Congratulations to our new cohort of trainee teachers for 2024-2025. You have begun the first steps towards your journey of becoming a primary/SEND teacher with us this year! September is always such an exciting time to see so many new faces, eager and ready to begin their teacher training. This year has been particularly exciting as we have got off to a flying start! We are so proud of each and every trainee who have stepped into our learning hub with a wonderfully positive attitude every single day. We hope for you all that this year will be rigorous, challenging but yet rewarding, fulfilling and full of achievement and growth.
Every year, at the end of the course, we get many trainees who look back on their time with us and always look fondly on the start of their training year. The one piece of advice often shared is to “enjoy the first week in school”. The next time you will be meeting a class on their first day back at school in September is likely to be when you have your own class. We hope you have all enjoyed every moment and taken in as much as you can from your General Mentor.
At the very start of the course, all of our trainees in the Learning Hub to complete a short introduction with us before going into their placement schools. During these days the necessary safeguarding training is completed and trainees get to meet their Lead Mentor too. Trainees then return to us for a block of SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) sessions. These have been taking place over the last fortnight. We started the week with an ‘Introduction to Early Years’ and a ‘Lesson Planning’ session and concluded with Prevent Training and also Maths and English subject sessions. The first week was rounded off with our first Specialism Day. KNSTE uniquely offers subject or phase specialisms alongside the general primary practitioner training. KNSTE offers a range of specialisms including Art and Design, Early Years, English and the Performing Arts, SEND, STEM, Geography and History, MFL and PE. It is a great opportunity to delve deeper into your specialism and look at areas such as subject/phase leadership, curriculum design and assessment. Specialism days are always a firm favourite amongst both staff and trainees.
The second SCITT week was another jam-packed week with our General Mentors joining us for a day for GM Training. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our partnership school and the General Mentors who continue to support KNSTE and our trainees through their school placements. We are so fortunate to have such a wide range of schools who support our trainees.
Following this, we are looking forward to the remainder of the Autumn term. From now onwards the upcoming weekly SCITT sessions will be intertwined with placement days. We are so excited for the remainder of this term and the year ahead.
Our last cohort had the following to say about their time on the course...
“I think that the SCITT sessions are well informed and as a result I am able to implement ideas and strategies when I am on placement.”
“All the KNSTE staff have a desire to support us to develop as fully as we can, we are all valued and you all care very much about teaching.”
“The mapping out of the sessions to fulfil all requirements is very clear and explicit, everything is well structured and all time is well used.”
“The course provides a collaborative environment where trainees can share experiences, ideas, and strategies with peers.”
“The detail and information provided is so important and informative, I have saved so many PPs and resources for future reference.”
If reading this blog post has inspired you to think about a career in teaching or if you would be interested in becoming a primary/SEND teacher with us, we have a variety of open evenings taking place this academic year.
Whatever your dreams of teaching may be, train to teach with KNSTE.