The challenge to all staff within our Academy Trust is to always improve, to always get better; to continually grow as great teachers. They all see themselves as learners; empowered to make decisions, to be collaborative, to lead and to grow. The quality of teaching throughout our school is of paramount importance and we view our staff as our greatest assets. Our professional growth processes exist to ensure that all our staff are able to be the very best they can be, leading to every child being able to reach the highest possible standards.

We want to help and support our teachers, teaching assistants, office staff and school leaders to become the very best version of themselves so that our children benefit from the best possible provision. We also want to ensure that our staff feel able to make the next steps in their career but we also wish to create a culture within our Trust that encourages them to stay and grow with us.

Professional growth within our school has several purposes:

• To build and enhance expertise, and secure continuous growth and improvement.
• To enable reflection on strengths and successes, and areas for further growth.
• To recognise and promote a culture of professionalism.

Effective professional development is an essential part of securing effective performance. It requires both an individual desire and willingness to continually develop and a shared commitment from our staff to support and collaborate with one another. This policy is designed to change the way we view accountability and continuous professional development. Professional growth within our school is ‘done by’ our staff, not ‘done to’ them. Within our school we have high aspirations for ourselves; a belief and pride that we can be the very best, driven by a sense of moral purpose and desire to continuously grow and improve. We regard ‘Growing Great People’ as a key driver not only for staff development and school improvement, but also for recruitment, retention, and wellbeing.