Rangoonwala Centre for Professional Development

The Centre for Professional Development and Information provides education, training and information for staff at Whitefield and other schools within the South East.

The Centre has been a recognised provider of school-based higher education since 1988, when it launched an MSc in Support Teaching and Educational Consultancy, in partnership with Cranfield Institute of Technology. Currently, CPDI offers Postgraduate Diploma Awards in autism, severe learning difficulties, speech and language impairment and multi-sensory impairment, in partnership with Kingston University. Whitefield is approved by the DfES as a recognised mandatory deaf blind (multi-sensory impairment) course provider in its own right.

Whitefield currently runs an Early Years Foundation Degree also with Kingston University.

All new members of our teaching staff receive an induction programme taught by the Centre's staff. Teachers who are appointed to promoted posts within the school receive a management training course aimed at harnessing and developing their leadership, management and administration skills.

Learning Support/Teaching Assistants also receive a systematic programme of training and development. After an induction programme, classroom assistants continue their learning through our progression scheme, which is run by Heads of Schools and co-ordinated by the Centre. The Centre also offers National Vocational Qualifications at level 2 and 3 for Teaching Assistants approved by City and Guilds.

Other courses aim to develop and update staff's skills in specific areas, for instance, training sessions and workshops are organised in first aid, child protection, behaviour management, swimming and life-saving, food hygiene, key movers, mentoring, racial equality and the Government's and School's priority areas of development.

The training and development of staff is supported by the Turner Library. The library offers a lending service for books, and a comprehensive range of educational journals, resource papers, periodicals and extracts are available for reference.