HIGH calibre students are being urged to train in one of the most beautiful and diverse parts of the country in a move to attract new blood to the education profession.
The Swaledale Alliance, an amalgam of 60 primary schools in North Yorkshire and County Durham, offering an outstanding Initial Teacher Training School Direct programme, is looking for new recruits.
Every year the teaching school alliance trains around 15 new teachers via a School Direct programme in partnership with outstanding provider Barnard Castle-based High Force Education.
Initial teacher training is a major focus of the work of the Swaledale Alliance which also offers school to school support, the sharing of expertise and continual professional and leadership development.
Under the School Direct Programme trainee teachers spend a day learning theory with High Force Education and the rest of the week in the classroom at one of the Alliance’s primary schools.
With more than 60 per cent of the programme involving practical application in the classroom, training is led by primary leading teachers, specialist leaders in education and recognised outstanding practitioners.
Brompton-on-Swale Church of England Primary School is the designated teaching school with Leeming and Londonderry Primary School taking responsibility for ITT.
During training, placements could be among a diverse range of partner schools ranging from tiny villages in the Yorkshire Dales, in market towns, or in Catterick Garrison, where trainees will experience the unique nature of service family communities.
The recruitment drive is aimed at fresh graduates or people seeking a career change who want to enjoy the challenges of teaching in a richly diverse area.
The course consists of 40 weeks of full-time, intensive training, from September to July, providing candidates with full Qualified Teacher Status PGCE qualification accredited by Northumbria University.
Swaledale Alliance manager Andrea Offord said: “Recruits will benefit from working with fantastic teachers and mentors and an outstanding training provider.
“They will achieve a PGCE and Qualified Teacher Status and we will help them secure positions within the Alliance or support them with their applications elsewhere.”
Lead mentor Jo Mottram added: “The profession is crying out for new blood and where better to train than glorious North Yorkshire. They could be working in an idyllic village, a highly specialised SEND school or within communities that have military associations, such as Catterick Garrison, where they could end up teaching children of one of 15 nationalities.”
Once trained they would also benefit from being part of an alliance that prides itself on continuous professional development and middle and senior leadership advancement or further training to become a Specialist Leader of Education with arrange of schools across subjects such as maths, English, ICT and science.
Applications are made via UCAS course code IFG-Portal in early October https://www.ucas.com/ucas/teacher-training.
Anyone interested in opportunities offered by the Swaledale Alliance should visit www.swaledalealliance.org or contact (01748) 828126 or info@swaledalealliance.org or attend an open event on October 16.