At Sydenham High School, a lifelong love of learning is encouraged for staff and pupils alike, and staff further along in their career are always happy to share their knowledge and best practice to support the development of those newer to the profession. In this vein, the school hosted an Early Career Teacher Conference for schools across the UK.

On Tuesday 7 March, an eager group of Early Career Teachers gathered at Sydenham High School to learn from established practitioners about how to develop techniques and skills for use in the classroom and to advance their understanding of their new careers. Sydenham High’s School Consultant Teacher, Rachael Vaughan, delivered the first session looking at practical aspects of how to implement ‘Higher Order Thinking Skills’ in the classroom. She also explored how to plan opportunities for all pupils to extend their higher order thinking skills while promoting growth and motivation. Finally, the session looked at thinking moves and how pupils can become more independent with their own learning.

Next up was Lorna Dodds, Assistant Head Enrichment, on Philosophy for Children (P4C), a pedagogy that fosters intellectual curiosity, deepens empathy and helps young people to find their own voice. In this session, the ECTs benefited from a deep dive into how to cultivate a philosophical inquiry in the classroom and create an inclusive environment which encourages pupils to voice their ideas and understand how P4C can enrich the teaching of subjects across the whole curriculum. This session was very practical empowered attendees with techniques for their lessons.

Catherine Buckler, Head of Geography, used her session to reveal insight into Retrieval Practice, drawing on the work of Kate Jones’ book, ‘Retrieval Practice: Research and resources for every classroom’. The session gave a range of ideas for its practical application across a range of subjects, explaining that the aim of Retrieval Practice is to help pupils to move knowledge into their long term memory store, but also to strength the retrieval of knowledge when it is needed, such as during an assessment, or when needed as a starting point for further learning.

The fourth and final session was a practical workshop delivered by School Counsellor, Erin Rutherford around the subject of Wellbeing. She discussed how to recognise the signs of when a pupil might be in distress and how to deal with and understand their behaviours in the classroom. Alongside this were tips to empower teachers to deal with situations as they arise.

The conference culminated in a talk from keynote speaker,  Dr Rachel Morris, a former GP with a background in Medical Education, now working as an Executive Coach and Trainer.  She is also the host of the Apple Top 100 UK Business podcast, ‘You Are Not A Frog’, which shares life hacks for busy professionals so they can beat burnout and work happier. Specialising in resilience in the workplace for doctors and professionals in high stress jobs, she has even created a Shapes Toolkit Resilience Training Programme and so was an ideal person to speak to a fledgling group of teachers.

You could visibly see the ECTs from our schools and partner schools getting so much out of being there, seeing others in similar situations and listening to the wise counsel of so many of your colleagues.  Thank you so much for hosting – congratulations to all the fab team at Sydenham!

Will Wareing, Deputy Director, Education at GDST

ECT feedback:

Thank you! I got back to Bath after a day full of interesting ideas and new tools for the classroom (I sat listening to the last speaker, who was really great, taking notes thinking ‘I must share this with my Yr 11 Tutees’).  Thank you so much for organising it all.

Thank you for organising a lovely and informative conference. I enjoyed it a lot.

It was good to review techniques and see what people are using in other subjects, especially subjects very different from mine.

I knew very little about Philosophy for children and it was good to have some practice to better understand.

I liked having a choice of mini sessions to attend, it made the afternoon more tailored to each individual. Thank you