted the importance placed on equalities and inclusion in NPQ and ECF programmes.

There was a similarly positive response from inspectors when they looked at apprenticeship programmes.

The inspectors said programme leaders had made significant progress to meet all the requirements of successful apprenticeship provision.

“The fact that leaders focus solely on a sector in which they have provided training for many years is a significant strength,” they said. “The apprenticeship programme builds on this experience by using BPN’s existing relationships, resources and expertise to construct highly effective curriculums and a highquality service to employers.”

The report added: “Senior leaders have managed the rapid growth in apprenticeships well. When introducing new apprenticeships, they ensure that well-qualified and experienced staff are in place and learn from their experience of running other apprenticeships. For example, when introducing apprenticeships for teaching assistants this year, they included training and information about the final assessments early in the apprenticeship.

This was because tutors and apprentices recognised how this could help apprentices prepare for their final assessment.”

The report went on to state that programme leaders had “well-established and highly effective relationships with employers,” adding: “Employers are highly committed to the apprenticeships and give their apprentices opportunities to apply their new knowledge in the workplace. They provide apprentices with the time they need to study and complete assignments. Employers gave inspectors many examples of how apprenticeships have increased their staff’s confidence to take on a wider range of responsibilities. These include management apprentices taking on the role of mentor to other staff in their school.”

“Apprentices are well-prepared for the next steps in their careers,” says the report. “Tutors provide them with useful information about the options they have to develop their career once they finish the apprenticeship. Apprentices and employers told inspectors about how the apprenticeship had raised their aspirations for the career they might pursue in the future.”

Impact Report 2023

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Completing the CPD Golden Thread Best Practice Network completed the CPD Golden Thread this year by being made an official provider of primary initial teacher training (ITT).

The development means that BPN can now train teachers from the very beginning and support them throughout their careers.

This end-to-end career support for teachers is known as the ‘CPD Golden Thread’, a term coined by the Department for Education to describe the pathway of high-quality, evidence-based training and support designed to support the professional development journey of a teacher through their entire career.

The Primary ITT programme is scheduled to launch in September 2023 with fee funded and Postgraduate Teacher Apprenticeship routes. Trainees will be able to specialise in 3-7 and 5-11 age groups.

Sian Marsh, Director of Early Years and ITT at BPN, said: “We envision our trainee teachers gaining QTS with us before going on to complete our Early Career Framework (ECF) programme to further develop their knowledge and understanding of teaching.

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“As they progress in their careers, they might choose to specialise in a specific area of teaching and complete one of our specialist NPQs. Should they develop ambitions to join their school SLT or become a headteacher then we will support them through our Leadership NPQs and headteacher coaching.”

“Best Practice Network is one of the first providers to be approved by the Department for Education to offer the full spectrum of teacher training and development,” Sian added.

“We look forward to working with teachers, schools and school groups to support and develop the current and future generations of teachers to be the very best they can be.”

The CPD Golden Thread Best Practice Network is one of the first DfE approved providers to offer a complete range of teacher training and development.

Here’s what BPN’s Golden Thread of teacher development looks like:

For trainee teachers: Primary ITT.

For teachers in the early stages of their careers: Early Career Framework, including the Early Career Development Programme.

For experienced teachers: Specialist NPQs in Leading Teacher Development, Leading Teaching, Leading Behaviour and Culture and Leading Literacy.

For experienced teachers aspiring to the next leadership level: Leadership NPQs in Senior Leadership, Headship, Executive Leadership and Early Years Leadership.

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Full steam ahead!

Best Practice Network’s early years programmes have continued to grow apace in the past 12 months – and there’s no sign of a slowdown any time soon.

The apprenticeships team welcomed 32 new members of staff to help support the delivery of Apprenticeship Levy funded BPN programmes, many of which are for the early years sector.

BPN’s level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner programme kicked off at the beginning of 2022 when it welcomed the first of four cohorts. A total of 20 level 2 and level 3 early years cohorts have also been delivered. In total more than 1422 early years apprentices have completed or are taking part in these programmes.

BPN leaders have been adept at adapting these programmes to fit around the workload demands of participants. With the early years sector continuing to struggle with recruitment, apprentices can sometimes find it a struggle to access sessions and set aside time to study.

This is being addressed through the introduction of Teams Classrooms across the Level 3 and 5 programmes. This platform makes all taught sessions available on demand so if an apprentice is called away they can access the training at any time.

Ensuring that apprentices have the functional skills needed to complete their programmes successfully has led to a number of innovations. These include more ways to access group classroom sessions in level 1 and 2 maths and English and bringing on board three additional functional skills tutors.

1422 + apprentices

have completed or taken part in these programmes.

Learn more at bestpracticenet.co.uk/apprenticeships 7 | Best Practice Network

Strong year for Early Years ITT More than 300 trainees are now enrolled on BPN’s Early Years ITT programme, which leads to Early Years Teacher Status.

The programme is proving a success, and with demand growing Best Practice Network has set a target of recruiting 450 onto the programme in 2023-24.

Continuous feedback is sought from candidates, who haven’t held back in their praise. The programme’s destination and impact survey asked candidates if the EYITT programme was having an impact on their careers or aspirations and their responses included:

“The leadership plan helped me become a more confident leader. The modules are very good and opened my interest in the SENCO role.”

“It gave me more of a thirst to build upon my existing knowledge to support the children within my setting to achieve their highest potential.

Along with supporting the staff to achieve theirs.

Bringing around changes within the setting to improve outcomes for children within our care.

Especially those within the preschool room, with the introduction of Read, Write, Inc.”

“I now want to become a senior or a room manager within my setting.

The knowledge and experience I have gained from the course has given me the confidence to set these as aspirations for myself.”

“The course has helped me to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of how to tailor the EYFS curriculum to support children’s cultural capital, interest, needs and learning and development by becoming an effective early years teacher. I am looking for early years teacher jobs currently to use the knowledge and experience gained.”

Learn more at bestpracticenet.co.uk/EYITT

Award for BPN apprenticeships BPN was awarded Education and Childcare Apprenticeship Provider of the Year at the Annual Apprenticeships Awards in Birmingham in March 2023.

The awards were hosted by industry magazine FE Week and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) in association with skills development body City & Guilds.

Tracy Clement, Apprenticeships Director at Best Practice Network, said: “This award recognises the impact that we’re now making in apprenticeship provision. We are excited about the future of apprenticeships and the role that Best Practice Network will play in shaping the industry’s growth and development.

“We are committed to expanding our apprenticeship offer – we’ve recently added a Post Graduate Teacher Apprenticeship programme which starts in September – while continuing to deliver the highest quality of training possible.”

Impact Report 2023

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Early Years SENCo programme captures imaginations The launch of Best Practice Network’s Early Years SENCo programme caught the sector’s imagination when it was launched in summer 2022.

The programme had more than 5,000 applications, far exceeding places available at that time.

The programme is designed to meet the need of a sector that is acutely aware of increasing demands for specialist support.

“Pre-school children, starved of professionally led learning and development during pandemic lockdowns, are facing language and development gaps that they need to make up,” says Sian Marsh, BPN’s Director of Early Years and ITT.

“Here at Best Practice Network we are leading what I believe is a positive major step on the way towards addressing some of those problems.”

The early years SENCo qualification started delivery in October and currently has 423 participants. Evaluations carried out in January 2023 reveal that 90% of participants believed that the training has already had a positive impact on their own CPD and their skill levels.

“It has been an amazing opportunity,” said one.

“It has really helped to extend my knowledge and confidence in the role. I found the webinars really valuable and have enjoyed networking with others in the role.” Another added:

“I would definitely recommend this training, it’s a great course with brilliant mentors.”

Currently,5,000 governmentfunded places will be available to SENCos working in private, voluntary or independent settings.

9 | Best Practice Network

The aim is to build specialist expertise in SEND by increasing the number of Level 3 qualified SENCos in group-based settings and childminder settings.

The qualification comes at the right time for the early years sector: settings have long realised that training and professional development for staff can help to prevent colleagues leaving while at the same time upskilling them so that they are able to better identify SEND needs in children. The barrier has been the lack of resources to fund that training at a time when early years budgets are under pressure.

Participants on the four-month long programme can expect a rich mix of online facilitated training, mentoring, online study and enrichment, including a group discussion forum and communities of good practice.

This ambitious programme has been made possible because of the shared sense of purpose across the early years sector. Delivery of the programme around the country depends on a national network of partners: Elklan, Kids Planet Day Nurseries, Snapdragons Nurseries, Bristol City Council, Derbyshire LA, Durham CC and Telford and Wrekin LA, and the National Day Nurseries Association.

“This isn’t blanket CPD,” Sian Marsh adds.

“The programme is targeted at local authority areas identified as having the greatest need, and then closely evaluated so that we know it is having an impact and delivering real value.

And we’re working with the local authorities in each of those areas so that their local context is factored into the programme.

“Having more qualified SENCos in the EY sector will have positive impacts on children with SEND and on the sector as a whole, giving professionals the skills to address urgent priorities – and a big incentive to stay in a sector that they know will invest in their professional journey.”

Learn more at

5000+ applications

bestpracticenet.co.uk/early-years-SENCo

Far exceeding places that were available at that time.

Impact Report 2023

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CPD steps up in the battle to retain staff More staff training and greater curriculum support are set to edge out pay as the measures most commonly used by schools in their battle to improve the recruitment and retention of school staff, according to new research from Best Practice Network and Supporting Education Group.

The survey of 742 leaders from schools across England showed that although pay is second only to workload reduction in efforts by schools to recruit and retain the staff they need, it will be overtaken in the next two years by other measures including improved curriculum support and enhanced CPD opportunities.

Changing working practices and processes to reduce workload is the most common measure, currently used by 77% of survey respondents, while paying staff differently from or above national pay scales was the second most common, used by 71%.

11 | Best Practice Network

But when respondents were asked which recruitment and retention measures they were planning to take on over the next two years, pay is likely to be overtaken. When planned use is combined with current use, CPD will become the second most commonly used strategy, with 24% planning to introduce more CPD and staff training on top of the 63% which currently use the approach.

742 school leaders

took part in this survey from Best Practice Network and Supporting Education Group.

Those surveyed ranked recruitment as the biggest current headache for schools, with almost half of respondents (49%) putting it as their top staffing difficulty.

Changing working practices to cut workload, currently used by 77%, remains the top measure when combined with the 13% saying they are planning to do this, while 18% are planning greater curriculum support in addition to the 68% currently using the approach. Fewer respondents (10%) said they are planning pay changes, moving the measure from second to fourth place when current usage of 71% is taken into account.

The survey also revealed that schools struggle slightly more with recruitment in the North West and South West (84% and 80% of school leaders find recruiting staff most challenging), than in London (74%).

Retention was next in schools’ league table of concerns, with 29% rating it as their most challenging issue. Developing and managing staff were ranked third and fourth, cited as most challenging issues by 15% and 7% of respondents respectively.

Simon Little, managing director at Best Practice Network, said:

“While pay continues to be regarded as a key measure schools can use to improve recruitment and retention, this will become a more challenging lever to deploy as school budgets get tighter. This explains the increasing role strategies such as enhanced CPD, staff wellbeing and curriculum support are likely to play in the future for school leaders.”

At a glance

Key findings from Best Practice Network’s talent survey Schools differ in the areas they find most challenging – while 80% of school leaders struggle most with recruiting and retaining staff, 20% struggle most with developing and managing them – and in the strategies they employ to deal with those challenges.

Teacher pay is a key lever for tackling talent challenges. Schools plan on using this strategy more which will be a struggle in the context of falling enrolment numbers in primary schools and the current economic climate.

CPD is expected to be the second most used strategy for recruitment and retention in two years’ time Staff training in various forms (particularly SCITT and NPQs, but also ITT partnerships and apprenticeships) are expected to grow.

Tools to manage and develop staff that would ordinarily be widespread good practice for most commercial organisations have relatively low penetration in schools despite their importance to users. We expect uptake to increase in the future.

Impact Report 2023

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Delivering a boost to early career teachers When the early career framework (ECF) was rolled out nationwide in 2021 it was heralded as an initiative that would have a profound impact on the professional development and support available to new teachers in the first two years of their career.

Until that point continuing professional development and mentoring was down to the actions of individual schools and trusts and for some new teachers it was often a case of sink or swim.

The ECF is helping to change that in a time when the retention of early career teachers (ECTs) remains a key priority.

Best Practice Network is playing a major role in the delivery of this programme across the country.

Now, in the second year of its national rollout, BPN’s partners are delivering training to more than 10,000 early career teachers and mentors.

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BPN evaluations of the ECF programme show that participants like it. Of the 98 ECT groups completing a January 2023 evaluation, facilitation has been rated particularly highly, with more than nine out of 10 participants giving facilitation a positive rating.

“We know this is having a significant impact on new teachers and their children in the classroom,” says Kelly McKay, Director of the Early Career Framework at BPN. That’s being echoed by BPN’s partners. One of the largest is Chiltern Learning Trust, which encompasses two large teaching school hubs covering north and east Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes.

“It’s still too early to get a statistical sense of what the impact is on the retention of new teachers but the signs are very good.”

Cheryl Abbiss, ECF Lead at Chiltern Learning Trust.

The trust delivers ECF training through a local partner network to 1,000 first and second year teachers and 900 mentors, as well as NPQs. “It’s still too early to get a statistical sense of what the impact is on the retention of new teachers but the signs are very good,” says Cheryl Abbiss, ECF Lead at Chiltern Learning Trust.

“We are seeing less movement of early career teachers when compared to NQT cohorts – we were probably losing two out of 100 NQTs and the figure now is two out of a thousand.

“When they hit the second year of the ECF they have a lightbulb moment. They’ve built their confidence through the first year so by year 2 they are using that knowledge and they are flying. They are learning so much more and they are a genuine part of the school team. They get that from the programme and the networking opportunities that we’ve built around the programme.”

Cheryl and her ECF team see BPN as true collaborators in the delivery of ECF. “The BPN team are really receptive,” she says. “We aren’t afraid of saying if an improvement could be made because we know they will listen and accommodate us. We did have concerns about the amount of time mentors were having to dedicate to the programme so we’ve worked with them to get some changes made.

“BPN shares the same ambitions as us for our children. Whenever you talk to the programme or partnership teams it always come back to the same thing: if what we are asking for is about changing things for the better for the children” Learn more at bestpracticenet.co.uk/ECF

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Trust in change A school leader on how Best Practice Network’s Level 7 Senior Leadership Apprenticeship Programme with NPQEL set his new school on a journey of major change.

Joining a Steiner Waldorf school from a big mainstream multi-academy trust was a challenging and exciting leap in my school leadership career.

Until recently Steiner Waldorf schools hadn’t had a conventional leadership model but in 2019 there was effectively a recognition that modern schools can’t run in that way any longer and that a proper leadership structure was needed.

Since September 2021 I’ve been in post as school lead – the equivalent of headteacher – at Elmfield Rudolf Steiner School in Stourbridge, an independent school educating 210 pupils aged 3 to 17. This has been my favourite job of my career so far.

While it was clear that change was needed my first months in the post were a challenging time for me. I don’t have a Steiner Waldorf background but in order to make the necessary changes to ensure that the school was effectively led, that it complied with Ofsted requirements, and that finances were on track while preserving everything that makes the school great – I needed to build trust.

15 | Best Practice Network

I enrolled on Best Practice Network’s Level 7 Senior Leadership Apprenticeship Programme with NPQEL and the programme has given me some important insights and guidance that have really helped me in my leadership journey. One is the importance of the role of credibility and integrity in creating that trust.

When I arrived I had to establish a leadership team that could work together and trust me.

I spent a month at the beginning just getting to know people and identifying colleagues I could work with who had appropriate credibility within the school. It was only then that I began to establish a senior leadership team made up of six colleagues, most of whom had Steiner Waldorf backgrounds and credibility but were actually open to changes.

One of the big messages I wanted to send to colleagues was that I wasn’t going to subject them to change that they had no control over.

I made it clear we were going to make these changes together as a group. As part of this approach the chair of college, who represents the body of Steiner Waldorf trained teachers, became part of the SLT and we agreed to share an office so everyone could see that we were very much working together for the good of the school.

“A lack of curriculum oversight was one of the criticisms picked up in the 2019 Ofsted inspections of Steiner Waldorf schools so our other priority was to create an entirely new middle leadership model. This is easier said than done when you consider that the teacher is king at Steiner Waldorf schools. Classes stay with the same teacher from Class 1 for the next eight years.”

My approach was to create a ‘big tent’ of middle leaders that included colleagues with a range of perspectives and experience, many with Steiner Waldorf experience as well as other colleagues with mainstream backgrounds.

We worked very hard on making sure that every decision we planned to make was well trailed in advance, and that there were opportunities for our staff to talk face to face and read draft papers.

We’ve had to make some difficult decisions to ensure that pupil numbers increase, which we are now beginning to see.

Sometimes in schools the drive is to resolve things quite simplistically, to paper over the cracks and say that we need this to work for this year and that will be fine. I’ve learned a lot from the programme about the nature of problems and realised that it’s OK to have a complicated solution that needs lots of brains thinking about it in order to be able to work our way through it.

Meet our new NPQ Programme Director Will Rogers is Best Practice Network’s new director for the National Professional Qualifications.

Before joining BPN in autumn 2022 Will led the programme management of a flagship professional development programme at the Department for Education’s National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE).

The role gave Will the opportunity to deploy and further develop a set of leadership and management skills developed across a 20-year career which began with teaching and then senior school leadership roles in the south west.

He later became Regional Network Lead at STEM Learning, a professional training and coaching organisation for science, technology, engineering and maths educators before taking on the NCCE role.

“Leadership of the NPQ programmes is a challenge which I’m relishing,” says Will. “The NPQs are having an enormous impact on the sector and I’m hugely enjoying working with our team and partners to build them into an even greater force for change and transformation in the coming years.”

Impact Report 2023

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NPQs: making an impression The new-look suite of National Professional Qualifications got off to a roaring start in September 2022, with the first cohorts beginning a new chapter of their professional development journeys.

As well as cohorts beginning their work on our refreshed and revised leadership programmes we launched brand new specialist NPQs for experienced teachers in Leading Teacher Development, Leading Teaching, Leading Behaviour and Culture and Leading Literacy.

But what do the candidates think about these brand new programmes? Evaluation is part and parcel of BPN’s quality assurance of the new programmes, with candidates regularly asked for feedback about their impressions and experiences. And feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

Here’s a selection of what the candidates had to say: Leading Teacher Development

“It has been really fun to do...

I have grown in confidence, and I have also understood a lot more about why we do certain things in and outside of school. Mostly it has reassured me I am doing a good job!”

“There have been many positives in my experience of completing the NPQLTD course... not only am I now very clear about what is necessary to design and implement a successful CPD programme, my teaching and impact in the classroom has benefitted and I have made great new contacts with other teachers from the Faceto-Face events. I have enjoyed reading and learning about the evidence-based research articles which has deepened my understanding on topics such as cognitive load and metacognition and have been able to apply the principles of these in my teaching. In addition, it has been very timely for the fact that I picked up a new PM role at the beginning of the academic year and hence have been able to apply a lot of what I have learnt in this respect.”

17 | Best Practice Network

Leading Teaching

“Organised and well-resourced... very useful to network with teachers from other schools and share experiences.”

“I am very happy with the NPQLT... the self-study packs have provided me with plenty of information in a wide range of different areas. I found the Face-to-Face event very useful since I was able to interact with other people from different schools, key stages, and subjects. It was very positive to learn from others: strategies, point of views, ideas, etc. I appreciated that we had flexibility when uploading the tasks. Discussions are very helpful to interact with other people as well and learn new things.”

“The whole programme is well-organised... and I have found the online learning particularly clear and well-sourced. My online mentor has been very supportive, and I have found the opportunities to meet other colleagues in my region during face-to-face days a great tool for future networking.”

Leading Behaviour and Culture

“I have found this a very useful experience... which is already impacting on my own performance and approach to my classroom practise and wider school involvement.”

“I liked having a choice of tasks... this allowed me to choose areas that were most interesting and/or most impactful in my role at school.”

“The flexible nature of the blended learning style really met my needs... as I am spinning many plates at the moment, so it was invaluable to work to my own pace yet still be supported well.”

Learn more at bestpracticenet.co.uk/specialist-npqs Impact Report 2023

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Building a partnership for delivery Best Practice Network could not deliver its programmes without working in close partnership with teaching school hubs, academy trusts and early years chains, as well as individual schools and other organisations.

The partner network is crucial and after a year of steady growth now stands at 86 delivery partners.

This consists of 15 teaching school hubs, 29 academy trusts, 8 early year chains and 34 others.

Most of those partners deliver the suite of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), with many offering our ECF programme alongside. Our new Early Years SEN programme is delivered through our early years partners and there are now a number offering ITT.

The scale of the partnership network’s delivery is significant. In 2022 the network ran 244 ECF partner-led groups and 368 partner-led NPQ groups.

Those programmes couldn’t be delivered without an army of facilitators; there are now 699 trained and active facilitators across the partner workforce.

New partners can be found across the country, including: Ҍ Reach South MAT, Wessex MAT and Palladian Academy Trust, delivering NPQs in the South West Ҍ Primitas Learning Partnership, delivering NPQs in the West Midlands Ҍ Nova Education Trust, set to deliver ECF in the East Midlands Ҍ Titan Partnership (West Midlands) and Cumbria Teacher Training (North West) will deliver ITT.

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What our partners say “The support and guidance we have received from the ECF team at Best Practice has been exceptional...

Their attention to detail and time they made available to us during set-up made our transition to lead partner in 2022-23 a very smooth one.”

Karen Taylor-Paul, Director of Alban Teaching School

“Schools have commented on how fabulous the materials are and how much a step up the training is...

Our facilitators have been really happy with the quality of training delivery, how professional it has been, but also how it fits within our local context.

This has been greatly valued in terms of the impact day-to-day in transitioning to a new provider. The transition was easy.”

Samantha Torr, Director of Alpha Teaching School Hub

“Our ability to maintain the highest possible quality of programme delivery... coupled with providing an excellent participant learning experience, is always the driving force behind our decision making. For the team and I this is where the benefits of BPN’s partnership model comes to the fore. The back office and programme management function, delivered through BPN, removes the huge administrative burden.”

David Higginbottom, Deputy Director, HISP Teaching School Hub

Learn more at bestpracticenet.co.uk/become-a-partner Impact Report 2023

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SENCo support today and tomorrow The future of SEND provision is once again in the spotlight with the publication of the government’s plans to improve SEND provision over the coming years.

Timescales for the roll-out of those changes are yet to be set out but what is certain is that the training and development of SEND professionals will play a central role in those improvement plans.

Best Practice Network has been playing a key role in supporting the skill development of SEND professionals in recent years with its National Award for SEN Coordination (NASENCo) programme, building up an unrivalled set of professional development knowledge and expertise in this area.

The success of the programme has continued during 2022-23, with over 400 new participants starting on the programme. Candidates have taken part in a mixture of online and face-to-face courses delivered

by BPN’s national network of school, hub and local authority partners.

Learn more at bestpracticenet.co.uk/NASENCo

21 | Best Practice Network

They have been unstinting in their praise for the programme. Feedback includes: •

“Communication on all levels has been fantastic!

There was always someone to help.”

•

“From being a nervous wreck to get a pass on my first assignment, I passed my second with a distinction. I think that the way the course is constructed and the support that is given throughout, means that you get such a sense of achievement at the end and learn so much.

I would be grateful if you could pass on my thanks to everyone involved.”

•

“I just wanted to say a big thank you. I’m thrilled to have completed the portfolio! I’ve had a great experience through BPN and have felt fully supported at every point- far beyond what I thought would be possible through an online only course.”

BPN goes national with HLTA of the Year Award

Best Practice Network is a leading nationwide provider of the HLTA programme. In 2023 we launched our own ‘National HLTA of the Year’ awards.

Three winners were chosen from dozens of entries to the award, which celebrates the outstanding achievements of HLTAs working in primary, secondary and special schools.

They were: Lauren Matthews of Wallsend St Peter’s C of E Aided Primary School in North Tyneside (primary), Becky Larby of Springwood Campus, Linwood School, Bournemouth (special) and Shirley Crowley of Kirkby High School, Knowsley (secondary). Six runners-up were also chosen.

Primary winner Lauren Matthews (pictured with her award) is driving big improvements in phonics learning. Deputy headteacher James Dey said Lauren’s work was the reason the school achieved above national and local averages in phonics scores after several years below the national average.

A real powerhouse, Lauren also coaches staff in phonics, helps to lead the management of safeguarding at the school as a co-DSL and supports colleagues on parental engagement and early help assessments. She also leads nurture groups for vulnerable learners and leading on attendance.

“Lauren is always smiling, always leading by example,” James adds. “She completes the vast majority of her tasks within a quick timeframe and never ever lets anyone down. Her colleagues love working with her.

“Without Lauren school would not be as fun, interesting and the children wouldn’t get the same standard of provision.”

Impact Report 2023

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About us Best Practice Network is one of the UK’s leading providers of training and professional development, working with partners across the country to deliver nationally recognised programmes and qualifications.

Our comprehensive range of programmes includes the National Professional Qualifications, Early Years Initial Teacher Training, the National Award for SEN Coordination (NASENCo), HLTA and a growing range of Apprenticeships.

BPN is rated an “exceptional training provider” by the Department for Education.

Contact us +44 (0) 117 920 9200 enquiries@bestpracticenet.co.uk bestpracticenet.co.uk