Case Study: Building a responsive and comprehensive professional development programme

Education South West (ESW) is a multi-academy trust focused on delivering sustainable, high-impact professional development (PD) for teachers and school leaders. The trust's long-term goal is to improve teaching quality and pupil outcomes through instructional coaching and school-wide culture change.

Whilst ESW expects that all schools will engage with regular coaching cycles, schools have the autonomy to tailor their implementation. Participation is monitored, and progress data is shared across schools to support collaboration and reflection.

Instructional coaching is now a cornerstone of ESW's school improvement programme. Regular coaching networks are led by trained PD leaders, and many staff have completed the Certificate in Coaching Leadership—boosting leadership capacity and supporting succession planning. Coaching is also modelled at senior leadership briefings to build consistency across schools.

Among the schools in the trust, Kingsbridge Primary School stands out for its transformation. By fully embracing instructional coaching in schools, the team at Kingsbridge has embedded a sustainable model of teacher development that’s had a clear impact on both staff and pupils.

“In July 2023, we received a ‘requires improvement’ rating from Ofsted for the third time,” says Assistant Headteacher Miranda Martyn. “Our professional development was inconsistent, reactive and reliant on external input. Staff meetings focused more on launching initiatives than improving core teaching. Retention and morale were low.”

The leadership team was determined to turn things around. They had begun using Teaching WalkThrus to build a shared pedagogical language, but needed a stronger coaching model to drive change.

Having already used Steplab to support early career teacher (ECT) mentoring through the Ambition Institute, they adopted the platform as the foundation of their coaching strategy.

The school introduced weekly drop-ins that were low-stakes and non-evaluative. “We wanted lesson visits to feel supportive, not like surveillance,” explains Miranda. Over time, classroom drop-ins and peer shout-outs helped normalise feedback and reduced anxiety around observation.

Six staff members—senior leaders and expert teachers— were trained as instructional coaches by Steplab. This gave every teacher access to personalised, high-quality PD aligned to their needs.

To address feedback about the lack of consistent modelling, leaders introduced group rehearsal sessions. These helped teachers practise and refine core techniques together, building shared confidence and vocabulary.

The team connected all elements of their PD offer:

• 1.
  Coaching content aligned with weekly staff meeting themes
• 2.
  Drop-ins used shared success criteria from rehearsals
• 3.
  Coach training included real classroom case studies

This created a thread of consistency across all CPD for teachers, reinforcing messages and accelerating progress.

“Almost overnight, we saw the change,” says Miranda. “Teachers who had been disengaged from CPD became champions of good practice. Staff talk about pedagogy every day.”

Coaching is now embedded into the rhythm of school life. Videos of great teaching are shared via Steplab’s video library, helping coaches and teachers reflect and improve together. Crucially, previously coached staff are now training as coaches, building sustainability into the system.

A recent survey showed overwhelming staff support. One teacher said:

“Coaching has had the biggest impact on my teaching in the shortest time—possibly in my whole career.”

Kingsbridge’s journey continues. With growing leadership capacity and a deepening coaching culture, the school is now an official Steplab Coaching School Hub. It will support other schools to build their own models of professional development in education—using the same tools and strategies that helped them succeed.

Together, Education South West and Kingsbridge Primary School show what’s possible when instructional coaching for teachers is implemented with clarity, collaboration, and the right tools. With support from PD platforms like Steplab schools can build a culture of effective teacher professional development that drives real change.

Do you want to see Kingsbridge's PD programme in action? As a Steplab Coaching Hub, Kingsbridge welcome visitors each term. Book your visit now.