Keep up to date with all the latest news happening at the moment.
It's time once again for the live-action, face-to-face Trinity Open Day. The event is always a highlight of the recruiting calendar and the last time we visited we were bowled over by the response from potential candidates. Thanks to the Open Day we were able to gather a group of brilliant recruits and so we are very much looking forward to meeting the next wave of future teacher trainees, the outstanding teacher practitioners of the future. Hannah Taylor and Andrew Bove will be there to meet and greet and inform you of why our School Direct courses can provide you with some of the best training in the region.
To book your place and find out more in advance, please visit the Leeds Trinity Open Day page using the link below:
https://www.leedstrinity.ac.uk/study/teaching/pgce/open-day/
See you on Saturday the 10th of February!
If you are thinking of applying to one of our teacher training courses ... do it! The DfE Application portal opens for applications on Tuesday 10 October ... but if you are thinking of applying, then let me tell you what you are in for: fun, fun, fun!
Well, perhaps not 'fun, fun, fun' by most definitions. It is hard work and probably the most intensively busy you are ever likely to be, but there is fun to be had, whether from teaching the wonderful children you encounter or seeing yourself develop and grow as a teacher. And whilst the planning and marking might seem a massive hurdle at first, it won't be long before you have it licked.
A the moment our trainees are in their second proper week of training. At the moment, they spend the first 3 days in University followed by the final two weekdays in their first placement school. During this preliminary stage, our trainees have been getting to know their class, their teaching colleagues as well as important things like where to sit in the staff room!
Tomorrow, they will attend their first subject-based training here at St. Anthony's, and we wish them every success in getting to grips with the English curriculum.
Sounds easy, well this is only the routine for now. In just under three weeks, our trainees will begin their placement proper, spending every day of the working week in school, planning and working towards teaching their first few lessons. Then the work really begins.
Nevertheless, whatever is to come, we know our trainees are up to it and we sincerely wish them every success and joy as they set out on their short but exciting training path.
Now about that application ...
Here we are again, the start of the new year, and though we old hands are jaded and cynical, the intake of new trainees like the intake of new trainees can put a smile on our faces and remind us why we do this year in and year out.
And what smiles we have had. We say it every year, but our new trainees have proved to be a real joy. Hardworking, professional, committed, and reflective, they are all anyone could want for a teacher training cohort. Of course, we buff our nails and say this reflects our excellent taste, but we think as well that the trainees have had the good taste and good taste to join one of the best small institution-run courses in the local area. Our trainees have selected us because they know that alongside the excellent practical mentoring and training they receive, they will be treated as important individuals, not just numbers or a fee as in bigger organisations. And we have selected them because we know that each and every one of them has the potential to become an outstanding teacher.
So as we begin the new academic year, we wish them every success and look forward to hearing of their triumphs in the the days to come.
As Jaques said in As You Like It:
Change that to each teacher and you have a fair assessment of the process of school placement and teaching in general. The classroom is the teacher's stage and even though they may feel tired and distracted by events in an out of school, the teacher must put on the grease paint of their smile and perform, dancing and holding the attention of their bright and eager audience.
In terms of training, whilst there may be 7 ages of Man, there are thankfully only 3 stages for the trainee teacher, which in turn matches their three separate placements.
Stage one sees the nervous newcomer, smiling and making friends, elated by small successes and the happy interaction with their pupils.
Stage 2 sees the struggling trainee, unlearning all they previously thought they knew, grappling with an increased timetable, and getting to know a new school and class.
Stage 3 sees the confident teacher emerge as they take on more responsibility and follow practice and procedure as if they were second nature.
Each stage has its many hardships but its equal and superior rewards. Each marks a change and growth that brings them to the end of the trainee show and the beginning of the professional performance as they move form the last of the placements to the beginning of their ECT year.
And now, as Stage 3 or Act 3 begins next week, we say 'hurrah' and applaud our players who have made it thus far. It won't be long before the curtain comes down on your training year and rises on the start of your long and happy show. Well done so far and good luck for the next 8 weeks!
It's been a difficult year. After the elation of returning to normal life after COVID and the rush to trade old stale lives for new, fresh, and exciting ones, came an economic and emotional lull.
As we have been busy on our usual recruitment drive, we have noticed how affected potential trainees have been by the rapid changes to the economy that have overcome us all since last Autumn. Many applicants who would have flocked to join the ranks of teaching have hesitated quite understandably, having to balance their dreams with the practical necessities of feeding and clothing themselves and their families. And then there has been the lure of Secondary bursaries which have meant some have naturally taken up courses offering them financial support when they might normally have taken up Primary Teaching ...
Still, despite this sombre note, I am pleased to say that we have seen some excellent candidates so far and met some brilliant potential candidates at the last Open Day and Train to Teach Event. We are hoping then that the event on Saturday the 18th will provide more encounters with potential trainees and future outstanding members of the teaching profession.
Of course, we appreciate it is not easy at the moment to commit to course fees and a year of no pay and very hard work, but rest assured we at the St Anthony's Primary Learning Partnership will do our best as always to support our trainees through whatever difficulties they may face. Also, there are student loans available, and perhaps even more hopeful in terms of pay, the course itself only runs from September to May. leaving time for many to look for lucrative supply teaching often at their first, ECT school.
If you do choose to face the challenges of the training, we can definitely guarantee that you will complete the course ready to take up a job with rewards far beyond the financial. A job that is never dull. A job although challenging and hard that also offers exciting career progression and a chance to really make a difference. So if these rewards are for you, please come and talk to us to get the lowdown and who knows you may soon be training in some of the nicest schools in Leeds with some of the loveliest children you are ever likely to meet.
We are always open about the challenges and demands as well as the rewards, and we are always friendly. Find us on Saturday the 18th and find out for yourself.
'Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset'.
Like Tevye form Fiddler on the Roof as he watches his daughters grow up, we see the training years come and go with frightening rapidity and regularity. Sometimes, having followed the same training and recruiting routines we become a bit jaded, a bit dulled by familiarity. And then 'boom', the application portal opens, the Trinity Open Day happens and it is like watching the first sunrise again. The excitement becomes palpabl,e and no matter what the routine, the wave of excited and eager recruits makes us wake up, refresh and try all that much harder.
And so, the cycle is almost upon us as the DfE Application portal opens again next Tuesday 11 October. From 9.00 am onwards these self-same eager recruits will be able to apply for a teacher training course of their choice, and we are very much looking forward to receiving once again, the best and the brightest for interview and training.
Closely following on the heels of the portal opening, is the Trinity Open Day where prospective trainees can come face to face with their prospective trainers to ask and receive answers to all those important questions, hopefully allaying their pre-course nerves and anxieties in the process. Once again we will be there, ready to help and guide visitors on their tentative first steps along the road to teaching. There may be chocolates on offer, possibly pens, but most importantly, there will be a warm welcome and free advice to anyone interested in teaching, regardless of their choice of training provider.
We may have seen it all a hundred times, but we will always wake up with a jolt and a smile as we greet the humbling and awe-inspiring enthusiasm of the new teacher.
sunrise, sunset - bring it on!
It's the time of year when many of the School Direct Team are asking themselves the very same headline question: 'Stage 3 - Already?!!'
Where did the year go? How did those nervous new recruits of September become the confident, poised, and most definitely professional teachers they are today? Well, the answer as always is through a great deal of hard work, enthusiasm, and dedication on the part of trainees and trainers alike. And dare I say it, the old adage that 'time flies when you're having fun', or in our trainees' case, having fun but also working flat out!
Stage 3 began at the end of April and will go on until the end of May when our trainees will leave us for the last two weeks of their course, for a chance to try something different as part of their final, enhanced, placement. Still, before they bid farewell to their current school and their 'rookie' status, there is still a lot of teaching, not to mention job applications in the pipeline.
Several of this year's cohort have secured jobs and all the rest are progressing well with their applications, so we wish them every success, not only with passing their final stage with flying colours but also in securing that all-important first teaching job. We know they will do it.
In the meantime, as a team, we have to start planning next year's course and no doubt, it won't be long before we're asking that question again, 'Stage 3 - Already?'.
That's right, it's time once again for the live-action, face-to-face Trinity Open Day, something we all missed during the lockdown. The event is always a highlight of the recruiting calendar and the last time we visited we bowled over by the response from potential candidates. Thanks to the Open Day we were able to gather a group of brilliant new recruits and so we are very much looking forward to meeting the next wave of future teacher trainees, the outstanding teacher practitioners of the future. My colleague Bekki Barton and I will be there to meet greet and inform you of why our School Direct courses can provide you with some of the best training in the region. So come and find us and our traditional bowl of 'Celebrations' as we provide you with our sage advice. See you on Saturday the 19th of February!
If Covid, the post-Christmas blues, plummeting temperatures, and a succession of leaden skies weren't enough to contend with, our brave and resilient trainees are faced with an additional challenge this week. Despite having been comfortable and secure in their host schools, they have been evicted from their comfort zones and forced to start all over again in a new school.
It is of course the beginning of Stage 2, the most unsettling and some would say, most challenging part of the school training year, as the trainees must build new relationships with ther new colleagues and children as well as putting all they have learned into practice in a strange classroom. Not only that, it won't be long before their timetables are increased and they are teaching the class on a more prolonged basis.
Despite all the challenges (don't be put off prospective trainees), we know that as ever, our superb trainees will rise to the challenge and really begin to show the full range and breadth of their superlative abilities which we have already had some impressive glimmers. As always, the partnership brilliant mentors and subject leaders will be there to support and assist them along the way. We look forward to hearing of their successes and adventures as the term goes on. In the meantime, all the staff and children in our partnership wish them the very best of luck and every success in the weeks ahead.
Christmas is here again (I'll refrain from doing a Noddy Holder cry) and despite all the joy and thanksgiving, there is a little twinge of sadness for some of our trainees, who find themselves saying goodbye to their host school this week. In the few months they have been with their Stage One class they have forged strong relationships with staff and children alike and stored up a wealth of happy memories that they will have with them the rest of their lives. But despite any feeling of sadness, it is time to move on to Stage Two and a new, home school where they will be spending the rest of their practical training. Of course, it will be strange at first, full of new challenges and demands and always the hard work and dedication required of a teacher, but also the beginning of new friendships and the getting of even more happiness to fill their days. So that hopefully any tinge of sadness now felt will be banished in those first few days at their new school.
So from all of us at St Anthony's and our partner schools, we wish our trainees a very Happy Christmas and an even happier New Year and Stage 2.
It's Christmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas! (I couldn't resist, sorry Noddy)