The one-day event in Westbury was the main teaching and learning opportunity of the year for Westbury town schools, as well as offering an opportunity to network with peers, sharing experience and best practice.
Headteacher and WASP chair, Debbie Grimsey reports, “This year’s theme was on language and writing which is an aspect of school improvement, which all our schools are working on.
“The conference was well attended by teachers and TAs across the town schools of Bitham Brook, Matravers, Westbury Infants, Westbury Leigh and Westbury Juniors, all of whom form part of Westbury Area Schools Partnership (WASP).
“The conference took place on Monday 25th February with Steven Donohue from Wiltshire Council kicking off the day with a talk on ‘the importance of vocabulary in developing every child’s potential’. This theme was then echoed through a number of workshops across the morning where a host of lively and informative guest speakers including staff from schools led sessions ranging from using sentence structures, how to mark effectively and getting the best from our writers in schools.
“It was an energising and thought-provoking day for all of our staff. Each year we see more and more contributions from local schools leading workshops which is a huge accolade to the great staff in our schools. We are very grateful to everyone who led a session or co-ordinated the event behind the scenes, for enabling us to bring our schools together in a thoughtful, reflective morning. Each school will leave with ideas and strategies that we hope will be put to good use and help us continue to raise standards for the children of Westbury.”
