HIGHER EDUCATION

Teacher Training

School Direct is a unique programme which allows you to train alongside experienced professionals, spending the vast majority of your time in a school or college setting whilst you train. You will complete one placement at Cardinal Newman and one placement at one of our partner high schools, which make up the Catholic Teaching Alliance, (CTA). This allows our trainees to gain teaching practice in both 11-16 and 16-18 settings. This gives you genuine training across the whole of the 11-18 age range, not only increasing your experience but also your employment prospects after completion.

You should also be able to show a commitment to teaching, including between 5-10 days of observations in a school or college. You can apply for School Direct before you have completed these observations but should be able to show that you are beginning to organise relevant experience. Discussions about your experience may form part of the interview process.

What can I expect?

• Training lasts one full academic year and you will typically spend four days per week on your first placement from September to January, with one day per week spent training with experts at either Cardinal Newman or one of the partner schools.
• On this day, you will be given subject-specific support and training from your subject leads at Cardinal Newman or your subject tutors
• From February to June, you will spend five days per week on your second placement. One placement will be at Cardinal Newman, the other will be at one of our outstanding partner high schools.

Support for Trainees

• We are fully committed at Cardinal Newman to providing a community of support for all of our students, including our trainee teachers, so you can expect to receive a great deal of support if you choose to train with us. Our aim is to ensure that all trainees are prepared for and go on to have successful careers in teaching, offering a great deal of pre and post-course support enabling you to apply for the right course with us and helping you to get your career started after completing the programme.

We have a dedicated team of staff who will support you through your training, including:

• Vice Principal, Vicky Bryant
• Assistant Principal School Direct, Jayne Whittle
• Programme Leader, Cheryl Glover
• A Subject Mentor on all school and college placements
• A Professional Mentor on all placements who oversees the training within their school
• A designated Subject Lead based at Cardinal Newman who provides subject-specific training and support
• A designated Subject Tutor with the CTA who will provide support with the academic assignments contributing to the award of the secondary PGCE
• A PQO (Partnership Quality Officer)
• You will also receive pre and post-course support which will be designed to help you successfully apply for the right course and move to a successful career following your training 

Where will I be training? 

You will train at Cardinal Newman College for half of the year, with the other half of the year spent at one of our partner high schools. All schools that make up the CTA are local, with strong reputations for excellence.

The Partnership includes:

• Holy Cross Catholic High School, Chorley
• Penwortham Girls High School, Preston
• Penwortham Priory Academy, Preston
• St Bede’s Catholic High School, Lytham
• Parklands Academy, Chorley
• Darwen Aldridge Academy, Darwen

What can I expect?

Training lasts one full academic year and you will typically spend four days per week on your first placement from September to January, with one day per week spent training with experts at either Cardinal Newman, Cumbria/CTA or one of the partner schools.

What if I want to teach something other than my degree subject?

Subject Knowledge Enhancement Courses (SKE) can support candidates who do not have a degree in the subject which they would like to teach. Last year, nearly 40% of trainee teachers completed an SKE before embarking on their Initial Teacher Training (ITT), including long courses for those with prior A Level knowledge or work experience. Long courses are available until April 2019 and are fully funded by NCTL to equip candidates with the knowledge they need. SKE’s are available in Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Languages, Geography, Computing, English, Design and Technology and Primary Maths.

Successful candidate’s whom we think could benefit from SKE will be signposted to our nearest SKE provider at Cumbria University.

Click Here to find out how to apply for School Direct at Cardinal Newman.

For more information, contact:

T: 01772 460 181

E: schooldirect@cardinalnewman.ac.uk