School Based Curriculum Research
Research and Evidence-Informed Practice
At St Vincent’s Catholic Primary School, we are committed to continuous improvement through an evidence-informed approach to teaching and learning. Educational research is at the heart of our school improvement work, helping us to make informed decisions that have a positive and lasting impact on pupils’ learning, development and wellbeing.
Our staff engage with high-quality educational research and professional development to strengthen their knowledge, expertise and classroom practice. We regularly review our approaches, evaluate their impact and refine our curriculum, teaching and provision so that every child benefits from the very best educational experiences.
Research helps us to:
-
strengthen teachers’ professional knowledge, skills and expertise;
-
identify effective strategies that improve teaching and learning;
-
make informed decisions when introducing new initiatives and developing our curriculum;
-
evaluate the impact of changes and use evidence to continually improve outcomes for pupils; and
-
collaborate with educational networks and share effective practice.
We draw on evidence from respected organisations, including the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), alongside research and professional learning from leading educational organisations and networks. This enables us to identify, implement and evaluate approaches that have a strong evidence base and are appropriate for our pupils and context.
Our commitment to evidence-informed practice means that research is not simply something we read about; it informs our professional learning, school improvement priorities and day-to-day practice. We use evidence, professional expertise and knowledge of our pupils to make thoughtful decisions about what we introduce, how we implement it and whether it is making a difference.
Our guiding principle is simple: using the best available evidence to help every pupil thrive.
School-Based Research and Professional Development
Our staff are actively involved in a wide range of research projects and professional development programmes. These provide opportunities to explore educational practice in depth, develop leadership expertise and apply research directly within our school context.
Current and recent areas of research and professional learning include:
| Programme | Research / Development Focus |
|---|---|
| NPQSL | The development of wellbeing in pupils and staff |
| NPQSL | Leading teaching and organisational effectiveness |
| NASENCo | Recognising autism in girls in the education context |
| NPQLTD | Improving reading fluency in primary school |
| NPQLTD | Leading teaching development |
| NPQLTD | Planning for implementation and addressing misconceptions |
| NASENCo | Achieving the best outcomes for pupils through the effective deployment of teaching assistants |
| NPQH | Effective implementation using the Education Endowment Foundation's Explore, Prepare, Deliver and Sustain model |
| NPQH | Ethical leadership in practice |
| NPQEL | Leading and managing a large organisation as a trust-wide leader |
| NPQEL | Embedding effective teaching, curriculum and assessment across multiple schools |
| SBM | Effective school business management |
These projects enable staff to engage critically with research, test and evaluate approaches within their own settings, and share learning with colleagues. This helps to develop a culture in which professional learning and school improvement are closely connected.
Research into Practice
At St Vincent’s, evidence-informed practice is an ongoing process:
Explore → Prepare → Deliver → Evaluate → Refine
We seek out relevant evidence, consider how it applies to our pupils and context, implement approaches carefully, evaluate their impact and use what we learn to inform our next steps.
In this way, research becomes part of our everyday culture of professional learning and improvement, ensuring that our curriculum, teaching and wider provision continue to develop in response to the needs of our pupils.
