Author Christopher Such is Keynote Speaker at PA Federation INSET 2026

We were delighted welcome all 220 of our teaching and learning staff from our 7 schools to Holy Trinity Primary School on Monday 5 January 2026 for a very positive and uplifting INSET day focusing on two of our federation’s strategic priorities: Reading and SEND.  These priorities sit at the heart of our mission—ensuring that every child across our schools becomes a confident, capable, and joyful learner.

Our keynote speaker, author Christopher Such, delivered a morning of highly engaging CPD to a room of over 100 KS1 and KS2 staff and leaders, providing a deeply researched and knowledgeable framework of reading theory and a practical approach to teaching post-phonics reading lessons. 

You can read more about Chris’s work on his blog, and his 2 very accessible books, ‘The Art and Science of Primary Reading‘ and ‘Primary Reading Simplified‘, are highly recommended for any teachers or leaders working in primary schools.

• ‘A really well-researched, thought-provoking, well–prepared and presented session.’
• ‘Content, delivery and organisation was outstanding.’
• ‘Incredibly useful to know ways of teaching reading lessons for more fluency focus.‘
• ‘This CPD was perfect in how it was organised and delivered – this would be the ideal CPD for other subjects within the curriculum.’ 

Meanwhile other staff from across our 7 schools joined together for training sessions on SEND or Reading, specifically tailored for teachers in EYFS, teachers of phonics, and for those staff who work with pupils with high support needs.

• ‘Everything was very useful and great – thank you – I feel positive and inspired!’
• ‘I really enjoy, as always, talking to other practitioners and hearing what they are doing and the challenges we are all facing – it’s lovely to hear from others and get ideas’. 
• ‘An amazing reflective session and how to embed reflective practice and interactive reading within Spring 1. ‘

This PA Federation INSET 2026 provided us with the opportunity to deepen our practice, share expertise across our federation, and renew our collective commitment to giving every child the transformative power of reading and we thank Christopher Such and all other colleagues and partners for delivering such high quality sessions on the day.