School visits

(pre-conference Friday morning)

Use this additional CPD opportunity to engage in professional dialogue with colleagues in a different area at no additional cost, allowing you to compare, contrast and share ideas.

These learning visits will take place on the Friday morning prior to the start of annual conference at no additional cost. Visits will take place between 09.30 and 11.30 on Friday morning. Transport will be provided.

Arden School
Arden School converted to academy status a year ago, having achieved an outstanding Ofsted inspection report in 2008. The school received its best GCSE and A level results ever this year with 92 per cent of pupils achieving 5 A*-C and 39 per cent meeting the English Bacc requirements. It will be able to talk about the challenges and advantages of being an early converter academy and how it has used this as a springboard for improvement and how it has impacted various aspects of the school.

Grace Academy
Grace Academy Solihull is one of three academies sponsored by the charity The Grace Foundation. It opened on a state of the art campus on the edge of a council estate five years ago. The academy will explain the advantages and challenges of working in a hard federation of academies which have shared governance arrangements and share some support functions such as finance and HR. As the sponsor has a strong Christian ethos and puts funding into senior posts devoted to ethos, the academy will also talk about the tangible and evidence-based ways in which ethos is built into academy life.

Washwood Heath Technology College *FULL*
Washwood Heath Technology College is an 11-18 comprehensive, very multicultural school with 44 per cent of students on free school meals. Since 2005, its GCSE five A*-C including English and maths results have risen from 16 per cent to 52 per cent this year. The school will share its strategies for improvement including vertical tutor groups for years 7-13, flexible curriculum options (vertical teaching) for years 9-11 and a focus on student leadership. It will also explain its coaching model to improve teaching and learning, which centres on outstanding teachers trained to be professional mentors to other staff.

Please indicate on your booking if you would like to receive details.