Multi-academy trust named as ‘teaching school hub’ for West Sussex

The trust, GLF Schools - which runs Kilnwood Vale School at Faygate and two schools in Crawley - says it is now looking forward to working with other education training providers, schools and teachers in West Sussex to provide “high quality professional development to teachers at every stage of their careers.”

It says teaching school hubs will be ‘school-led centres of excellence for teacher and leadership training and development.’

A total of 81 regional hubs will be operational from September and will replace the existing network of around 750 teaching schools across England.

Teachers will get best-practice and expert advice on how best to engage with pupils, lesson planning, and classroom management, as the teaching school hubs programme is rolled out across the country.

GLF Schools chief executive Jon Chaloner said: “We’re delighted to have been awarded Teaching School Hub status and we look forward to working alongside our colleagues in West Sussex’s schools and local authority.

“We are keen to develop a collaborative network that shares excellent practice supporting schools and trusts as they continue to invest in and develop their workforce.

“By creating and retaining the very best teachers and associate staff, the network can work together to ensure long term positive outcomes for children.”

Announcing the new status, the Department for Education said: “These hubs will provide high-quality professional development to teachers and leaders at all stages of their career and play a key role in helping to build up trainee teachers as they enter the workforce.

“This will further level up the quality of teaching, allowing every child to receive a world-class start in life no matter where they are born.”

Over the last nine years, GLF Schools, which began as a collaboration between a secondary school and primary in Surrey, has expanded into a group looking after more than 10,000 children in 41 schools across five regions of Southern England, including three in West Sussex - Forge Wood in Crawley, Kilnwood Vale at Faygate and Southgate Primary in Crawley.