St Mary’s Catholic College take a unique approach on its latest inset day

St Mary’s Catholic College, Wallasey, has put an original spin on its latest inset day. The staff decided to flip what is typically used as a ‘teaching training day’ and allow students the chance to experience an inset day like never before.

Inset days are widely used across schools and colleges and enable staff to undergo training, however, at St Mary’s Catholic College, they decided to invite students to take part in a ‘pupil inset day’, led by teachers, support staff, and a variety of external guest speakers and experts.

Across the day, students explored different topics and received training on the latest research-led strategies for reading, creativity in the classroom, wellbeing, careers, and revision approaches. They were then able to put their new knowledge into practical use and support their learning in the classroom. There was even an opportunity for students to understand more about the college’s mission, vision, and values and how they align with all aspects of school life.

Miss Alison Keen, head of performing arts at St Mary’s Catholic College, organised the event. She said: “The vision at St Mary’s is ‘work together, succeed together’ and by running a training day for pupils we hope to give students the same understanding as teachers of key areas and succeed in these areas as a team.”

Students were thrilled they had the opportunity to be treated like teachers for a day. One student from Year 8 shared their thoughts on the day: “It was good to understand why we are learning certain things, and now we can help ourselves and other people in the class as teachers do,” they said.

Mr Kevin Maddocks, the headteacher at St Mary’s Catholic College, said: “We value our students at St Mary’s, and truly believe by working with them and providing them with rich development opportunities, that we can be successful together. The day was another excellent example of the determination of students and staff to create an inspiring learning environment.”