Coaching

Teaching and Learning Team 2021-2022

The teaching and learning team consist of 5 outstanding practicers in a range of subjects including Physical Education, Science, RE, Business and Computing. Coaching is one of the core foundations of supporting and developing teacher’s pedagogy. Each coach also has a specialist area of expertise which they will utilise when delivering CPD and sharing current research with staff. These include, behaviour management, meta-cognition, modelling, questioning, literacy and reading, retrieval, recall and curriculum sequencing.

From the time of the programme starting, over 100 members of staff have received coaching support which has helped embed new strategies and improve teaching practise whole school.

The coaching on offer at Blessed Thomas Holford uses the ‘Instructional coaching model’ to support and develop teacher’s expertise and confidence in the classroom. Each week the T+L team videos and models a strategy that can be utilised by staff in their day-to-day teaching. All videos are available via the National College and support teacher’s continuous professional development.

There is a dedicated T+L Twitter page available to all staff at Blessed Thomas Holford, which shares research and current teaching practise which can be embedded within the classroom.

This year the T+L team have been working hard to support staff in the classroom even further by regular drop-ins to lessons and offering this to staff as a supportive measure they can adopt and request on a weekly basis.

Through these regular drop-ins the team have been promoting and supporting staff in Talent Tuesday nominations. A new initiative for 2021, which focuses on recognising the amazing work produced by pupils on a weekly basis. Alongside this, the team also issue ‘Homework Hero’ cards to pupils who have gone above and beyond on their home learning.

Below is a breakdown of half term one which shows the information that is shared with staff on a weekly basis. Each half term the focus changes, which relates to the school development plan and teaching priorities moving forward.

The below table details the support on offer by the Teaching and Learning Team this year:

Below are some of the testimonials from staff who have received coaching previously at Blessed Thomas Holford

“My experience with the coaching programme has been nothing but positive. AEB was one of the first (of many!) friendly faces that I worked with upon arriving here at BTH. What I enjoyed most was having someone who I felt was both knowledgeable AND supportive to help me settle into my role here. It was especially tough because of the year that this has been with Covid regardless of joining a new school, but in light of the chaos I am so thankful I had someone one my side to share best practice!”"I though the coaching programme was an excellent way to improve my teaching practice. Having an experienced teacher in the room meant I was able to home in on areas of my teaching that needed developing and together we were able to come up with practical solutions and strategies to implement in the classroom. The coaching feedback sessions were also a great place to talk about any worries or troubles I was having with particular classes and they made me feel very supported. Overall, they were of tremendous use in my first term here at BTH and I'd recommend the coaching programme to any teacher looking to develop their craft."“It was great to know I had someone to go to who knew BTH well and could point me in the right direction as and when needed. Coaching helped me navigate the new school, policies and best practice. I found coaching to be a positive supportive experience and would definitely recommend the programme to others.”“The Good to Outstanding programme has helped me immeasurably in my NQT year. From regular observation and feedback, I have been able to develop my lessons to outstanding with manageable targets set and reviewed each week. This has massively improved my confidence as a teacher, and because of the programme I feel I’ve developed more in my profession than I did in my training. I recommend the Good to Outstanding programme to everyone, I never felt as though my ability was in question, but instead was able to see what I was doing well and what I could try to incorporate next time. This programme is extremely useful for anyone who wants to continue to develop in their practise.”“Have you ever had a class to whom you cannot get through? No matter how hard you try, there’s like an invisible barrier that does not let you connect with them. That happened to me this year with a year 8 group and together with my coach we came up with techniques to build up positive relationships with them. Every week I felt stronger and more confident with trying new group activities with them to get them out of their seats to work collaboratively. I would not have had the confidence to try all those new things if it were not for the programme, because I would have been scared of having behaviour issues.”