Staff Training Days
Recently we have had two school closures for staff training days. I thought it might be an opportunity to share with you what we have been doing on these days.
On Sept 15th was our Launch Day for our upcoming move to the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. What this entailed was our whole staff being involved with learning about the philosophy and values of an IB World School and looking at putting those principles into practice. The staff were split into 3 different groups with three different workshop leaders delivering the workshop on behalf of the IBO. As we are quite a way down the MYP planning route, the workshops were tailored to the needs of the school and the expectations of an MYP launch. Within these groups, subject staff were also able to look at subject specific guides. This built on quite nicely from what we had already done on our CPD day last April 29th which was based on Teaching and learning. In April we had looked at a different approach to Concept Based Learning which is relevant to the planning of the MYP units of work. As a reminder, MYP will be introduced for Years 7 to 9 only.
Last Monday Oct 17th was an ESF CPD day. As all ESF schools are embarking on the MYP framework for Years 7-9, but at different stages, the workshops that were offered had to be differentiated. SIS and WIS were the host schools. At SIS, 26 of our staff attended the Category 3 level in Creating Authentic Units of Work, while others attended MYP subject specific workshops. At WIS workshops included such topics as Teaching and Learning Instructional Coaching, Mindfulness, IB Career-related Programme (IBCP) Embedding Service Learning, SEN within the MYP programme, Design in Design Technology. The MYP workshops were delivered by trained IBO staff while the remainder were taken by ESF teachers.
Although we do realise these days are disruptive to students and parents, they are ‘additional’ days, originally drawn from school holidays and placed within the term. They are also a valuable opportunity for staff learning and collaboration within and across the Foundation.
