Who We Are
Welcome from Ed Leighton, Director of the Cheshire Teaching School Hub
Sam Chater, Deputy Director of the Cheshire Teaching School Hub
It’s a privilege and an honour to lead the Cheshire Teaching School Hub. As a Teaching School Hub, we are a school-led centre of excellence for teacher and leadership training and development.
The Cheshire Teaching School Hub provides high-quality professional development for teachers at all stages of their careers across Cheshire East and West. We play a significant role in delivering:
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School-based Initial Teacher Training (ITT)
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The Early Career Framework (ECF)
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The National Professional Qualifications (NPQs)
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Appropriate Body services for early career teachers
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Other high-quality, evidence-based professional development for school leaders and teachers
Please find below a link to a short video presentation explaining the role of the hub and details about the new Early Career Framework, Appropriate Body, and reformed NPQs:
👉 https://www.loom.com/share/b5702b67fa774627994f9a8af357fa64
We are absolutely delighted to have partnered with Best Practice Network and a range of expert local delivery partners to deliver both the Early Career Framework and the newly reformed NPQs.
This is a really exciting time in teacher development, and we very much look forward to working with teachers and leaders across Cheshire.
Ed Leighton (2021)
Welcome from John Dowler – Chair of the Cheshire Teaching School Hub
I am delighted to briefly introduce myself as the Chair of the Cheshire Teaching School Hub.
I started my teaching career back in 1981 in Cheshire, firstly as a Physics teacher at Neston High School and then as Head of Physics at Blacon High School. My career then took me to St Helens (for 16 years) and then as Headteacher in rural west Northumberland, from 2004 – 2010.
In 2010 I then returned to Cheshire as Headteacher at Helsby High School, from where I retired from full time work at the end of 2018. Since that time I have worked as a part time educational consultant.
In 2021 I was delighted to be invited to Chair the new Cheshire Teaching School Hub, based out of St Joseph’s College in Stoke.
My role includes:
- Chairing termly Strategic Leadership Group meetings each academic year. These meetings include representatives from the three school phases (special, primary and secondary), curriculum hubs, delivery partners (including former Teaching Schools and ITT providers) and both Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester Local Authorities.
- Working with the team at St Joseph’s to act as sounding board to ensure that the Teaching School Hub for Cheshire is providing the best quality support for schools, staff and young people across both Cheshire East and West. Key people include Ed Leighton – Director of the Cheshire Teaching School Hub, Sam Chater – the Hub lead for ITT and the Appropriate Body and Melissa Roberts – Headteacher of St Joseph’s College.
- Ensuring that the Cheshire Teaching School Hub meets the DfE’s accountability measures and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Since September 2021 the commitment of our partners from across Cheshire and the hard work of our central leadership team at St Joseph’s has enabled us to exceed all the DfE’s KPIs. We look forward to build on these successes in future years and look forward to working with you.
Melissa Roberts - Appropriate Body Lead
Formerly Headteacher of St Joseph's College, lead school for Cheshire Teaching School Hub, I now work as part of the Appropriate Body team. I work with schools to ensure that Early Career Teachers get the training and support to enable them to flourish in these important first years. I am lucky enough to visit schools to carry out Quality Assurance and talk to Headteachers, Induction Tutors, Mentors and ECTs about how the ECTE builds on previous training and aims to create a profession of strong and confident teachers, who are able to use their expertise and knowledge to improve the lives of children and young people.
Stephanie Hood - Initial Teacher Training Strategic Lead
My role in the teaching school hub is to support the design, delivery and quality assurance of initial teacher training across Cheshire.
Angela Davies - Cheshire Teaching School Hub Secretary
Abbie Griffin - Communications and Engagement