Before the start of teacher training, I was worried about feeling like a stranger, and like I did not belong in an English high school. It's crazy what can happen when you're brave enough to take a leap...  I only came to England earlier this year; knowing that I wanted a change of career, knowing it should be in a school, not knowing how to get there without any experiences or even a native level of English. As a person who always preferred learning on the job over theoretical learning, I couldn't find the right way into teaching in Germany as you've got to sit 5 years at university first before you can finally use your gained knowledge as a teacher in classroom. I don't feel like I need to say that it wasn't the right thing to do.  I was incredibly happy when I got offered a place in the Redhill SCITT. Being in a school, while learning the necessary skills in additional sessions outside of school, is fantastic. And my first couple weeks at my placement school ...

NTU,  M att and Jamie, provided the much neede d “crash course” to an introduction of different learning theories and reassured a lot of the cohort on the reali ties of NTU’s role in our teacher training year. Over the three full days we were able to collaborate with one another, share our ideas, work in smaller groups, get to know each other as people and get a good grasp on what was expected on the PGCE side of our training year. Each day was broken down into 4 seminars with a couple of hours for lunch and a task to prepare us for the afternoon. The days were structured in a way that didn’t overload you and instead provided you with little tasters of the avenues you may want to explore in your assignments. We were presented with a wide range of different learning theorists and it was then up to you to decide which ones sparked your interest and aligned with your own views on education. These first three days on campus were designed to begin to prepare us for our first assignment,...

The twilight sessions are a great way of enhancing our learning, each week that we take part there are different focuses for the session. I have found these to be an excellent source of 'bright spots' and 'quick wins' to be able to take away to my own planning and delivering of lessons in the future, and especially being able to discuss ideas that we may have picked up on in schools. Indeed, I love a good ‘Think-Pair-Share!’ and sharing this with the group and hearing that some had never seen such a method- thanks to my former Media Studies teacher, Mrs Spalding (who was Head of English when I went to school) I became fully versed in them and make use of them regularly. This week’s topic was ‘Questioning’ as Socrates would dub is a “part of the art of teaching”. I found this session be a real eye opener, starting with the hard-hitting facts, did you know that on average, the Teacher will ask 400 questions a day? 400- Almost as many as the number of Roast Potatoes that I...

I’ve really enjoyed the Inspiring Leaders Redhill Secondary SCITT sessions at NTU. The opportunity to learn, listen and collaborate with fellow trainees was vital, creating a productive environment for all to grow into teaching. This was all done with the empathy and consideration from the lecturers and SCITT leadership team for the three-day session with provisions made for a safe opportunity to meet, learn and thrive.   The sessions at NTU varied greatly, which I gained from personally as it kept the content light and digestible alongside a pace that was just right. To begin, the first day focussed on referencing, before moving onto the purpose of education and for the majority of the day, easing a lot of student queries and enabling us all to have the clarity of expectation. Our peer group was really supportive too, instigated by the dynamic and interactions created by each seminar task. Day two helped us understand educational theorists with students able to bring reading and l...