Booking is now open for our SWIFT Wellbeing Series | 2022 - 2023!

​Even before Covid-19 and the aftermath, SWIFT has understood the importance of wellbeing for staff and students and has evolved a CPD wellbeing programme that brings up-to-date and practical training for colleagues to take back helpful strategies and knowledge into their own educational settings. Looking to the next academic year we are pleased to bring you the following dedicated wellbeing training:

THIS SESSION IS CANCELLED!
Session 1 | Mental Health Issues | Children and Young People’s Mental Wellbeing | Train-The-Trainer Sessions
Monday 7 November 2022 | 0900 - 1530
Countess Wear Community School, Glasshouse Lane, Exeter EX2 7BS
Course Trainer | Jessica Parker | Creative Education
 
This programme will commence with a facilitated full day workshop focusing on Spotting and Supporting Anxiety in Primary/Secondary School Children and Young People and guidance through the current mental wellbeing policy and data to provide an understanding of the current areas of need.
 
Following the workshop, group discussions will be facilitated as six half day bespoke online train-the-trainer sessions around what participants are seeing in their settings – not least the current challenges of low mood and depression, suicidal ideation, bereavement, bullying, vulnerable children, sleep problems and transitions. 

The full day workshop will include the first train-the-trainer session.
 
Cost | SWIFT Members £125 | Non-Members £150 per person.

​Session 2 | Understanding Mental Health and Wellbeing
Wednesday 9 November 2022 | 1300 - 1500 | Online
Course Trainer | David Webster | Livewell Academy
 
This workshop provides participants with an understanding of mental health and wellbeing and helps to build confidence in identifying and supporting those in need and the course leads onto the two-day Mental Health First Aid Course.
 
Cost | SWIFT Members £45 | Non-Members £55 per person.
PLEASE BOOK BY Wednesday 2 November 2022.

Session 3 | Mental Health Awareness Training
Tuesday 28 February 2023 | 0930 – 1230 | Online
Course Trainer | Dr Karen Kershaw | Psychology Associates
 
This workshop will provide an understanding of common mental health difficulties, including main symptoms, and provide ideas from a variety of psychological therapies that can be used to bolster resilience and improve wellbeing. The strategies and additional ideas can be used to support colleagues.
 
Cost | SWIFT Members £35 | Non-Members £55 per person.
PLEASE BOOK BY Tuesday 21 February 2023.

Session 4 | Understanding Stress and Burnout
Tuesday 11 October 2022 | 1400 – 1600 | Online
Tuesday 21 January 2023 | 1400 – 1600 | Online
Tuesday 9 May 2023 | 1400 – 1600 | Online
Course Trainer | Chrissie Evans | Case UK
 
This three-session programme will explore what impacts mental health, including stress and burnout. It will look at how the body can be affected and ways to manage it and explore the pressure of work and the balance needed for wellbeing.

As part of this programme, participants will also have the opportunity to register for free one-to-one Wellbeing Surgeries for Mental Health Support.
 
Cost | SWIFT Members £45 | Non-Members £65 per person.
PLEASE BOOK BY Tuesday 4 October 2022.

Welcome to Issue 10 of the SWIFT Events Newsletter
You will find courses, events, conferences and training from our partners to support your professional development and enhance the work of your school. Simply click on the booking link to the course you are interested in, to get more details or book straight on!

Featured in this Issue:
SWIFT Summer Conference | Thursday 30 June 2022 
0900 - 1545 | Exeter Racecourse
This year’s conference is themed around today’s key agendas - professional development, curriculum, disadvantaged and school improvement – and has options for leaders from all phases. We hope the conference enables colleagues to feel enriched, informed and inspired. The conference is open to everyone: school leaders, governors, teachers, researchers and other educational providers.
Keynote Speakers:
Diana Osagie | Founder & CEO – The Academy of Women’s Leadership
How to be an effective resilient leader in 5 steps
James McNeillie | Ofsted South West Regional Director
Ofsted updates, findings and questions
Sir Mufti Hamid Patel CBE | Chief Executive of Star Academies
Raising aspirations and transforming the life chances of disadvantaged young people
Workshop sessions with:
Phil Armstrong, Sam Sims, Ruh Alford, Sufian Sadiq, John Tomsett, Jon Eaton, Graihagh Crawshaw, Jean Gross

ECT & RQT Conferences | Wednesday 6 July 2022 | ECT 1000 - 1200 | RQT 1400 - 1600 | Online
Speakers:
Helen Thorneycroft | Kingsbridge Research School
Creating Effective Learning Behaviours in Classroom Environments
Nasreen Majid | Reading University
Education and the Climate Emergency – Reimagining our Future, Together
Professor Lee Elliott Major | Exeter University
Social Mobility and the Challenge Facing Schools

Booking Links for all conferences can be found in the newsletter!

Highlighted Programmes:

• Introduction to Oracy for Primary Schools
• National Professional Qualifications (NPQs)
• SWIFT Early Career Framework and Appropriate Body Registration
• Primary Subject Leadership Programme
• Maths Hubs Professional & School Development Opportunities 2022/23
• AQA Feedback on the 2022 GCSE Examinations
• Child & Young People's Mental Wellbeing Training-The-Trainer Sessions

Read the Newsletter here......

​SWIFT has been working in partnership with the Plymouth Oracy Project since 2019 (Plymouth Teachers School Alliance). The introduction to Oracy session is designed to give schools new to oracy a clear overview of the strategy, its evidence base and how schools can access training and support next year. By attending, school leaders will be well placed to determine the potential benefits of an oracy-based approach in their own school.

Free to all - Online
Tuesday 21 June 2022 1545-1715 or Thursday 23 June 2022 1545-1715

Session Content

• Why is oracy important? What the research tells us.
• What is oracy? Dialogic talk, skills framework, developing quality talk, vocabulary.
• Our experience and impact this far, including schools case studies.
• Programme option overview if you want more from PTSA.

Both sessions delivered online, for Head Teachers, Senior and Middle Leaders and teachers in Primary Schools.

Free copy of the book 'Closing the Vocabulary Gap' by Alex Quigley for all delegates who book and attend.

ESW Associate & Strategic Leader of Teaching & Research Schools | Education South West Roger Pope CBE opens this June issue by contemplating the role of Teaching School Hubs:

"The recent White Paper has reinforced this strategy [the attractiveness of teaching as a career], alongside the desire for all schools to join a “family” – a.k.a. a Multi Academy Trust. This gives added importance to the role played by Hubs as we develop the education structure. We become not only a glue, but a super-glue in the system."

There's also more information about the new National Institute of Teaching and the current Department for Education Appropriate Body Reforms and Induction Assessment consultation. You can also find tips for effective parental engagement, read reports from the TSHC training day and our 2022 Literacy Conference; plus an introduction to the The Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher Project - as well, as of course, features from our sponsors.

It was exciting to hold our second SWIFT Literacy Conference in-person at the end of last term and to welcome a huge range of delegates at Exeter Racecourse with with as much buzz as in 2019.

David Didau, author and expert talked knowledgeably about the importance of reading and of building a reading culture within our schools.
 
“Reading: there are few things that are likely to make as much of a difference.”
“Reading aloud is gap narrowing.”

Other keynotes including John Tomsett, author and erstwhile Headteacher of Huntingdon School who explored the complexities of the 0 to 19 curriculum - explaining how curriculum development must rest on teacher development.
 
“A child's vocabulary at five predicts how well they'll learn to read, how well they'll do in the school system. We really have to get that right; that's our number one priority.”
Dr Julian Grenier, appointed by the Department for Education to lead on the revision of Development Matters (quoted by John Tomsett).

Helen Prince, author, developer and contributor to Oxford University Press’s Word-up Podcast Series, explored the power of Oracy through prosody and provided delegates with specific takeaways they could use within classrooms.
 
“There’s a causal relationship between oracy and improved behaviour.”
 
Our keynotes also delivered effective breakout sessions, and and other breakouts included the Director of Primary Literacy from OUP; AQA provided an expert on Language in the form of Lance Hanson; Anna Szpakowska from LYFTA contributed towards cultural capital and Bedrock’s Ellie Ashton explained the power of Disciplinary Literacy. WeST’s Executive Director of English, Scott Davies paired with Vicky Thornton to explore the implementation of Forensic Reading.​

If you attended this year’s Literacy Conference and would like to feedback to inform future conferences, we would welcome your feedback by clicking on the link below: 

“The NIoT is going to revolutionise the way teachers receive training in this country, with cutting edge research alongside training delivered by national experts.” The Rt Hon. Nadhim Zahawi MP, Secretary of State for Education

At the end of last term, the Department for Education announced that the School Led Development Trust had been awarded the contract to deliver the new National Institute of Teaching (NIoT).
 
The National Institute of Teaching is a new, ambitious, Government-funded body that sets out to transform teacher development. It is led by a school-led partnership of four Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) with outstanding track records in school-led university-accredited teacher development:
Harris Federation, Oasis Community Learning, Outwood Grange Academies Trust and Star Academies.
 
Each of the founding MATs will lead one of the four Regional Campuses, and each campus is supported by three Associate Colleges. We are delighted that Education South West (ESW) has been appointed as one of the founding Associate Colleges and will be working directly with Oasis Community Learning. As an Associate College, ESW will be responsible for supporting the Regional Campus to ensure scale, reach cold spots in current provision and deliver the NIoT training programmes.
 
This is exciting news for the SWIFT partnership and SWIFT's collective expertise and experience will play a key role in the design and delivery of the NIoT programmes within the region and evolve and build on our Teaching School Hub responsibilities within Devon, Plymouth and Torbay.
 
So, what is the National Institute of Teaching?

• A truly school-led organisation: the NIoT will be run by schools for schools. Programme participants will have an experience that is school-based with programme design and delivery benefitting from the input of current practitioners – teachers, senior leaders, Headteachers and Executive Leaders– who understand the demands of teaching workloads.
• A best practice incubator: the NIoT will find, interpret, generate and communicate research, applying the insights to the design and delivery of professional development programmes.
• A substantial investment in teacher and leader training research in England: the NIoT will make its research available for free to all teacher training providers so that it can be applied to improve teacher development across the country.
• An impact-focused organisation: its unique position gives the NIoT the opportunity to link data on teacher and leader development with data sets on pupil achievement, enabling it to see what truly makes an impact on children’s outcomes. This is something not done anywhere in the world outside North America.
• Once Degree awarding powers are granted, the NIoT will become the only university in the UK solely focused on the development of teachers and school leaders combining academic awards with outstanding practice in schools.
• A key provider of the full “Golden Thread” of qualifications throughout teachers’, school leaders’ and system leaders’ careers, setting exemplary standards in the delivery of courses from initial teacher training onwards. This will mean participants seamlessly progress from one programme to the next throughout their professional lives.

 
What opportunities does the NIoT create for the SWIFT partnership?

• It enables us to be part of the design and delivery of world-class professional development for teachers and leaders.
• A new ITT programme will be available from September 2022 for first delivery from September 2023; which will support the creation of excellent choices for prospective applicants between high quality local, regional and national programmes.
• Extend the role of SWIFT, so that it has a part to play in training and support NLEs and in supporting research into best practice.
• Make a significant contribution to developing an evidence base about what works for teacher development.
• Opportunity to access degrees that bring together research and school practice in innovative ways.

 
These are very early days, so there is much to develop our thinking around and we look forward to future developments of the National Institute of Teaching.