National Professional Qualifications (NPQs)

NPQs are flexible professional development courses for teachers and leaders to improve skills, progress careers and deliver improved outcomes for pupils and schools.

National Professional Qualifications for Gloucestershire

Working in conjunction with Balcarras Teaching School Hub, Odyssey Teaching School Hub have partnered with UCL Institute of Education to deliver NPQs for Gloucestershire and surrounding areas. Events are hosted in Cheltenham, at Balcarras School or Pate's Grammar School.

UCL IOE is ranked number one globally for Education in the QS World University Rankings, and were judged as outstanding in all areas with inspectors noting how UCL IOE set the bar for what outstanding delivery of NPQs looks like.

Why Choose UCL?

The programmes are designed to grow 'Learning Leaders' who question, reflect, learn and "apply their learning to improvements that lead to desired outcomes" (Stoll 2020). All UCL NPQs, uniquely, include an implementation project that allows this new leadership learning to be applied in the workplace.

How You and Your School Benefit:

Our programmes are delivered face-to-face and contextualised to our local area
Our participant groups all benefit from having a Primary and a Secondary facilitator
Our experienced facilitators are established local senior leaders
Our participants learn with colleagues who hold similar responsibilities, from different educational settings
Our excellent professional and support networks enable collaboration with peers and facilitators, building local contacts and wider professional relationships
Our first class communication throughout supports participants to stay on track.

Next Cohort - Autumn 2025

Applications for Autumn 2025 open on 8th September. Register your interest here and we will contact you with relevant DfE updates and when the DfE NPQ registration portal opens.

The DfE have confirmed there will be only one recruitment window this academic year. Following Autumn 2025, the next cohort will be in November 2026.

NPQ Programmes for Autumn 2025:

We are delighted to offer the following 9 NPQ programmes

Leadership

Headship - for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a headteacher or head of school with responsibility for leading a school.

Senior Leadership - for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities.
Senco - co-ordinate special educational needs (SEN) provision throughout your school
Early Years Leadership - for early years leaders who are or aspire to be a setting manager.
Leading Behaviour and Culture - for teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading behaviour and/or supporting pupil well-being in their school.

Specialist

Leading Literacy - for teachers who have, or aspire to have, responsibility for leading literacy across a year group, key stage, phase or school.
Leading Primary Mathematics - for teachers who aspire to have or may have responsibility for leading maths across a primary key-stage or school, and those familiar with mastery approaches to teaching primary maths, wanting to improve leadership skills in this area.

Leading Teaching - for teachers who aspire to have or may have responsibility for leading teaching in a subject, year group, key stage or phase.
Leading Teacher Development - for teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading the development of other teachers in their school.

In addition to our NPQ programmes, we are delighted to offer the following courses, supported by UCL centrally:

Executive Leadership - for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, an executive headteacher or a school trust CEO with responsibility for leading several schools.
Early Headship Coaching Offer - provides ongoing professional development in becoming an effective headteacher.

NPQ Funding

Funding for Autumn 2025 is available however it is limited and will depend on the programme and / or your school pupil premium data. Your NPQ course fees may be paid by the DfE and your eligibility for funding will be confirmed when you register for your NPQ programme on the DfE NPQ registration portal. UCL will operate a strict ‘first come, first served’ approach to scholarship awards.

If you are not eligible for a scholarship or a place isn’t available, you or your school can choose to pay for the programme:

  
    NPQLT, NPQLTD, NPQLBC, NPQLL & NPQLPM
    £885 (+VAT)
  
    NPQSL & NPQEYL
    £1,055 (+VAT)
  
    NPQSENCO
    £1,265 (+VAT)
  
    NPQH
    £1,885 (+VAT)
  
    NPQEL*
    £4,099 (+VAT))
  
    Early Headship Coaching Offer*
    £800 (+VAT))

Please note eligibility for a scholarship does not guarantee a funded programme place. If you are eligible for a scholarship but have been unsuccessful in securing one in the first instance you will be placed on a waiting list and additional scholarships may become available in the current application window. Alternatively, you can apply to another Lead Provider, however you must formally decline your place with UCL to apply elsewhere and there is no guarantee the other Lead Provider will have scholarships available.

How to Apply?

When the DfE portal opens for new applications, please follow these steps to apply.

Step 1: Register with the DfE

Please note, you will need the following information to be able to register:

Teacher Reference Number (TRN) Name as recorded by the Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA)
Choice of NPQ (programme applying for)
Lead Provider : UCL IOE (Institute to Education)
Delivery Partner (for schools in):

Cheltenham, Stroud and the Cotswold: Balcarras TSH
Gloucester, Tewkesbury and the Forest of Dean: Odyssey TSH

Once registration is complete, the DfE will confirm registration to the applicant, funding eligibility and forward applicant details to our chosen Lead Provider - UCL IOE (Institute of Education), usually within three days.

Step 2: Complete application with UCL IOE (Institute of Education)

UCL will contact applicants with a link to their UCL application form. On receipt of the completed application, headteachers will be contacted via email to confirm that the applicant has been accepted onto an NPQ programme as well as funding confirmation (if relevant).

Step 3: Programme Confirmation

UCL will confirm your place and your scholarship. Odyssey TSH will then contact all participants with the dates and programme outline of their chosen NPQ.

If you have any questions about our programmes or the application process please contact us:

01242 538240

admin@odysseytsh.org

Our Facilitation Team

We are proud to work with our team of excellent facilitators, each of whom are experts in leading NPQ programmes, and are experienced, established local senior leaders from schools across Gloucestershire.