June Newsletter

Fylde Coast Teaching School Alliance Partnership to promote excellence in teaching, learning and leadership

NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2015 “With the end of the academic year fast approaching it’s time to review . future.” our distance travelled and plan for the

Louisa Carter-Davies and Tim Freeman Directors of Teaching School

Working towards a school-led system “The paths are not to be found, but made - and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.�

@SLEchat, @SENexchange Cherryl Drabble, SLE, Assistant Headteacher at Highfurlong School: Anyone who knows me will be very acquainted with the fact that I am an avid edu-blogger and an enthusiastic edu-tweeter. When anything new happens in the world of education from our leader Ms Nicky Morgan or from Ofsted Towers I can be found voicing my opinion via a blog or a tweet.

Twitter is possibly the most successful platform for spreading a message rapidly. For those who do no engage with Twitter, at Easter a brand new twitter chat emerged. It is called SLEchat and as the name suggests it is aimed primarily at Specialist Leaders of Education. My advice is to join Twitter and follow @SLEchat on Wednesdays at 8 pm to share ideas of how other SLEs and Teaching School Alliances pass on their knowledge and skills. There is much to be learned from this forum.

I also, along with a colleague who is a headteacher in Manchester, have a new Twitter venture. Put in the #SENexchange and follow @SENexchange for all information and up to the minute news and advice relating to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Cherryl was invited to Aviation House in London on the 18th May to meet Sean Harford, Ofsted’s new National Director of schools. Read about the outcome of the meeting on her blog https://cherrylkd.wordpress.com.

Follow Cheryl on Twitter @cherrylkdn

Please check out our new SLE Directory on our website at www.fctsa.co.uk/school-to-school-support

Research across the Alliance

Initial Teacher Training School Direct and SCITT programmes

As we approach the summer holidays, we are reaching the end of the School Direct programme, and the trainees will be completing their final placement mid-June!

Aly Spencer,

Thank you to all subject mentors Head of ITT and professional mentors at Hodgson, St Mary’s Catholic Academy, St George’s School, Millfield Science & Performing Arts College, and Garstang Community Academy for supporting our trainees throughout their training. It takes a very conscientious member of staff to be a mentor, and the new teachers have all benefited so much from their expertise.

If any other colleagues would like to mentor our trainee teachers next academic year, please contact Kate French for more information (kfrench@fctsa.co.uk).

The best news to report this term is that all 9 trainees have now secured full-time teaching positions for September 2015! They are looking forward to the new challenges that the NQT year will bring, and visiting their new schools in July to meet the teams they will be working with.

The Fylde Coast Teaching School is offering its own teacher training programme from September 2015, and we are recruiting candidates to the programme right now!

You may have seen the banners outside our schools or the marketing on local buses, promoting our course - it is the only Fylde Coast provider of QTS [Qualified Teacher Status].

We still have places left in the following subjects:

But hurry, as places are filling fast!

If you know anyone who wants to train to teach in our alliance, they can visit our website: www.fctsa.co.uk/teacher-training/initial-teacher-training-programmes-2015-16

Continuing Professional Development Our remaining twilight sessions 2014/2015:

Our CPD Programme 2015/2016 is under development.

More information will be available soon.

Feedback from course participants : Lots of best practice shared !

Professional Development Programme 2015 - 2016 We offer training courses and twilight sessions in the following areas:

Clear, relevant and easy to follow.

Detailed, interesting and worthwhile.

Good points made that can be easily applied.

Pupil Achievement and Attainment:

Primary and Secondary Networks:

To view our programme visit the Professional Development section on our website at www.fctsa.co.uk

info@fctsa.co.uk

01253 356271 (ext 169)

: ct info a t n o tor CPD c nch inistra m e r d F A l e Kat hoo ing Sc tsa.co.uk h c a e T fc info@ : l i a Em

Alliance schools in the news

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SFC B l u ssf e c ents c d u t Su ss s e n i bus

MP Nick Gibb visited Westcliff Primary Academy at the end of March. He praised the work of Westcliff in sharing expertise with others. He said:” I enjoyed my visit very much . I was told it was a very good school and everything I was led to believe was true, and more.”

Business students from Blackpool Sixth Form College have won the Lancashire heat of the national business and accounting competition and will represent the county in the national final which takes place in Birmingham in June. The judges were very impressed with the BSFC team’s performance and astute thinking.

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The Year Nine pupils, part of the school’s Fire Cadet Unit of St George’s School, visited Lancashire Fire and Rescue’s training centre to learn from experienced fire fighters for the day.

The children faced their fears and earned a new found respect for firefighters. Teacher Tina Milner, Director for School Community and Careers, said: ”under the watchful instruction of experienced fire-fighters the intrepid group built on the skills they have been developing.”

Students (Year 10 and 11) and staff from the Creative Arts Department at Garstang Community Academy went to New York for a 3 night stay. During their stay they took part in workshops at the Ripley Grier Studios where they also met cast members from the Broadway production of Chicago.

Ways to get involved with the Fylde Coast Teaching School Join us as an Alliance Partner Become an Associate Member of our alliance Join us in one of the following areas of our work : ITT—placement for trainees and developing school-centred Initial Teacher Training.

CPD- take part in our teaching programmes

WHO IS WHO at the Fylde Coast Teaching School?

Louisa Carter Davies Director of Teaching School l.carter-davies@hodgson.lancs.sch.uk Tim Freeman Director of Teaching School tim.freeman@blackpoolsixth.ac.uk Aly Spencer Head of Initial Teacher Training aly.spencer@blackpoolsixth.ac.uk Lill Johansen Parker Commercial Manager ljohansenparker@fctsa.co.uk Kate French Teaching School Administrator kfrench@fctsa.co.uk