Over the past year I have been afforded so many wonderful opportunities to further my own professional development. This has been something I have truly valued and to have such experiences so early on in my career is unique and a real testament to the quality of opportunities for beginner teachers that The White Rose Academies Trust offers.

My head of department who asked if I would deliver a 15-minute forum CPD session on supporting lower ability learners afforded one such opportunity to me. This is an area of my practice that I have struggled with over the year, however is also an area that I have invested a considerable amount of time into improving, including completing pieces of research on such differentiation as part of my teaching qualification.

The process of putting together a CPD session was really rewarding as it allowed me to reflect on what I had done well in terms of this area of my practice. More importantly, it also gave me a chance to reflect on what I was struggling with and strategies that hadn’t been so effective. I then had the opportunity to celebrate these successes and collaborate with other colleagues from around the academy in terms of looking forward to how to improve differentiation and inclusion for all.

I am really glad I approached this opportunity as a real chance for me to gain some valuable advice and to share practice with more experienced colleagues. I left my session with a real sense of achievement in leading something I am passionate about, receiving great feedback, but also with a real drive to implement some new strategies and to continue to refine my practice in this area.