Teaching Schools Hubs: Five tips for building lasting school engagement

In summer 2024, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Teaching School Hub (CPTSH) unveiled its Local Leadership, Local Impact mission which set out our contribution to the region’s priorities for high-quality training and personalised support.

Eighteen months on, and as part of an annual progress update we have recently prepared for DfE, we can demonstrate that this strategy is working. Cumulatively, since CPTSH was established in 2021, 90% of schools across the region have engaged with our work, which as a headline figure reflects the Hub’s embedded role and impact in supporting teacher development and school improvement across the region.

Over the past year alone, we have supported 262 of the 358 schools in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, achieving an overall engagement rate of 73%. Schools have connected with CPTSH across multiple aspects of the ‘Golden Thread’: Appropriate Body (228 schools), ECF (151 schools), NPQs (90 schools), and ITT (89 schools).

All these statistics are notably higher compared to previous years. Clearly there are a number of reasons for this, but in turning ‘strategy into impact’, we can offer five practical takeaways:

1. The power of relationships

At the heart of our approach is strong, positive relationships and proactive engagement. This includes visiting schools, participating in cluster groups, working with multi-academy trusts, and liaising with local authorities. Often that is just about listening. Providing a space to bring people together, for practitioners to share challenges, exchange ideas and adopt a ‘can-do’ attitude, is so powerful. Naturally we use our website and newsletters to share updates and opportunities, but relationships have to be built first.

2. Building in flexibility to meet

Offering lots of face-to-face opportunities, and building the team and a Hub that engages with people on the ground, is embedded within our approach. However, you also need an appreciation of the different jobs in schools, at all levels, and their availability to physically meet you. You therefore need to accommodate different stakeholders at different times, for example groups such as early years practitioners who may require after-hours sessions. Enabling different venues for this is a key detail.

3. Reflecting and responding to feedback

Reflecting carefully on feedback and being forensic about needs helps shape a flexible, relevant offer for different phases and contexts. There is no doubt that the time we have invested in face-to-face engagement, and then reviewing and responding to it, has helped us to refine our offerings and engage more effectively with schools we may not have previously been working with. A good example of these is the whole-school NPQs that we have developed which are proving hugely impactful.

 

4. Staying outward-facing

Keeping up with leadership changes and maintaining open communication ensures that our work remains current and effective. We often think about what our special schools need beyond what we already provide. How can we enrich their experience? How can we improve what we do? We also focus on building connections with the ITT providers in our area; the communication between these providers is quite unique; it doesn’t happen everywhere. There is always that outward-facing perspective.

5. Don’t do things in isolation

At the same time, it is very much inward-facing as well. We try to strike a balance between taking care of our schools and recognising that we cannot do that in isolation – we need to understand what Is happening around us and connect with the right people. For example, engaging facilitators and leadership through the appropriate body services ensures that the right structures are involved, and we make sure to leverage local expertise, such as ECT coordinators, to tailor our support.

Overall, we have built awareness by being present, responsive and visible at all levels within schools, and by continually developing our team to meet the needs of the local education community. Through strong partnerships, innovative delivery and a relentless focus on quality we are working hand-in-hand with early years settings, schools and other multi-academy trusts to ensure every teacher is supported to thrive and every pupil benefits from excellent teaching.

Whilst we have ambitions to work with every school in the region, the reality is that this is not possible. For example, smaller schools are sometimes unable to engage due to limited capacity, lack of need or low awareness, particularly regarding initiatives like ECT support, and trusts have longstanding relationships with other providers. However, emphasis is always placed on collaboration among Hubs and continuing to work with schools locally, rather than approaching engagement competitively.

Lynne Birch is Hub Lead at Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Teaching School Hub

Teaching school hubs: how to get strong school engagement | Tes 19th February 2026