Holland Park School
Science Department
The Cambridge Summer School for Science teachers was a wonderful event. The attendance of one of our teachers has led to a development in teaching practice within the department as whole. The lectures and workshops delivered by leading scientists inspired us to create discussion groups for Sixth Form students.
Outside of the main programme of events, the chance to network with so many other enthusiastic science teachers meant that the department was reinvigorated with many new ideas that year. Our move to a two year Key Stage 3, gradual introduction of Triple Science and Science club were all inspired or informed by colleagues met through the PTI.
The website has been a good source of new materials – the schemes of work, lesson plans and video resources on the site are regularly used by our department. Podcasts of the summer school lectures are a particular highlight. We have uploaded our own resources, so hopefully our work has been useful for other science teachers.
English Department
The most appealing aspect of the PTI for us is its commitment to subject specific CPD and its core belief in good subject knowledge being a vital ingredient of good teaching. Our team has benefited from many of the courses offered, and this has had a notable effect on teaching and learning. PTI courses remind our teachers why they began to teach their subject in the first place.
The application process and the subsequent annual review meeting helped focus our planning for 2008-09. As English is Holland Park’s lead specialist subject, it is important that we have a profile in school life. The range of extra curricular and cross curricular activities we are involved in is vast. The target setting process, and involvement of a Prince’s Teaching Institute Lead Teacher, gave a degree of rigour and organisation to the year that might otherwise have been missing.
History Department
Access to academic lectures through the PTI has been an inspiration for a range of teachers in the History department. Not only has it renewed enthusiasm for the topics we teach for those of us who were fortunate enough to attend the Cambridge summer school, but it has also inspired us to invite academics into school to share that privilege with students. Professor Ulf Schmidt came to discuss his book on ‘Hitler’s doctor’ with students from Years 9 to 13 in a very successful seminar-style session, during which students shared their knowledge of the period and were questioned and challenged by Prof. Schmidt. Teachers have also been encouraged to attend lectures at other university events, to refresh both their subject knowledge and their passion for History.
The development of the Schools Programme has led to the valuable creation of networks between History departments, which has allowed us to share excellent ideas and work through some of the challenges presented by the changing educational policy landscape in schools and across the country. By meeting the same colleagues every year, there is a real feeling of support between us now, which has led to fruitful discussion and the sharing of resources through the PTI website.
Holland Park School is a mixed comprehensive school based in London, with students aged from 11 to 19 years.