Welcome to the new academic year! In response to your member feedback, here’s a brief overview of what new we have planned to support you this academic year…

New network groups

Research network groups

We have amended our research programme slightly for the 2023/24 academic year, but the new programme will continue to be free to all NACE members. We will launch our new programme on Tuesday 10 October with our member webinar. It will follow the theme of how to undertake successful change in a school. Following our webinar, we will run a meeting each term in the style of our other popular network groups. There will be one group for classroom practitioners and one for members interested in conducting whole-school change. In addition, for Welsh colleagues, we will continue to run a hub studying effective change within the Curriculum for Wales. Dates for all of these meetings can be found here.

KS5 network group

We have a growing number of colleges joining NACE, in addition to a number of member schools with sixth forms. As a result, we will be introducing a new KS5 Network Group next year – an opportunity to connect with fellow KS5 leaders and practitioners to share experiences, raise questions and discuss current challenges and priorities. This group will run termly and will also be free to members. Register here.

We will continue to run our established Challenge Award Schools, More Able Leads and EYFS network groups.

Research updates

Making space for able learners: phase 2

We have been exploring two key strands in greater depth for the second phase of our Making Space for Able Learners project. The first of these is focused on effective approaches to assessment in the cognitively challenging classroom, exploring questions such as who assessment is for, how it fits within cognitively challenging learning, how to develop effective assessment practices, and what we need to rethink about assessment. The second focus builds on the importance of rich and extended talk and cognitive discourse, and further examines oracy and linguistics in the context of the classroom. We will be launching new resources, free for members, in the new year. More details will follow in our upcoming monthly newsfeeds – keep an eye out for the launch of these new resources.

Subject workshops

Our first set of subject workshops, for secondary colleagues, took place in January 2023. This one-day workshop event explored the balance of subject knowledge and creativity in how we ensure the needs of the most able learners are met. We then focused on the core subject areas of maths, English and science, drawing on the latest evidence and learning to explore the mechanisms of challenge in each subject and how we facilitate higher-order thinking. Delegates left with an understanding of what challenge means for their subject area, what it can look like in the classroom, and practical actions they could take back into school.

Due to the success of this event we will be running a half-day workshop for primary practitioners in November 2023, with a focus on the subjects of science, history and geography. We will also be offering another one-day workshop for secondary colleagues in January 2024, with a focus on three different subject areas – more details coming soon. The events will offer both member as well as multi-delegate discounts.

Exclusive NACE offers for groups/clusters of schools

We have received an increased number of enquiries from clusters of schools for both membership and participation in NACE’s Challenge Development Programme - working with NACE as a group of schools. We have previously introduced individual discounts on membership when schools join as a cluster, and we will now be offering significant discounts for groups of schools seeking to review and improve challenge for all through NACE’s Challenge Development Programme. Working together will promote a consistency in approach, while allowing the flexibility for each school to work at their own pace and in line with their own context. Groups of schools working on the programme can also benefit from shared consultancy and/or CPD to support this process.

NACE Challenge Ambassador schools

Following the launch of our Challenge Ambassador Programme this time last year, I am delighted to welcome Toot Hill School, Southend High School for Boys and Ysgol Glan Gele as NACE’s first Challenge Ambassador schools. A reminder that if you have already been accredited with the Challenge Award on two or more occasions you will have the opportunity to apply to be a NACE Challenge Ambassador School during your next accreditation. To do this, you must meet the Ambassador School requirements, and we look forward to more schools joining this prestigious group in future years when their next accreditation is due.

I wish you all well for the new academic year. As always, please do get in touch if we can support you in any way.