1. Briefing notes for staff and governors

2.  Barndale House Special School  Blyth Academy  Croftway Primary Academy  Dales Special School  Grove Special School  Horton Grange Primary School  Morpeth Road Primary Academy  Malvin’s Close Primary Academy  New Delaval Primary School  Newsham Primary School  Pupil Referral Unit  St. Wilfrid’s RC Voluntary Aided Primary School

3. Schools judged by Ofsted to be ‘outstanding’ are invited to apply to lead a Teaching School Alliance. A DfE initiative, monitored through NCTL; aiming to raise standards in schools through improvements in teaching and school leadership. Lead schools need to demonstrate collaboration with partner schools; resulting in substantial school improvement across a locality or group of schools.

5. 1. A school-led Teacher Training system (Initial Teacher Training – ITT) 2. Peer to Peer professional and leadership development (Continued Professional Development - CPD) 3. Identify and develop leadership potential 4. Support for other schools (school to school support – S2SS) 5. Designate and broker Specialist Leaders of Education (SLEs) 6. Engage in research and development (R &D)

6.  TSAs are required to work with universities and other teacher training providers to deliver ITT opportunities across the partnership  Northumbria University is our main university partner, although we can also work with others  Shiremoor School is also a TSA and The Dales TSA takes a lead role within their TSA on SEND. Shiremoor School is a registered ITT provider and we can also take students on placement from them

7.  TSAs need to demonstrate that they will design, develop, deliver and evaluate CPD with partners across the partnership  CPD needs to be strategic and meet the needs of schools in the TSA  Address the career needs of staff at all levels  Encourage staff to engage in innovative approaches to school based research and development

8.  TSAs should work with all partners to identify and develop potential middle and senior leadership from within the TSA. Leadership skills at all levels within school should be identified and developed  Potential leaders should be identified and supported to help them develop their leadership skills and to work alongside the head with leadership issues throughout school. This will help to build capacity within school and subsequently lead to increased school improvement

9.  S2SS involves head teachers and senior leaders in providing leadership support/mentoring for other schools in challenging circumstances. This may be commissioned by the Local Authority or individual schools  S2SS could also involve staff throughout school sharing best practice through inviting schools to visit and shadow specific work in school, staff leading forums on specific themes, classroom observations and evaluative feedback

10.  Staff with specialist expertise in a curriculum or leadership area should be identified and supported to achieve SLE status and accreditation  Focus groups of SLEs will work together to further develop their expertise and share their skills with others across the TSA  Schools in the TSA will be asked to identify potential SLEs so applications can be made

11.  Collaboration with Northumbria University to identify students with a specific research interest that matches the interests across the TSA, to work alongside interested TSA staff on innovative research projects  Develop research, trial propositions in TSA schools, implement findings, share, evaluate, publish  Utilise expertise to improve outcomes across the TSA

12.  Baseline audit to determine where schools are at  School visits to discuss strengths, aspirations and needs. Also to determine what schools can offer  Confirm Action Plan priorities  Communications ◦ Newsletter ◦ Web pages ◦ Meeting schedule  Draft vision and strategy  2 seminars planned for March and April  Dissemination of local and national training opportunities