Kingsbridge Primary School has been officially recognised as a coaching hub, a prestigious national accolade awarded to only a handful of schools using Steplab’s evidence-based tools to drive world-class professional development.

Following a rigorous evaluation visit, the school was praised for its exceptional coaching culture, underpinned by trust, collaboration, and a relentless commitment to teacher growth.

The Steplab team highlighted the school’s “rigorous and carefully designed” professional development model, which has helped raise the quality of teaching and foster a supportive, thriving staff community.

The school’s approach centres around instructional coaching, with every teacher receiving fortnightly coaching using diagnostic tools, rehearsal strategies, and high-quality feedback loops.

The school has been invited to host coaching hub visits from other schools across the country looking to improve their professional learning culture.

Miranda Martyn, assistant headteacher and certified coaching lead, managed the transformation alongside her colleague Polly Gallagher. Both have helped embed a consistent model of great teaching and a deeply supportive approach to professional development.

Kingsbridge Primary School now joins an elite network of schools across the UK, Australia, and the Middle East that support others to build sustainable, high-impact teacher development programmes.

The school will begin hosting coaching hub visits from the academic year 2025-26.

Gareth Howells, headteacher at Kingsbridge Primary School, said:

“We are absolutely thrilled to be named a Steplab Coaching Hub. This recognition is a testament to the incredible work of our staff and the collaborative coaching culture we've built together. It’s all about investing in our people, when our teachers thrive, our pupils do too.”

Matthew Shanks, CEO of Education South West, said:

“Kingsbridge Primary School’s coaching model exemplifies the very best of what professional development should be, evidence-based, inclusive, and focused on long-term impact. Becoming a Steplab Coaching Hub is a significant achievement, and we are proud of the team for leading the way both regionally and nationally.”