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International Speakers Boost Staff Professional Development At Trust

Leading professionals in the field of education delivered training seminars to 280 Tollbar Multi Academy Trust teaching staff. Pictured with some of the staff are speakers: (front l-r) Bradley Busch, Edward Watson and Ross Morrison McGill (front, far right) with TMAT Chief Executive Martin Brown (front, second right).


International speakers who are leaders in their field have been sharing their knowledge and expertise with secondary teachers at Tollbar Multi Academy Trust as it invests heavily in continuing professional development for its  staff.

Almost 300 teachers and teaching assistants were able to choose from a range of seminars, which dealt with issues ranging from ‘The Science of Learning: Memory Retrieval’ to ‘Metacognition,’ ‘First Aid For Mental Health’ and critical tips for those ‘New to Leadership.’

The staff are all teachers or teaching assistants at Tollbar, Cleethorpes, Louth and Somercotes Academies.

Workshops were delivered by three of the industry’s most recognised faces: chartered psychologist Bradley Busch, who is one the leading experts on how psychological research can best help students and teachers improve how they think, learn and perform; Ross Morrison McGill, who works with students, teachers and school leaders across the world supporting teaching and learning, workload and mental health; and Edward Watson, who founded educational blog ‘InnerDrive’ in 2006, and has spent the last 10 years designing and presenting student and parent workshops and teacher CPD across the globe.

The three professionals spent a day at Tollbar Academy and during breaks in their workshops chatted with teachers eager to gain their thoughts on ways to continuously improve their teaching and learning.

Bradley Busch and Edward Watson’s seminars ’The Science of Learning’ are designed to show the best evidence-based strategies to improve students’ memories and resilience to help them to become independent learners.

Edward is an Oxford University graduate with an MBA from London Business School. He served seven years in the Army before becoming a strategic management consultant in the games industry, and then founding education blog ‘InnerDrive.’ Bradley has worked with top-flight professional footballers and members of Team GB, who went on to win medals at London 2012 and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He is also a director of educational blog ‘InnerDrive.’

Bradley said: “Evidence-based research is becoming very important in the education field and in the last five years all schools have moved towards using more research-based strategies. 

“The Science of Learning workshops - Memory, Resilience and Independent Learning - each explore the most important educational psychology research in an interesting and useful way and show how to incorporate this research into classroom practise.

“One thing I know for sure is that teachers take great pride in what they do and they want to continue to improve, which makes them very responsive to evidence-based strategies that can truly make a difference in the classroom,” he added.

In 2015, Ross Morrison McGill was nominated as one of the ‘500 Most Influential People In Britain’ by The Sunday Times and, when he is not researching, he champions the work of teachers and schools with pragmatic training ideas to reduce teachers’ workloads.

His seminars focused on ways to challenge the notion that marking/feedback are the only ways to provide assessment in the classroom. Using some of the strategies in his popular book ‘Mark, Plan, Teach 2.0’  he encouraged staff to work through some of the techniques alongside the research theory.

“These sessions are all about showing teachers how to break down the complex theory into practical use to bring real benefits,” he explained. 

Ross also provided new school leaders with tips on how to help them listen and ask more meaningful questions, under the framework of managing difficult conversations, appraisal and leading staff meetings.

Martin Brown, Chief Executive of Tollbar Multi Academy Trust, welcomed the speakers to the Trust’s Inset Training Day. He said: “The Trust places a high priority on the professional development of all staff.  I am delighted that we were able to secure speakers with national prominence to inspire and motivate our teachers.  Staff from all of our secondary academies attended our first ever combined cross-academy training day.  We hope that this will now become an annual event for the Trust.”


Leading industry professional Edward Watson delivers a seminar to Tollbar MAT teaching staff on ‘The Science Of Learning.’

Tollbar Multi Academy Trust secondary teaching staff discuss the training seminars during a break.

Teaching staff listen to industry professional Ross Morrison McGIll, nominated in 2015 as one of the ‘500 Most Influential People In Britain’ by The Sunday Times.

Psychological research expert Bradley Busch delivers a workshop to Tollbar Multi Academy Trust teaching staff.