Richmond Park teaching staff attended a professional development training morning on Saturday 4 November 2023. The session focused on the ‘fizz’ of teaching led by Nina Jackson. Nina has a wealth of experience in education including the publication of teaching books for colleagues to use and share in educational centres around the world. She travelled specially from the UK to be with us and share her educational philosophy in an entertaining and engaging CPD session.

Nina Jackson is an expert in the areas of mental health and well-being and has had an overwhelming impact on children, teachers and parents alike. She used her own personal examples which helped to drive our school agenda forward with ideas for developing teaching and the use of ICT in lessons

With a strong background in mainstream and special needs education and many years’ experience in schools as a pedagogical and pastoral champion, Nina has a breath-taking grasp of what makes classrooms – and all the people in them – tick. She was able to share some of the latest thinking on pedagogy and teaching techniques to inspire and include all students.

This was an interactive session with lots of opportunity to collaborate and share ideas. Staff were able to use a range of interactive applications to trial new ideas and to look at priorities moving forward.  Nina gave a presentation about different ways to create excitement in the class room.

There were educational discussions amongst colleagues and key stages which were exciting and led to wider sharing of ideas , resources and techniques. It is possible to use a range of approaches with our classes at different stages of the learning journey and Nina helped inspire our staff with concrete examples which will become part of the classroom repertoire in our school. The fundamental conclusion of the CPD was that we all learn and think in a variety of ways and need to delve into a variety of approaches when working with our learners inside the class room.