Primary CPD - Checking for understanding in primary schools

A complete primary CPD pack helping teachers check pupil understanding, identify misconceptions and adapt teaching using classroom evidence.

This ready-to-deliver staff meeting and INSET session helps primary teachers check what pupils actually understand and use that evidence to decide what to do next. It is practical, evidence informed and easy to lead.
Checking for understanding is one of the most useful things a teacher does in a lesson, but its value lies in the evidence it gathers and how the teacher responds.

A quiet class, full books or a few raised hands can give a reassuring impression without telling us what pupils have actually understood. This session helps staff gather genuine evidence from every pupil, read what it shows and respond to it.

This is not another questioning course. Questioning is one valuable way of checking understanding, but it is only one method, and it does not dominate here. Teachers look at how to gather evidence from every pupil rather than only volunteers, how to tell a correct answer apart from secure understanding, how to distinguish a slip from a possible misconception, and how to read response patterns across the class before deciding what to do next. The recurring question throughout is simple: what does this evidence tell me, and what will I do next?

Teachers work through a clear, practical cycle: teach, check, interpret, respond and check again.
Examples span EYFS, KS1 and KS2, so the session works for a whole-school staff meeting or a phase team.

The pack contains everything needed to deliver the session with confidence:

• A 90-minute session with a workable 60-minute adaptation
• A 26-slide editable PowerPoint presentation
• A full Presenter Guide and an at-a-glance Presenter Quick Guide
• A staff workbook and a one-page quick reference handout
• Practical activities on evidence versus impression, designing checks, reasoning behind answers, possible misconceptions and reading response patterns
• Check-and-adapt planning resources and a checking for understanding audit
• A 7-day check and adapt plan
• An evaluation form and a certificate of completion
• Lead & Learn Hub · Page 1

Suitable for primary teachers, teaching assistants, phase leaders and senior leaders leading whole school CPD, staff meetings or INSET