Bristol Primary Teaching School Alliance: Whitehall Primary/Ashley Down Primary
Primary (2T8X)

PGCE with QTS full time

• Accredited body: University of the West of England, Bristol
• Financial support: Student finance if you’re eligible
• Qualification:
  PGCE with QTS

  A postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) with qualified teacher status (QTS) will allow you to teach in state schools in England and may allow you to teach in other parts of the UK.

  It may also allow you to teach overseas, though you should always check what qualifications are needed in the country you’d like to teach in.

  Many PGCE courses include credits that count toward a Master’s degree.

• Course length: 1 year
• Date you can apply from: 13 October 2020
• Date course starts: September 2021
• Website: http://bptsa.org

Contents

About the course

The School Direct PGCE route offers a mix of a traditional university-based PGCE with school-based learning across the Alliance partner schools to give you the best of both worlds. This route enables you to draw on the expertise of your placement schools, the Alliance Training Manager, Specialist Leaders of Education (SLE) and the HEI (the University of the West of England) over a year of training. Some sessions take place at Bishop Road Primary School in a small group setting, where you can benefit from bespoke input in a group of no more than 20. This is not a salaried route and so normal tuition fees apply.

This programme has an academic element, with a small number of assignments across the year, working at Masters’ level. You will have a school-based mentor, university tutor and training with the Alliance Training Manager and outstanding class teachers from across the city.

Assessment is ongoing while training at a school. This will include a weekly observation with feedback and also a weekly meeting with your mentor to discuss progress against the Teachers’ Standards.

During the year trainees will spend time in two schools (typically September to January & March to June). The first block placement will be in either Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2, and the second block placement will be in the alternative Key Stage and a contrasting setting.

Our PGCE programme offers a real range of experiences across the year to prepare you for your first teaching post. Join us and continue our impressive completion and employment rates on this route!

Interview process

If you are successful at the application stage and are subsequently invited to interview, the structure of the day consists of the following:

• A welcome and introduction to the day
• A 10 minute activity working with children (details of this will accompany an invitation to interview email)
• A 5 minute micro-teach to other candidates (details of this will accompany an invitation to interview email)
• An interview which will last no longer than 30 minutes
• A Maths & English task

The interview panel for the day usually consists of members of the Bristol Primary Teaching School Alliance and Partnership head teachers.

How school placements work

As the city’s Teaching School, we have strong relationships with a wide range of primary schools across Bristol, serving many different types of communities. Placements for trainees are very carefully selected around your needs. We will always do our best to ensure that travel time is as little as possible whilst at the same time providing schools that support and challenge each trainee, to get the very best out of you. Each of the two placements will be in a class from Year 1 to Year 6. Both placements offer significant in-school training time, which, together with your centre-based training, will prepare you extremely well for your future career in teaching.

Fees

The course fees for UK students in 2021 to 2022 are £9,250

Application for student finance is available.

The websites below are useful for further information

(https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/bursaries-and-funding)   (http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/students/feesandfunding.aspx)

Financial support

You may also be eligible for a loan while you study – note that you’ll have to apply for undergraduate student finance.

Find out about financial support if you’re from outside the UK.

Requirements

Qualifications

You will need:

• A degree (2:2 or above)
• GCSEs grade C / grade 4 or above in Maths, English & Science (or equivalent)

Personal qualities

Desirable qualities include:

• An understanding of teaching and learning within a school setting
• Excellent time management
• Organisational skills
• Emotional resilience
• A strong work ethic

Other requirements

An enhanced criminal record (DBS) check is required to assess your suitability to work with children. Some voluntary work or prior school experience is desirable.

About the training provider

We have a well-established track record in ITT as part of our overall staff development, leadership and succession planning work. The Teaching School Alliance is made up from the three primary Teaching Schools in the city, each with outstanding reputations for excellence. These are Whitehall Primary School in Easton, Bridge Farm Primary School in Whitchurch & the Ashley Down Schools’ Federation. Two of the head teachers are designated as National Leaders of Education (NLEs) who support other schools across the city and beyond. The Teaching School Alliance has a strong reputation and proven track record of delivering training to leaders, leadership teams, teachers and trainees, which makes a lasting difference to teaching, leadership and classroom practice. We have links with more than 80 of Bristol’s primary schools and work closely with many schools and head teachers in the city.

In 2020 - 2021 we are training 22 teachers of the future through the School Direct PGCE and salaried routes in schools across the city. We work hard to ensure that your training year works for you, and pride ourselves on working closely with every trainee, mentor and school. We offer a unique and high-quality learning experience to prepare you fully for your future career in teaching. We have an invested interest in ‘growing our own’ teachers, spotting talent and raw potential in local schools, and our communities, then coaching and nurturing trainee teachers towards employment in local schools as excellent practitioners.

For more information, please visit our website (https://bptsa.org/)

About the accredited body

We are delighted to strengthen our partnership working with the University of the West of England this academic year. Following successful recruitment, trainees will have the opportunity to work in schools across the city of Bristol, and to have a blended approach to learning through both university-based seminars and training centre professional development sessions. These take place at Bishop Road Primary School and Whitehall Primary School, and draw upon expert practitioners to deliver this training.

Training with disabilities and other needs

Disability Access

All schools and the university have disabled access. For information on any other needs, please contact a member of the BPTSA team through our main email address BPTSA@bristol-schools.uk

Contact details

• Email: mark.townsend@bristol-schools.uk
• Telephone: 07557003679
• Website: http://bptsa.org
• Address: Bridge Farm Primary School; East Dundry Road; Bristol; BS14 0LL

Apply

Choose a training location

You’ll also need to choose a training location – select the relevant location name on the application form.

Location	Vacancies	Code
Bishop Road Primary School Bishop Road, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8LS	Yes	4
UWE Bristol Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QY	Yes	9

Support and advice

For questions about this course you should contact the training provider using the contact details above.

Get support and advice about teaching

Register with Get Into Teaching, the Department for Education’s free support and advice service, for personalised guidance from teaching experts. They can help you to prepare your application, book school experience, and access exclusive teaching events. You can also call them free of charge on 0800 389 2500, or speak to an adviser using their online chat service, from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday.

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