Bluecoat SCITT has been nationally recognised by NASBTT (National Association of School Based Teacher Training) as having well planned and effective subject based teacher training sessions.
The Friday morning pedagogy sessions follow a diverse curriculum of topic areas. The Head of SCITT (secondary teacher) and the SCITT Primary Lead, jointly deliver the morning pedagogy sessions, which strengthens the pedagogy delivery due to the mix of both primary and secondary experience.
“We also knew that we could not cover the detail needed for specific subject/phase pedagogy as a big group and in consequence decided that we needed a subject/phase expert to consolidate trainees’ broad pedagogical learning in the morning and apply this learning directly to their own subject/phase teaching in the afternoon, whilst it was still fresh in their minds. We were also keen to ensure that trainee subject knowledge was robust and, therefore, the delivery in the afternoon by subject/phase leads allowed us to be confident that trainees’ subject knowledge was being tested and developed throughout the year in conjunction with subject/phase specific pedagogy
The reason why we chose this model was that we strongly believe that there are core teaching practices that all teachers can use and we wanted to foster the idea of collaboration between colleagues at an early stage in their career. We knew that our trainees would be able to learn from each other, across subjects and different phases”
| Primary Training: | 5 – 11 age range |
| Secondary Training | 11 – 16 age range (with Post 16 experience) |
| 14 – 19 are range (Business and Social Science only) |
The curriculum focuses on the new Core Content Framework as well as subject specific areas for each key stage. The curriculum allows trainees to meet the required standards to achieve QTS using a diverse range of classroom based development opportunities embracing secondary, sixth form and special or alternative education provision. Trainees will follow the curriculum developing subject knowledge characterised by the development of theoretical application and understanding of learning, followed by practical development, followed by reflection and further research.
The curriculum has been carefully structured to guide you through your transformation from a skilled practitioner to a confident teacher within a practical learning environment. Your choice to become a teacher was just the beginning of your journey to learn and understand how to capture the observations and curiosity of young, aspiring children.
You will be based in your placement school Monday to Thursday each week. On Friday all trainees come together for the pedagogy session (am) and subject specialism sessions (pm) held in the Bluecoat SCITT Training Centre, Nottingham.
You will be assigned a Subject Lead/Phase Lead. They will help you with specific subject issues and lead the Friday afternoon subject sessions.
You will have your own Mentor on each placement. This is an experienced teacher in your subject. They will give you an hour’s 1:1 mentoring session every week. They will also be the first person you should ask when you need help.
In addition to others in the department, you will also work with colleagues in the SCITT, throughout the Academy, in learning support and the Senior Leadership Team who will be pro-active in helping you. One of the advantages of choosing ITT is that you spend a significant amount of time in schools which have been selected because they want to train new entrants to the profession to become outstanding practitioners.
In the Spring Term you will undertake a short second placement in a different school setting to your main placement. You will also undertake time in an SEND setting, and develop understanding about EAL.
We incorporate SELF DIRECTED STUDY DAYS into the calendar to support your PGCE.
