Teacher support: Overview

The support we provide our subscribers is as important as the quality of our resources. In 2010, we won the BETT award for Service and Support demonstrating our commitment to providing effective services, support and professional development.

From the moment you subscribe to Espresso we surround you with support to help your school make the most of the service. This includes:

• Bespoke training
• Freephone technical support 
• Free Teacher Home Access to give teachers the to flexibility to plan where and when convenient
• Lesson ideas to help you integrate Espresso resources into your teaching

...and more! Our support is ongoing throughout your subscription.

Teacher support: CPD entitlement

98.7% of participants recommend our training!

We deliver over 3,000 CPD session a year, promoting and supporting the ongoing professional development of thousands of teachers. Regardless of how long you've been using Espresso, we can show you how to get even more from your subscription.

Our professional development team can:

• Show you how to tailor Espresso to your school development plan
• Provide one-to-one planning sessions for a Key Stage Coordinator, to enable them to match Espresso resources to their development targets
• Introduce Espresso to Learning Support Assistants
• Introduce parents and pupils to Pupil Home Access

Subscribing schools:

Depending on your subscription, you are entitled to either one on-site or one online CPD session per year. For more information, phone our CPD team on 0800 6 527 527 (Option 3).

• Book your CPD session
• Download our on-site CPD course offerings [PDF]

Teacher support: Technical support

Our friendly, UK-based teams are ready to help all subscribers with their installation and technical questions, no matter how big or small. Many have worked in IT in schools, so they understand the specific needs of school ICT and the value of teachers' time.

• Support is available to all subscribing schools between 8.30am and 5.30pm: you can contact us online, by phone 0800 6 527 527 or by email schoolsupport@espresso.co.uk
• Our remote access tool saves teachers time by allowing us to take control of a desktop and show, in real time, how to resolve an issue
• Check you are running the most up-to-date software for Espresso
• Download Espresso desktop icons for your computer
• Download the minimum technical requirements for running Espresso [PDF]:
  • In-school
  • Online and/or at home

Teacher support: Newsletters

To ensure our subscribers keep up-to-date with what is on Espresso and how to use it, we send two email newsletters:

• Our weekly newsletter accompanies each weekly update to the service. It outlines any new modules and summarises the features in News Bites, Espresso Extra and My first newspaper.
• Espresso Perks is our monthly newsletter that focuses on the practical use of Espresso in the classroom. It offers advice and guidance from Espresso experts, showcases best practices, provides ideas for using Espresso at home and introduces you to the people at Espresso who produce the service each week.

Teacher support: Twitter and Facebook

Espresso offers teacher support and discussion through our presence on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and our Espresso blog.

If you have the appropriate account, you can become a Facebook fan or follow us on Twitter for:

• Topical updates suggesting relevant content on Espresso
• Classroom ideas and case studies
• Behind-the-scenes talk and sneak previews of new content
• Discussion areas where you can talk and share ideas with Espresso experts and other users
• Instant answers to technical help requests and curriculum support
• Competitions and fun stuff to download

Teacher support: Espresso and the 2014 National Curriculum

The National Curriculum is being rewritten. Schools should shortly be receiving the second draft, which will be finalised over the next few months so that it could be taught from September 2013. However, it won't be a statutory requirement until September 2014.

We our helping our subscribers successfully manage the change

At Espresso, we're keeping a close eye on what's being proposed. We're aware of what's changing – and what isn't – and we're working on ways of making it as easy as possible for our subscribers to manage the change. From helping them to easily find which resources fit the new objectives, to creating new content to cover any new requirements, we want to make the transition as easy as possible. And we'll ensure that the great Espresso resources they know and love are just as relevant as ever.

To save schools time, we'll keep them up-to-date and help them understand the changes as they approach.

Click here to view our Quick-start section where we've outlined the major differences. And in our Focus on section, we'll look in detail at one aspect of the new curriculum each month and highlighting relevant resources they can use to help ease them in.