Teachers and Teaching Assistants enjoyed a joint inset day with Cardiff High School on Friday 14^th February 2020.  The focus of the day was on developing quality teaching and learning experiences, preparing for the Curriculum for Wales, sharing best practice and learning from one another.  The beginning of the day discussed the effectiveness of ‘Collective Teacher Efficacy,’ a concept well-researched by top New Zealand educationalist John Hattie.  His research discusses the shared belief that, through collective action, teachers can positively influence pupil outcomes. Educators with high efficacy show greater effort and persistence, a willingness to try new teaching approaches, set challenging goals, and attend more closely to the needs of students who require extra assistance.

Following this, teachers also discussed the role and complexities of teaching Tier 2 vocabulary to pupils, and how we all need to be mindful of the language we use and model.

A number of workshops were attended by all teachers, ranging from discussing metacognition, retrieval techniques, strategies for ‘making it stick’, differentiation, and how best to stretch and challenge our pupils.  The afternoon was equally as successful, with over 300 secondary colleagues engaging in interactive department meetings, discussing what makes our departments excellent and the steps we have taken to prepare for the Curriculum for Wales.  Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, reporting an extremely productive day in a supportive, caring and inclusive environment.  Diolch yn fawr!