Continuing Professional Development

Opportunities for teachers

Develop a more rewarding career

We have good schools where you will find yourself valued and supported from the start. Babcock 4S works closely with Headteachers to ensure our schools are well run. This includes reviewing management practice and developing clear policies and procedures. Our commitment is to provide the most relevant and up-to-date development programme that meets the needs of schools and individuals. Our quality assurance objective is to ensure evaluations are received from all course participants which are used for continuous improvements to the CPD programme and to plan future activities.

A significant number of teachers have been successful in qualifying for the Threshold. Our number of Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs), in both Primary and Secondary schools, is increasing. Making a difference to our pupils’ lives – Teaching in Waltham Forest offers you the opportunity to do this.
Babcock 4S Ltd in partnership with Waltham Forest Council has achieved accreditation as a Centre of Excellence in Personal Finance Education (PFE). The award recognises the commitment of schools, working with the school improvement service, to embed PFE into the curriculum. Young people are facing increasingly complex financial decisions at an ever earlier age and it is absolutely essential to their wellbeing that they are equipped with the skills to thrive financially by the time they leave school. Schools in Waltham Forest clearly recognise this need and have worked hard to develop and embed an appropriate curriculum for PFE across the primary and secondary phases including within our special schools. The inclusive nature of our programme has been recognised nationally and has contributed to the achievement of Centre of Excellence status.

The Local Authority has a key role to play in appointing, recruiting, supporting and encouraging the spread of good practice. The Babcock Group working with Waltham Forest LA seeks to ensure a reasonable spread of ASTs across all schools. ASTs are teachers who have been recognised through external assessment as having excellent classroom practice. They are given additional payment and non-contact time to share their experience with other teachers and learn from them.

Our education system is stronger than ever, both locally and nationally. We have achieved our best ever results this year. As leaders, we are sharper and more knowledgeable in our understanding of how to improve schools and children’s lives.
In joining Waltham Forest as a head teacher, you become part of a family of schools with a strong commitment to system leadership, partnership and innovation. We believe that these are our greatest strengths and in no small part, the reason for our collective successes.
We welcome innovative thinking in Waltham Forest, and over the past year, we have begun to define our ‘next practice’ in school improvement. ‘Next practice’ is aware of conventional good practice - its strengths and limitations - but sets out to move it to a new level. We are moving in a direction of schools leading their own improvement. This means that a new improvement model for local delivery is required.