Teacher Training

At Turnfurlong Junior School we are passionate about developing future teachers, we have a robust training programme and work closely with Initial Teacher Training providers.    Many of our Teaching Assistants have progressed their training to become fully qualified teachers, some of which have continued to work with us as Teachers.

We work closely with Ashmead School Initial Teacher Training scheme as a partner school.  If you would like further information about joining Ashmead ITT, please click here

Course Overview

 The Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeship (PTA) is a school-based initial teacher training route leading to Qualified Teacher Status, specialising in primary education for children aged 5-11.

 Who is it relevant for?

 Anyone who wants to be a primary school teacher and already has a degree. Often, the applicant will be employed by a school where they are already working at or have an existing relationship with, but there may be a few limited opportunities for candidates with classroom experience to be paired with a school looking for an apprentice. 

Duration of course

 Full time for just over a year. The course starts in September, and QTS will be awarded in the summer term the following year, in line with our other QTS programmes. All apprentices will also complete an end point assessment (EPA) during the Autumn Term as part of the completion of the apprenticeship programme. The EPA consists of an observation and a professional discussion, similar to the QTS assessment, but is carried out by an independent EPA assessor, not by internal ITT staff. 

Cost

• The Apprenticeship route leading to QTS costs £9,000, this fee is paid by the employing school.
•  There is an option to undertake a PGCE at the same time, in conjunction with Birmingham City University, which costs £1105 – this fee is paid by the apprentice (but only after discussion at interview as to viability). 
• As apprentices are on a salaried route to QTS, they do NOT have any further recourse to Student Loan funding, neither tuition fees nor maintenance loans.
• All apprentices must be employed for the duration of the course and employed by the school as an unqualified teacher and paid in line with the employing school’s pay policy. 

Funding for Schools

 There is no DfE funding towards the cost of the Postgraduate Teaching Apprentice’s full-time unqualified teacher’s salary; however, employers can use their apprenticeship service account or reserve funding to draw down funding of £9,000 to cover the cost of the training course and assessing the apprentice. 

If you are a non-levy paying school or if you have insufficient funds in your apprenticeship service account, you are eligible to get funding through government-employer co-investment. The government will pay 95% of the training costs and the school will pay 5% of the total negotiated training cost.  

Entry Requirements

•  A UK Honours Degree or equivalent qualification.
•  GCSEs/O levels in English, Mathematics and a Science subject at Grade 4 or above (Grade C prior to 2017) or an equivalent standard qualification. 
• It is important that applicants understand that the apprenticeship route has whole class teaching expectations inherent with it from the outset, so is, by and large, only offered where an applicant is deemed at interview to be suitable for fulfilling this role. 

 How to Apply

 Applications are made through DfE Apply through our accredited provider, Two Mile Ash: 

Institution code : T89 (Two Mile Ash ITT Partnership) 

General Primary Course Code V797   

Benefits. What would this look like in school?

•  School based training means that apprentices immediately apply their knowledge and understanding to the classroom and their teaching practice.
•   Apprentices are based in schools which are real environments, they grow, develop and hone their skills in schools which means they are used to school environments. 
• The Ashmead partnership are a well established provider of Initial Teacher Training with a vision to support the training and recruitment of those with a passion to teach.
• Working alongside two other partnerships, Two Mile Ash in Milton Keynes, and Penn Green in Corby broadens the depth of our individual experiences to create a collective alliance,that is beneficial to both our shared cohort of trainees and the ongoing development of our current body of staff.
• Our collective team is very experienced with a wide variety of expertise. There is a good breadth of knowledge, skill and understanding being applied to train and develop those joining our profession. 
• We recognise the demands of teaching as a career and ensure opportunities for apprentices to develop resilience. We work with all our postgraduate trainees to help them to manage their wellbeing and develop their resilience through coaching and mentoring, as required. 

 Course Design

•  All apprentices receive 20% ‘off the job’ training. This includes Core Training days, tutorials with Core ITT Team, mentor meetings, INSET training in school, team planning meetings, 
• The Core Training is delivered through a mixture of online facilitated and blended learning and face to face training which takes place predominantly in Milton Keynes or in our hub in Corby or Aylesbury. 
• Core Training is 2 days a week in the autumn term, 1 day a week in the Spring term and early part of the summer term and the apprentices are then in school full time in the latter part of the summer term. 
• Assessment of the apprentices is carried out through classroom observation and reflection, professional dialogue with colleagues, evidence bundles linked to the impact of teaching on pupil learning and some school-based tasks.

 School Based Training

•  The apprentice must be supported in school by a mentor who is an experienced teacher interested in developing their skills as a Teacher Educator. 
• Mentors will receive six or seven half days of training a year in order for them to carry out their role. This training includes operational aspects of the course but also involved revisiting the key pedagogy apprentices are being taught in order that the cohesion between the Core Training and School Based training is clear and connected. 
• Mentors attend Pupil Progress Presentations and the associated coaching meetings with their apprentices, and this gives our partnership an opportunity to Quality Assure aspects of mentoring and work alongside our mentors to challenge and develop the apprentices thinking and explanation of their impact on learning. 
• Assessment data collection is generally associated with the meetings described above to provide opportunities for standardisation, moderation and discussion. 
• Mentors carry out lesson observations using our online portal throughout the training period. One observation a week will be carried out except during Teaching Practice where observations are increased to three a week to support the mentor to make accurate judgements about the impact of the training curriculum on the apprentices’ knowledge and skills in the classroom. 
• The mentor carries out a weekly mentoring meeting with the apprentice which involves training, mentoring and coaching. During the weekly meeting they will reflect on the apprentices’ progress and set appropriate targets
• Over the course of the training, trainees will be expected to teach in excess of our minimum expectations for trainee teachers. For apprentices, this will be negotiated with your employing school up to a maximum of 80% of the timetabled time you are in school. 
• In the spring term, the apprentice will need to be released from the main, employing school for approximately 6 weeks to carry out a placement in a contrasting school and different key stage. They must continue to be employed and paid during this time. 

Useful Links

•  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/recruit-a-postgraduate-teacher-apprentice-guidance-for-employers
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/postgraduate-teaching-apprenticeships-funding-manual  

Contact Us

 If you have questions about any of our primary teacher training programmes, please get in touch:

Email: teachertraining@ashmeadschool.org.uk  

Call:    01296 484434

Web:    https://www.ashmeadschoolteachertraining.org.uk/

Further information on becoming a teacher can be found here