A public website is set to be launched in South-East Wales to complement the pound;5 million school effectiveness framework (SEF), which aims to narrow the gap between the best and worst-performing schools in Wales.

Brett Pugh, Newport council’s chief education officer and chairman of the South East Consortium, said the website would give teachers a chance to share and give feedback on the latest continuing professional development (CPD).

It would be trialled in 50 schools in Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire, Newport and Cardiff. Full roll-out would take place at the end of the summer.

Delegates from the consortium met in Cardiff last Monday to discuss the SEF.

Four consortiums in Wales will deliver the SEF, launched earlier this month by the Assembly government. Two pilot strategies will be tested as it is phased in. Each consortium will identify schools to pilot the framework from September under one plan.

Under plan B, headteacher “associates” will spend 25 per cent of their time working with other schools, paid for by the Assembly government. The strategy will be rolled out across Wales mid-2009.

Peter Phillips, head of West Monmouth School in Pontypool, Torfaen, said the new website would be welcomed by teachers in smaller Welsh counties, where access to continuing professional development was limited.

“Wales has too many small LAs which don’t have the same access as larger ones to new initiatives in teaching and learning under CPD. This should be a big help,” he said.

Steve Marshall, Wales’s outgoing director of the Assembly government’s department for children, education and lifelong learning, also spoke at the event, one of four being held as part of SEF strategy.

He told schools that teachers and schools must adopt a “can do” attitude to make SEF a success.

“If you do not believe you can do it, we are in trouble,” he said.