Registration is now open for SWIFT Membership for 2026  - 2027.

Be part of our community of schools!  
Discover how SWIFT CPD and Membership provides good value, high-quality professional development to enhance your classroom practice, in order to foster the best possible outcomes for children and young people.   

The Offer:
In response to your feedback, SWIFT CPD Team are pleased to present a professional development that tackles issues of the day with instructive and constructive learning opportunities:

• Space4Thinking: Child-Led Coaching to Boost Pupil Wellbeing and Resilience with Leonie Hurrell.
• Inclusion By Design with Rachel Higginson.
• Primary Subject Briefings with Josh Lury (Maths), Danni Cooke (English), Carla Bennett (Science) and Phil Armstrong (Early Years).
• Secondary Subject Briefings with Craig Barton (Maths), Amjad Ali (SEND), Jennifer Webb (English), Jo Castelino (Science) and Rachel Hawkes (Languages).
• Whole School SEND and Nasen Updates.
• South West Art Teachers Annual Conference.
• Leadership Forum.  
• Annual SWIFT Summer Conference.

 
Session bookings on Eventbrite are quick and easy saving time for you and your colleagues.

Benefits:
Membership gives you access to the following:

• 30% discount on a wide range of courses and conferences. 
• FREE + unlimited access to Primary and Secondary Subject Briefings.
• FREE + unlimited access to termly Professional Communities.
• FREE + unlimited access to the Leadership Forum.
• 50% subsidy for an initial year with The Engagement Platform (TEP).

Extra Benefits:  
You can find supportive benefits from the following:

• Not-for-profit CPD sourced directly from trainers and delivered locally. 
• Sector leading programmes providing high-impact, evidence-informed CPD. 
• School-led approaches, connecting directly to teacher and leader priorities. 
• Courses that offer blended in-person and online models to suit your working schedules. 
• Connectively across the school system, bringing together teachers and leaders committed to the same values, from diverse schools and contexts. 
• Safe, supportive and no-risk environments for teachers and leaders to be honest, open and generous.  

We know - because many of you tell us, SWIFT Membership is being part of something special...
A community of schools who believe in professional development that makes a difference to practice in the classroom, to lead and support your teams and fosters the best possible outcomes for children and young people.   

REGISTER NOW for SWIFT Membership for 2025 - 2026. 
By registering your School/MAT/Federation (once), ALL your colleagues can access for FREE or at a reduced ticket price our best-ever programme of CPD courses and events.

LOW-COST £2 per pupil fee, and a *10% Early Bird discount* for registration before Friday 18 July 2025, PLUS a new lower rate for larger MATs. 
Understanding financial challenges, Membership fees are frozen. 

Join our community!
Discover how SWIFT CPD and Membership can provide good value and high quality professional development to you and your Teams.       

Helen Philpott and Joe Ambrose from the Southwest Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) Team began the session with an update on the aims of the RISE programme and the potential for further partnership working. 

To Ofsted as a central marker of the educational landscape and a presentation from Southwest Senior His Majesty's Inspector, Tracey Reynolds on her insights into the Ofsted consultation process and feedback from the testing phase of the proposed reforms. We were grateful to seize the opportunity to ask questions and Tracey was keen to receive their feedback before the end of the consultation phase. One attendee usefully noted how the “Ofsted info will underpin changes to the subject review process.”

Sharing his experiences of the pilot testing phase of the proposed new Ofsted Framework, Director of Performance for the Ted Wragg Trust, Jon Lunn, helped attendees to gain a better understanding of how the potential changes may play out in their own school settings. 

We were then joined by Justin Coombes and Helen Arman from the AQA Executive Team, who shared information about the use of AI for diagnostic and formative data insight tools for schools and MATs, along with the potential strategy as we move towards digital exams.

Michelle Sullivan, R.E. Lead for the Blackdown Education Partnership and Somerset R.E. Advisor, provided updates into the changes to the statutory entitlement and requirements for the delivery of Religious Education. Michelle reminded us of the importance of raising the profile of World Views as a highly valuable subject for our young people. 

We then considered the impact of pupil mobility on the outcomes for our students, as Alan Blackburn, Director for School Performance for Blackdown Education Partnership, shared data to help us reflect on our own school transition practices. Alan also provided vital information for schools to ensure they complete the Key Stage 4 June data checking exercises with accuracy. 

Leaders were keen to learn about the SWIFT CPD offer for the next academic year from SWIFT Executive Director, Martin Smith with a programme of intentional professional development to support some of the real challenges for schools, including AI, School engagement/attendance, IT and more besides. Colleagues shared that many of the focus areas for upcoming SWIFT CPD aligned with their current school priorities, particularly in light of the key messages being shared by the Ofsted framework focus surrounding schools CPD offer to all staff, and its impact on improvement.
 
We thank all our speakers for their motivating presentations that provided a clearer understanding with up-to-date and relevant information on many of the burning issues of the day.
 
One attendee shared their humbling and honest insight on the pupil mobility that could speak for the whole event:

“It challenged my thinking on the impact of mobility on student outcomes which is a real issue we are wrestling with and what we can do to better support students.”
 
As ever, we look forward to supporting school leaders with our exciting and purposeful CPD offer this Summer Term.
 
Report by Tania Cox, Partner Director, Blackdown Education Partnership