Grasmere Primary School

Grasmere Primary School

Staff Development Policy

September 2013

Grasmere Primary School

Staff Development is an entitlement for individual members of staff within the context of the school’s needs.

Statement of aims

For the school:

To improve the quality of teaching and learning.
To raise pupil achievement by providing appropriate training and development for staff.
To provide a means of managing change.

For the staff

To increase their knowledge and skills.
To be developed as individual members of a team and the school as a whole.
To increase their motivation and involvement.
To be developed relevant to their job and role within the school. (Professional development is concerned with individual needs and career development and is a sub-set of staff development.
To have recognised and have used their experience, skills and expertise.

To have career development opportunities and progression.
To be encouraged to take responsibility for their own professional development and, collectively, to share responsibility for the development of the school as a whole.

Consultation

Staff will be consulted at each stage of the process of staff development, identification of needs, allocation of resources, planning the programme and its implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Grasmere has worked with Investors in People from Spring Term 1996 and has gained accreditation and re-accreditation as an Investor In People twice.

The Training Plan

The staff development plan will be related to the Grasmere School Development Plan and overall needs of the school.

Roles and Responsibilities

The school cannot necessarily provide financial support for major professional training course but will actively support any individuals who undertake such training.
Governors and Senior Managers will take responsibility for staff development and give support, consult and decide upon policy and strategy.
The use of specific funds for staff development and training programmes will be monitored to ensure cost effectiveness.
The use of specific grants will be monitored in relation to the conditions of the grant.
The most appropriate training method will be used to suit the planned purpose of a particular area of staff development and training. In addition to the usual attendance at courses and conferences, the following methods will also be used - visits, observations, working alongside colleagues, distance learning, workshop and the design of materials;
A mix of internal and external staff development training will be used.
Appropriate external help and advice will be sought to support development.

Responsibility for identification of training needs

Curriculum coordinators will be responsible for the identification of training needs and training opportunities for their subject areas.
The INSET coordinator (Deputy Head) will be responsible for monitoring and reviewing the training budget and training plan.
Staff development and training will be laid out annually on the Training Plan which will be reviewed termly in a whole staff meeting.
The Headteacher is responsible for identifying individual training needs. The key mechanism for identifying training needs will be the annual 1:1 interviews between individuals and the headteacher.
Priorities for funding subsequent training requests will be ordered as follows:
Where the training is linked to the School Development Plan by individual or subject.
Where the training offered is in line with the broader needs of the school.
Where the training offered meets an individuals personal training needs.

Grasmere sees appraisal as a process intended to raise the quality of education for its pupils by providing its teaching and non-teaching staff with better job satisfaction, more appropriate in-service training and better planned careers opportunities.
Appraisal interviews (1:1’s) take place each year annually, for both non-teaching staff and January teaching staff, between the Headteacher and the staff member concerned. Much of the appraisal is confidential to the appraisee and appraiser.
The statements, targets and training needs arising from the 1:1’s will be copied for the Headteacher and the staff member concerned and subsequently filed in the appraisee’s confidential personnel file in the Headteacher’s office.
The Deputy Head (INSET coordinator) will be given information about each individual’s training needs, which will be incorporated into the school’s Training Plan.
The Headteacher’s statement to the Governing Body on teacher appraisal will cover broad themes and staff development needs and will not identify individuals in any way.

Staff development policy