Shropshire Primary Partnership Primary (3-7) (E219)

Postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) with qualified teacher status (QTS)

• Accredited body: University of Chester
• 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: 3 to 7
• Course length: 1 year
• Date you can apply from: 11 October 2022
• Date course starts: September 2023
• Website: http://www.shropshireprimarypartnership.co.uk

Contents

Course summary

Our School Direct Early Years (non salaried) programme is a one year Initial Training Programme for those who want to teach Early Years children.
If you want to teach Primary, please see our course code 2S4X [https://www.find-postgraduate-teacher-training.service.gov.uk/course/2AN/2S4X].

Shropshire Primary Partnership is a lead school in partnership with the University of Chester. We offer two bespoke training centres based in Wem and Shrewsbury both of which are set aside from the main school buildings. Our course is designed to provide you with the knowledge, understanding and skills that you need to be an outstanding teacher. Our partnership has learning at its heart, combined with a passion and enthusiasm for teaching and learning.

Our Associate Teachers will complete a total of 180 days of training. 60 days will be academic study and 120 days will be based in the classroom, observing and building up to whole class teaching as soon as possible. Our programme is designed to maximise school based time to enable our Associate Teachers learn in a practical manner.

The benefit of School Direct, as opposed to the conventional PGCE, is that the School Direct programme is based around school embedded learning with trainees spending a minimum of two days per week in classrooms from the second week of the programme resulting in more confident, independent and effective teachers.

Trainees will be trained as part of a supportive group and modules will be delivered across the year to all Shropshire Primary Partnership trainees. There will be a range of modules including Meeting Children’s Needs - within and beyond the classroom, Pedagogical Excellence, The Creative and Effective Curriculum and Reflective Practice.

University staff will deliver the PGCE elements of the course at The University Centre, Shrewsbury and local practitioners will lead tuition in the subject specific areas. A typical week may include one day’s university training, two day’s school-led training (some of which will include personal study) and two day’s classroom practice implementing theory into practice. This flexible structure with its blend of academic and practitioner expertise ensures that theory is embedded into practice at the earliest possible opportunity.

Successful completion of our programme will provide candidates with Qualified Teacher Status and a Post Graduate Certificate in Early Years (3-7) Education.

School placements

On appointment, our trainees will be allocated a host school and be provided with an experienced professional tutor and a university based tutor as well as a school based team to support you throughout your PGCE programme.

There are a series of three school block placements across which trainees will experience outstanding teaching in Early Years and Key Stage 1 within a variety of contexts in our partner schools:

Beginning Placement - 6 weeks in October/November

Developing Placement - 6 weeks in February/March

Extending Placement - 8 weeks in May/June/July

Please note that your school placements could be at any of our partner schools. You will need to take into consideration travel time and distances that may be involved though we will try to take personal circumstances into consideration when placing trainees. Our partner schools are located in and around the Shrewsbury and North Shropshire area.

Locations

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

Location	Vacancies
St Peter’s CE Primary and Nursery School Shrubbery Gardens, Wem, Shrewsbury, SY4 5BX	Yes
Woodfield Infant School Woodfield Road, Copthorne, Shrewsbury, SY3 8LU	Yes

Entry requirements

Qualifications needed

An undergraduate degree at class 2:1 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 English, maths or science.

Please visit the following link for more information about the equivalency tests https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/study/equivalency/

Personal qualities

We are looking for candidates who have an empathy and understanding of the demands of teaching in the primary classroom. You should enjoy working with young people and see teaching as a wider professional duty.

As part of the interview process you will be required to teach part of a lesson so we can gauge your clarity of explanations as well as how you engage with our young people.

We are looking for the highest quality graduates who may well bring further work-related experience from previous careers which can help to strengthen their application.

Other requirements

We are looking for applicants who are able to commit the time needed to the training programme which will include academic assignments and study. We would like candidates who want to be involved in the wider pastoral and extra-curricular life of our schools and who can give the time to this during their training year.

Your own transport would be advantageous so you can easily access your school placements within Shropshire.

All candidates will be required to undertake DBS clearance via the University of Chester prior to the course commencing.

Fees and financial support

The course fees for UK students in 2023 to 2024 are £9,250.

Course fees can be covered by a student loan as with all university courses and repayments will only start once full time employment begins.

Financial support from the training provider

The course is non salaried.

About the training provider

Shropshire Primary Partnership is a partnership of successful and highly regarded schools across Shrewsbury and North Shropshire.

Our unique selling point is that we are able to provide high quality teacher training, locally delivered within Shropshire by supportive practitioners and university staff with placements in successful and highly regarded local schools. Our programme offers a way of training teachers which puts the schools into the heart of the process. In partnership with the University of Chester, we have developed this school led training programme which is committed to training teachers to ensure they have the potential to be outstanding at the end of the programme. Our associate teachers receive a flexible and bespoke timetable offering substantial mentoring to ensure lesson planning and delivery is of the highest standard.

The high quality local delivery aspect ensures local trainees no longer need to travel long distances to an alternative Higher Education provider.

Interview process

We are looking for candidates who have an empathy and understanding of the demands of teaching in a primary classroom. You should enjoy working with children and want to get involved with the life of the school beyond the classroom. Confidence in front of a classroom of children is essential which is why we would encourage all applicants to find some voluntary observation experience before applying. As part of the interview process you will be required to teach part of a lesson so we can gauge your clarity of explanations as well as how you engage with our young people.

Once we receive your application, be reviewed by senior colleagues from Shropshire Primary Partnership and our University partner. We will look at your experience and qualification relevancy and will invite you to interview if your application meets our criteria. If you are unsuccessful at this stage, you will be notified through your Teacher Training account.

If successful, you will be invited to interview at school which will involve a mini-teach activity, literacy test and a formal interview. The programme will be sent to you in advance and you will have 7 days to respond to the invitation. You should allow half a day for your interview.

If an offer of a place is made, it will either be unconditional or conditional based upon successful completion of your degree, if you are still at university, or on the basis of gaining more experience observing in a primary school.

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 for the duration of this course, you may need to apply for a Student visa.

To do this, you’ll need to be sponsored by your training provider.

Before you apply for this course, contact us to check Student visa sponsorship is available. If it is, and you get a place on this course, we’ll help you apply for your visa.

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

St Peter’s CE Primary School and Woodfield Infant School, the lead schools in the alliance, have disablity access to all parts of their sites and buildings. This is the case for some of our partner schools, but not all and applicants may want to bear this in mind when applying to us.

The disability and inclusion team at the University of Chester provides confidential information, advice and guidance to disabled students. This includes students with specific learning differences, long-standing health conditions, mental health difficulties, Autistic Spectrum Disorder and sensory impairment. Staff will support students in identifying the most appropriate solutions to potential barriers to learning

Contact this training provider

• Email: schooldirect@shropshireprimarypartnership.co.uk
• Telephone: 01743 343812
• Website: http://www.shropshireprimarypartnership.co.uk
• Address: Shropshire Primary Partnership; Shrubbery Gardens; Wem; Shropshire; SY4 5BX

Support and advice

You can speak to a teacher training adviser for free, dedicated advice. They are all experienced teachers who can give you one-to-one support with your application. They can also help you get school experience, and find events where you can speak to training providers and teachers.

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).

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