The WHY, HOW and WHAT of Pickwick Learning

WHY did we set up Pickwick Learning Teaching School Alliance?

• We know we’re stronger together. We believe partnership and collaboration is the best way to continually develop and improve teaching and learning for children, teachers and the communities in which we live and work.
• Our aim is simple: to improve standards and life experiences for all pupils and adults within our alliance by working together and learning from each other.

HOW will we improve standards and life experiences for people in Pickwick?

We believe we can achieve this by:

• Sharing a set of values and beliefs that shape what we do and how we work. Our like-minded contributors work together and reap the rewards.
• Encouraging all practitioners to strive to improve outcomes for all children across our alliance and beyond.
• Ensuring that all individuals in our organisation are continually learning and improving. Our members are a part of something bigger - we’re all important, we all contribute, we all achieve.  We join a growing pool of expertise and sharing, being supported and then supporting in turn.
• Investing in our organisation: surplus from our work goes back into supporting our member schools.
• Encouraging our members to contribute to our culture of learning where we collaborate to share expertise, tackle challenges and reach our goals. 
• Building inclusive and productive relationships between members, inspiring each other in a safe, trusting environment.
• Recognising that young people are a product of their home, their family and their communities, and that our alliance can help provide the tools they need to succeed.
• Providing high quality School to School support that is focussed on school improvement, and is sustainable, accessible and inclusive.
• Narrowing the achievement gap between children who are eligible for free school meals and those who aren't.
• Providing outstanding Initial Teacher Training, and recruiting and training the very best teachers.
• Providing high quality CPD for teachers and leaders that is linked to improving outcomes for children.
• Identifying potential leaders at all levels and to develop excellence in specialist areas.
• Developing outstanding practice through shared research and development.

WHAT is Pickwick Learning Teaching School Alliance?

• We’re a unique inclusive partnership, encompassing nurseries, schools, charities and businesses. We’ve adopted this inclusive approach, because a child’s life experience is about more than just schooling: we recognise the importance of the whole community in having an impact on our children’s education.
• We’re a professional learning community. We want to identify and share best practice and offer mutual support and expertise. We are ambitious - we want to raise standards and we’re committed to the success of everyone involved.
• We run high quality school-based initial teacher training, training our own teachers ‘on the job’ through our School Direct Programme to ensure the best new teachers are working in our schools, and in turn helping to safeguard the future of our profession.
• We run exceptional professional development led by Specialist Leaders of Education, national and international trainers and current practitioners.
• We broker high impact outcomes-driven school to school support using experienced members of staff to support schools in challenging circumstances.
• We take part in evidence-based research projects which is used to feed into and improve classroom practice across the alliance.
• We constantly talent spot to ensure that all the schools in our organisation can effectively succession plan, ensuring that leadership, and teaching and learning remains consistently high quality.
• We run a free annual Teaching and Learning conference to share best practice across the alliance.