North Star Primary (5-11) (2PD2)

PGCE with QTS full time

• Accredited body: Red Kite Teacher Training
• 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.

• Age range: 5 to 11
• Course length: 1 year
• Date you can apply from: 12 October 2021
• Date course starts: September 2022
• Website: https://www.elevatemat.org/

Contents

About the course

As a primary teacher, you will prepare children for life – academically and emotionally. You’ll encourage them to be curious about the world around them, inspiring a love of learning and empowering them to reach their full potential.

At Red Kite, we offer two school-based primary routes Primary School Direct and Primary SCITT. Both based in our unrivalled partner schools network that spreads across West and North Yorkshire and both provide you with the experience and confidence to begin teaching as soon as you are qualified.

The course is multi-layered, involving:

• Red Kite professional development days
• School placements
• University lectures
• Twilight sessions
• Conferences, tutorials and mini-placements focussed on Barriers to Learning, Special Educational Needs, Adult Mental Health, Behaviour, English as an Additional Language and Employment.
• Reading, research and reflections

Our trainee success rate shows it’s a combination that will make you highly employable at the end of the course.

Unlike a standard university PGCE, you will spend a full 24 weeks on in-school placements, meaning you’ll get to properly immerse yourself in school life with both pupils and colleagues. You’ll also start in school on the first day of term and get to see first hand how teachers interact with eachother and form new relationships.

Your two in-school placements run alongside university sessions as part of our exclusive partnership with the University of Leeds. You’ll get to spend eight days during your training year working with the prestigious School of Education there, learning from some of the country’s leading educational researchers.

Subject knowledge is supported by expert colleagues from across the partnership of schools as well as sessions delivered by curriculum hubs within our area. This includes the Computing hub, STEM learning hub, the English hub and the Maths hub.

You’ll also enjoy working with many inspirational teachers from across the partnership, showing you how they continuously strive to improve practice in the classroom, and enable progression across the full range of Primary year groups. You’ll also develop inspirational and innovative techniques to enthuse and engage young people.

On successful completion you will receive recommendation for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) from Red Kite Teacher Training and a Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) from the University of Leeds.

School placements

We have a big partnership of schools, meaning our trainees have flexibility when it comes to placements. Thanks to our partnership with Red Kite Teacher Training, and our new ‘Train Where You Live’ concept, our trainees can also benefit from the placements our partners can offer, which can vary from rural settings to the buzz of the city.

When allocating main placements, we consider trainee preferences, transport and location. Our dedicated team work hard to organise placements early, giving you as much time as possible to make arrangements.

All trainees undertake two main placements. The first placement runs from the first day of the Autumn Term until December. The second placement, in a contrasting school environment, runs from January until late June.

Trainees will also take part in mini placements across the year, which give trainees a unique opportunity to broaden their experience in a range of schools and contexts.

Locations

You can select one of the following locations when you apply.

Location	Vacancies
Aspin Park Academy Wetherby Road, Knaresborough, YO17 6TG	Yes
Carlton Miniott Primary Academy Carlton Miniott, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 4NJ	Yes
Cawood C of E Primary School Broad Lane , Selby, YO8 3SQ	Yes
Fairburn Community Primary School Fairburn, West Yorkshire, WF11 9JY	Yes
Great Ouseburn CP School Main Street , York, YO26 9RG	Yes
Keeble Gateway Academy Topcliffe Road, Thirsk, YO7 1TS	Yes
Kirk Hammerton C of E Primary School St John’s Grove, Kirk Hammerton, North Yorkshire, YO26 8DE	Yes
Kirkbymoorside CP School Westfields, North Yorkshire, YO63 6AG	Yes
Knaresborough St John’s C of E Primary School Stockwell Road, Knaresborough, HG5 0JN	Yes
Knayton C of E Academy Stockton Road, Knayton, Thirsk, YO7 4AN	Yes
Marton-cum-Grafton C of E Primary School Marton-cum-Grafton, Boroughbridge, YO51 9QB	Yes
Meadowside Academy, Knaresborough Meadowside Academy, Halfpenny Lane, Knaresborough, HG5 0SL	Yes
Romanby Primary School, Northallerton Romanby, Northallerton, DL7 8BL	Yes
Rothwell Primary School Carlton Lane, Rothwell, Leeds, LS26 0DJ	Yes
Roundhay St John CofE Primary School North Lane, Leeds, LS8 2QJ	Yes
Sowerby Primary Academy Topcliffe Road, Thirsk, YO7 1RX	Yes
St Peter’s Brafferton C of E Primary School Brafferton, Helperby, YO61 2PA	Yes
Staveley Community Primary School Staveley, Knaresborough, HG5 9LQ	Yes
Thorner Church of England Academy Thorner, Leeds, LS14 3JD	Yes
Topcliffe C of E Academy Topcliffe, Thirsk, YO7 3RG	Yes

Entry requirements

Qualifications needed

An undergraduate degree at class 2:2 or above, or equivalent.

Grade 4 (C) or above in English, maths and science, or equivalent qualification.

We will not consider candidates with pending GCSEs.

We’ll consider candidates who need to take a GCSE equivalency test in science.

We accept equivalency tests for science. Please contact us directly to discuss this.

Personal qualities

• Passionate about making a difference to the lives and development of young people
• Independent, resilient and adaptable
• Friendly and approachable, with the ability to engage young people
• Enthusiastic about their subject and are continuing to develop their subject knowledge
• Creative and imaginative
• Good organisational skills and excellent time management skills
• Reflective and strive to improve their own practice
• High standards of spoken and written English
• Demonstrate a professional attitude
• Have made a considered and informed decision to train to teach

Other requirements

Experience of being in a school and/or working with young people is not essential, however, it will be beneficial during the application process. You can contact us to arrange experience within a school.

Admission is dependent upon satisfactory medical examination conducted by our preferred supplier.

Candidates who are offered a place on the course are required to complete a declaration regarding any criminal convictions.

Candidates are required to obtain clearance from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) regarding their suitability for work involving children. Successful candidates will have these checks conducted at our expense.

Fees and financial support

The course fees for UK students in 2022 to 2023 are £9,250.

Trainees are responsible for their own travel costs.

Financial support from the training provider

Many Trainees apply for student finance in order to pay their fees with a Tuition Fee Loan and have access to Maintenance Loan. Additional financial support may be available if you’re a parent or have a disability.

We offer a monthly payment schedule for those planning to self-finance.

About the training provider

North Star was designated as a Teaching School Alliance in 2014. We support schools across North Yorkshire and beyond in school improvement projects and professional development programmes.

Our motivation for running the programme is to supply all of the schools in our alliance with ‘home grown’ skilled teachers - we are invested in making you the best teacher you can be.

We have a track record of supporting trainees through all the challenges of undertaking the programme. We pride ourselves on our responsiveness to any obstacles you might meet along the way.

Because our programme is school-based, it attracts trainees of all ages and from all different backgrounds.

North Star Teaching School Alliance supports entrants to the profession though every stage in their career - from NQT to Headship.

We are committed to delivering a programme of the highest quality, with training from outstanding SLEs, LLEs and school leaders tailored to the needs of our trainees.

Interview process

Interviews will be held virtually on Microsoft Teams. Interviews are conducted by representatives from our partnership schools.

Preparation for the interview will include planning for a pupil activity.

You will be given the opportunity to meet current trainees and course leaders.

International candidates

You’ll need the right to study in the UK. You already have this if, for example, you:

• are an Irish citizen
• have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme (you may still be able to apply)
• have indefinite leave to remain in the UK

If you do not already have the right to study in the UK, you may need to apply for a visa. The main visa for fee-paying courses (those that you have to pay for) is the Student visa.

To apply for a Student visa, you’ll need to be sponsored by your training provider.

Sponsorship is not available for this course.

If you need a visa, filter your course search to find courses with visa sponsorship.

Alternatively, check if you’re eligible for a different type of visa, such as a Graduate or Family visa, that allows you to train to be a teacher without being sponsored.

Find out more about training to teach in England.

International qualifications

If your qualifications come from a non-UK institution, we may want to see a ‘statement of comparability’ from UK ENIC. This will show us how they compare to UK qualifications.

You can call Get Into Teaching on 0800 389 2500 for:

• guidance on the UK equivalents of your qualifications
• a free statement of comparability once you’ve submitted your application (if we ask you for this)

Training with disabilities and other needs

We believe the teachers we train are important role models – both in their schools and in the wider community – and that they should reflect the diversity around them and help create a culture that promotes and celebrates inclusion in all its forms.

In response to this, we have built up a network of ‘Diversity Champions’, whose role it is to promote conscious inclusion and ensure that every one of our trainees, whatever their personal circumstances, feel welcomed, supported and valued.

Over years we have worked with a number of individual trainees to tackle specific barriers they have faced, including:

• Working with a trainee with mobility issues to ensure their placement schools were able to arrange accessible parking, ground floor classrooms, bespoke pupil seating plans and a timetable that allowed them sufficient time to reach other areas of the school if required.
• Supporting trainees with autism to clarify expectations with their schools and oversee any necessary modifications to classroom layouts, lighting and sounds.
• Making course adjustments for trainees with dyslexia, such as sending PowerPoint presentations in advance of the training and working with them to develop strategies to help turn any particular perceived weaknesses such as spelling and short-term memory into a strength.
• Ensuring that all trainees learn about adult mental health awareness as part of their course.

Our commitment to diversity in all its forms is evidenced by the fact that 15% of our trainees report having some form of disability.

Contact this training provider

• Email: northstar@elevatemat.org
• Telephone: 01423 226389
• Website: https://www.elevatemat.org/
• Address: Inspiration Way; Topcliffe Road; Thirsk; North Yorkshire; YO7 1TS

Support and advice

For support and advice, you can speak to a teacher training adviser for free. They’re all experienced teachers who can help you to prepare your application, book school experience, and access exclusive teaching events.

You can also call Get Into Teaching free of charge on 0800 389 2500, or chat online Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm (except public holidays).

Find out about the different ways to train if you do not have a degree, or are already an experienced teacher.

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