This is the second in a series of articles exploring how the Great Teaching Toolkit can support professional development in busy primary schools. Across the series, we’ll speak to schools already using the platform and the advisors who support them, exploring the approaches they’ve taken and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

Jordan Gale is the Head of School at Fairfield Primary, a larger than average, ambitious primary school based in Cockermouth, Cumbria. Now in their third year of using the Great Teaching toolkit, we asked Jordan to share three pieces of advice for primary schools just starting out on their own GTT journey. This is what he shared with us:

1. Start with a clear, shared focus

‘Before purchasing the Great Teaching Toolkit, we already had a whole school development focus in mind.  Lots of effective questioning was already happening in our classrooms, but we wanted an opportunity to deepen and refine our collective understanding and ensure teachers had a strong set of questioning tools. The GTT gave us a way to do that. It allowed us to move beyond instinct and experience alone, and to connect what we were already doing with a stronger evidence base.

It was really important to us that whatever we chose aligned with our identity as a research-led school. We didn’t want a one-off session or someone coming in to deliver a quick fix. We wanted something that would support long-term development.

Over time, this shared focus has helped to strengthen professional dialogue. When teachers talk about questioning now, there’s a much richer, more precise understanding. That’s been a powerful foundation for everything that’s followed.

2. Plan deliberately for implementation

One of the biggest challenges we anticipated was time. When we introduced the idea, that was the first question from the team: when are we going to do this?

So, we knew we had to plan carefully. We built the GTT into our existing structures by dedicating two staff meetings per half term to it. One session gave staff protected time to engage with the platform. The second was focused on reflection; bringing everyone together to discuss what they’d tried and what they’d learned.

A key part of making this work was staying one step ahead as leaders. We always completed the material in advance so we could take part in purposeful reflection activities and guide discussions more effectively. In those early stages, it was my role to act as the ‘GTT Champion’, keeping the momentum going and making sure the ‘why’ stayed front and centre.

3. Sustain through collaboration and iteration

Looking back, I think we were quite naïve at the start. We probably thought we’d all be experts on questioning within a year but, in reality, this is an area that we continue to develop and refine.

A big part of that has been collaboration. Teachers have had regular opportunities to trial strategies, reflect together, and learn from each other. Over time, those discussions have become more open and more honest, with a shared understanding that we’re all still learning.

This work has also led to tangible changes. We’ve rewritten our questioning policy based on what the team found most effective in practice, identifying a small number of key approaches that work for our context.

What’s been really encouraging is that this is no longer driven by one person. We now have a team of teachers who are invested in the work and contributing to its ongoing development.

We’ve also started to build on this foundation by exploring other areas, like explaining, but without losing our focus on questioning. It remains part of our sustained practice, not something we’ve moved on from.’

Got questions on how the Great Teaching Toolkit can be implemented in your context? Book a call with us to see the platform and what it can do for you.