Our Partners

Education South West is proud to be a Rights Respecting Academy. All of our schools have UNICEF Rights Respecting accreditation, which recognises our commitment to creating safe and inspiring places to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured and they are able to thrive. Developing a Rights Respecting ethos in all our schools ensures that these values are embedded in daily school life, giving children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible, active citizens, both locally and globally.​

Teaching Schools South West is a partnership of teaching schools that are passionate about the self-improving, school-led system.

Teaching Schools South West is a partnership which includes a Teaching School Hub, six Teaching School Alliances, the Kingsbridge Research Schools, MATs and schools from the wider Devon area. As a Teaching School Hub, we aim to offer a high-quality Appropriate Body service for NQTs, linking into our range of Early Career programmes for primary and secondary teachers. This offer represents great quality and great value, building on the expertise of Torbay TSA’s role as an AB for the Torbay area.

As part of Education South West, Kingsbridge Community College was one of the first 100 schools nationally to be designated as a Teaching School. This status recognises the outstanding practice in the school itself and its track record of working collaboratively to support the development of other schools. Our Teaching School Alliance, the South West teaching School Alliance (SWTSA was formed in September 2011. From this alliance Teaching School South West was developed.

Since its creation in September 2011 SWTSA has gone from strength to strength and currently represented within the Alliance are 34 schools from the primary, cross phase (all through), and secondary sectors.

We work in partnership with a number of universities: Exeter, Plymouth and St Marks & St John (Marjon), all of whom are recognised as centres of excellence for teacher education and development, their initial teacher education programmes have been Ofsted rated Good or Outstanding and are considered to be among the best in the country.

SWTSA recruits and trains new entrants to the teaching profession, identifies leadership potential, and provides support for schools across the South West, to transform outcomes for young people and bring about positive social change. We drive action research, undertake innovations in teaching, and optimise the talents and commitment of our staff to develop creative ways of providing education.

We therefore identify and co-ordinate expertise from within SWTSA, using the very best leaders and specialist teachers to:

1. Co-ordinate and deliver high-quality, school-based initial teacher training (ITT)
2. Lead peer-to-peer professional and leadership development for teachers and leaders across our network.
3. Spread excellent practice by supporting other schools, brokering professional collaboration and partnership.
4. Designate and broker Specialist Leaders of Education (SLEs).
5. Engage in research and development to the benefit of all our learners.

As a result of this strong foundation we are a group of schools and HE providers with a genuine commitment to working together to deliver the very best training and development for current and potential future teachers. We offer a diverse range of experiences that build the skills of our teachers and help boost their career potential now and in the future.

If you are interested in finding out more about our Alliance and what we do, please visit our website.

National Research School Network

The Research Schools Network is a collaboration between the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Institute for Effective Education (IEE) to create a network of schools that will support the use of evidence to improve teaching practice.

Launched in 2016, Research Schools act as regional hubs for the Research Schools Network. Through the network, they share what they know about putting research into practice, and support schools to make better use of evidence to inform their teaching and learning so that they really make a difference in the classroom. As one of the founding Research Schools we aim to lead the way in the use of evidence-based practice and bring research closer to schools. All of the Research Schools work with other schools in their network to help them to make better use of evidence to inform their teaching and learning. There are currently 23 Research Schools situated across England with 13 of these focused in government identified “Opportunity Areas” where improving social mobility is seen as a priority.

Our Research School Status

Since we became one of the first designated National Research Schools in 2016, we have been working closely with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), Institute for Effective Education (IEE) and our other partners to develop evidence based approaches to teaching and learning across the Southwest of England.

The Southwest Research Schools Network effectively supports schools in the region by:

• Encouraging schools across the southwest to make use of evidence-based programmes and practices through regular communication and events.
• Providing training and professional development for senior leaders, teachers and paraprofessionals on how to improve classroom practice based on the best available evidence.
• Supporting schools to develop innovative ways of improving teaching and learning and providing them with the expertise to evaluate their impact.

About the EEF and the IEE

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent grant-making charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement, ensuring that children from all backgrounds can fulfil their potential and make the most of their talents.

The Institute for Effective Education (IEE) is an independent charity working closely with schools, school leaders, academy chains, other third sector organisations, and policy-makers to promote the use of research evidence to inform and improve education outcomes for all children, especially the most disadvantaged.

For more information about our Research School and the work we do, please visit our website.

Whether new to headship or with some experience of school leadership, the rapidly changing school environment means that the role of headteacher is becoming increasingly complex and demanding. The School Leadership Support Service is designed to promote effective school leadership and the personal wellbeing of headteachers.

We work with Teach First to ensure that the potential in all children is unlocked, not just some.

To find out more about Teach First, please visit their website.

We also actively seek to work with other trusts across the country and are members of Confederation of School Trusts.

Founding member of Queen Street Group. A group of Multi-Academy Trust chief executive officers began meeting informally in June 2015. This group became a voluntary alliance that met regularly during 2016–18 to exchange operational insights, peer-to-peer. During 2017–18, the CEOs decided to create a formal legal entity to encourage and extend these discussions, leading to the Queen Street Group being incorporated in October 2018 with 17 Trusts in membership.

Forum Strategy is a strategy and organisational development consultancy – with an emphasis on executive leadership training and coaching, organisational development, and strategic planning.

We Sparx Maths in our secondary classrooms to deliver personalised maths learning.

We know that one of the motivating factors for students undertaking independent learning is being set achievable challenges and provided with instant feedback. This is where personalised technologies will continue to help engage students learning at home.

Established in 2009 by Lord Baker and Lord Dearing to promote and develop UTCs, Baker Dearing Educational Trust created and owns the UTC brand and trademarks and licences their use to all UTCs. Over the past ten years, Baker Dearing has been the driving force behind new UTC openings and has provided ‘top-down’ direction to the programme, supporting new and existing UTCs to ensure the programme’s continued improvement and to embed UTCs firmly within the English education system.

“I created my charity just over ten years ago to support the establishment of University Technical Colleges (“UTCs”), and in doing so, provide young people with a relevant education in a fast-changing world. Ron Dearing and I developed the concept of UTCs because the schools’ system does not address the needs of employers for work-ready 18-year-olds with a technical education suited to the needs of the modern economy. The UTC technical education will be needed even more when we’ve defeated the Coronavirus”

Lord Baker – Co-founder of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust