A complete primary CPD pack helping teachers manage cognitive load, reduce unnecessary classroom demands and support successful learning.

This ready-to-deliver staff meeting and INSET session helps primary teachers understand cognitive load and use practical strategies to reduce unnecessary demands, so that pupils can concentrate on what actually matters in a lesson. It is practical, evidence-informed and easy to lead.
Managing cognitive load is not about making learning easy or removing challenge. Deep learning needs genuine, necessary challenge. The problem is unnecessary demand: cluttered slides, overloaded instructions, busy resources and too much new information at once. These pull pupil attention away from the ideas we want them to think hard about. This session helps staff tell the difference between necessary challenge, which we keep, and unnecessary demand, which we reduce.
Teachers work through six clear, practical principles: focusing attention on what matters, breaking complexity into manageable steps, connecting new learning to what pupils already know, modelling before expecting independence, removing unnecessary distractions, and releasing support as pupils become secure. 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 spotting unnecessary demand, chunking learning, improving instructions, reviewing resources before and after, and telling helpful support from extra load
• A cognitive load classroom audit and a Reduce-the-Load planning sheet
• A 7-day Reduce-the-Load plan
• An evaluation form and a certificate of completion

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