PartnershipBradford College Teacher

Education NewsletterAutumn Edition 2010

Uncertain Times in EducationDr. Mick Dunne on the difficult times facing education

•• CPD in Nigeria Delivering CPD in an innovative new partnership

•• Placement Innovation New induction ideas from Parkside School, Cullingworth

CPD Events - International Activities - GTP Experience

04 Uncertain Times Difficult Times Facing Education

05 Partnership Awards Nominated Primary and Secondary Schools achieve success

05 Mentor Training Dates Details of upcoming training sessions

06 Enhancing Our Partnership Methods for McMillan to develop the partnership following TDA ‘Beyond Partnership Project’

07 Out of Africa Delivering CPD in an innovative new partnership

08 CPD Training Opportunities Details of forthcoming Masters Courses

09 Outdoor Education Student Field Work at Cober Hill Conference Centre

09 Partnership in P.E. Partnership between Lower Fields Primary School, Bradford and the P.E department in Teaching Health and Care

10 Erasmus Anniversary The School of Teaching, Health and Care Erasmus Socrates programmes celebrate 20 years of partnership

11 Staff Departures

11 Life as a Graduate Teacher A student insight into teaching Primary Education

Contents

Teacher Education Mission StatementOver a period of time staff have been discussing both the ethos and vision of Teacher Education and have decided on the following statement which is now displayed on all course notice boards and will also be included in future school documentation:We want all our students to be informed, reflective and successful learners, confident individuals and responsible teachers, able to meet the diverse needs of all those they teach. This will be achieved through providing high quality, creative and integrative approaches to education.

Partnership •• Created by Ben Tillett •• Edited by Dave Howard

The aim of this publication is to keep partnership institutions informed of events and changes within Teacher Education and Continuing Professional.

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David Needham from St Bartholomew’s Primary School with Mick Dunne, Head of ITE

’d just like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the second edition of our Partnership Letter and introduce myself. I have had, what I consider, the privilege of being the Head of McMillan School of Teaching, Health and Care for a year now. In that time my initial view that I was in the extremely fortunate position of coming to head up a vibrant, caring, exciting and professionally and academically outstanding environment and to work with exceptional colleagues has beenrepeatedly reinforced. The excellentITT Ofsted outcome in March, wherewe were deemed good with someoutstanding features; continued verification of the Grade 1 excellentwork of our Early Years and EYPS

ost schools that accept PGCE trainees on placement receive them from a variety of different ITE providers. Most of the schoolsarrange some kind of induction programme for the first day of placement, and typically this will involve key people (for example the ITE Co-ordinator, the Head Teacher, the SENCO and others) giving a talk to the assembled group.

Last September Sharon Anderson, ITE Co-ordinator andAssistant Head at Parkside School, Cullingworth decided todo things differently. Gathering together a disparate group of PGCE trainees, from three different institutions, at 8.30am on the first morning in school, she set them a task. At 3.30pm the group would have to make a presentation (including a Powerpoint) to the Head Teacher informing him about what they had learned during the day regarding the ethos of the school and how the school functioned.

Sharon provided a large cardboard box full of the school’skey documents (health and safety policies, curriculum etc),access to the school’s computer systems and a digital camera. Staff were briefed that the trainee teachers would be circulating and should be welcomed into any classroom they visited. Staff were encouraged to answer any questions the trainees might have, and trainees were encouraged to speak to the school’s students and ancillary staff. One rule was

stipulated. In discussions with staff and students, the word ‘ethos’ should not be mentioned; the PGCE students had to work this out for themselves.

Sharon demanded that every trainee teacher should make avisible contribution to the final presentation. She wasamazed at how much the trainees had been able to discoverduring the day; but why should we be surprised? As teachers most of us recognise that a didactic presentation of ‘facts’ is a poor way of providing learning for children in our schools, and prefer to create opportunities for more active/ participative approaches. Sharon advanced this another level.

Many beneficial effects were noticed over the next weeks.There were less instances of trainee teachers wanderinground looking lost because they couldn’t remember whatthey had been told on the first day. They ‘knew’ becausethey had found out for themselves. The trainees gelled andbonded as a group. They had got to know one anotherthrough the task and became a mutual support group,sharing ideas, strategies and resources. We commend thisapproach to induction to you; adapted to the practicalities inyour own school, of course.

Stephen Fairbrass PGCE Secondary Citizenship Tutor

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Introducing Myself

Placement Innovation The induction of trainee teachers into the partnership school

work; Grade 1 for our Social Work andYouth and Community Developmentactivities; and the highly praisedcreative and innovative practices bothat home and overseas of ourEducational and Professional teams all

bear witness to the positive attributes I had expected.

There are exciting developments in the pipeline and our move to enhance our existing excellent and mutuallysupportive partnership relationshipsacross McMillan is one we will beseeking to develop throughout 2010-11.

I have provided some more details of this on page 6 but for now I would just like to thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter and offer an open invitation to contact us about anything within its pages you would like to know more about.

Dr. Clive OpieDean of McMillan School ofTeaching, Health and Care

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Uncertain Times

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Difficult times in education. Dr. Mick Dunne gives his thoughts.

veryone in education (and not just in education) recognises the tentative times we face. Colleagues working in bothEarly Years and the Primary phase, FEor HE have serious concerns aboutwhat the future holds. This region wasparticularly hard hit by thegovernment’s rapid intervention in BSFwork. It would seem that no one canescape: ‘free schools’, ‘fast-trackedacademies’, the continued demise ofmiddle schools; the list goes on andon. Clearly the government has to findways of saving money so they intendto abolish many quangos and otherpublic bodies some of which we mightfeel have reached the end of theiruseful life if I assume they ever hadone! Education will be adverselyaffected by the loss of BECTA (BritishEducational Communication andTechnology) an internationallyrecognised body that has done muchto develop and improve our use oftechnology in educational settings.Perhaps less well thought of is theGTCE (General Teaching Council forEngland) which has had a less thanauspicious reputation with colleaguesacross the education spectrum. Lesswell known bodies are likely to be lostsuch as the School Support StaffNegotiating Body which has served topromote the significant role thatsupport staff have in our schools andnurseries. Consequently one is leftwondering about who will berepresenting them and are we back tothose old times when it seemed onlythe unions had our interests at heart?

It would be very easy to becomepessimistic about our future and I’m not about to suggest we all shouldstart singing ‘Always look on the brightside of life’! I am a naturally optimisticchap and it takes a lot to dent that

optimism and the trouble is that in our business there’s always somethinggood happening to counteract thisnegativity before it reaches a criticalstate. Perhaps this is why I do what Ido or goes a long way to explain mymotivation for staying in education. Inthe second week of September I metwith a secondary school head teacherto explore how we can work togetherin quite radically different ways andduring the first week of October hadthe same type of meeting with adifferent secondary school headteacher. Their enthusiasm andcommitment to such developmentswas exceptional and my colleaguesand I are very excited at the potentialof these types of developments. Thisis a continuation of our partnershipdevelopment activity that started lastyear and has resulted in some schoolsbeing supported in an entirely newway for CPD that will ultimately benefit not just their staff and children but also my colleagues and the student teachers; all this in spite of thechanges being thrust upon us.

We are really keen to work withschools differently. Shared CPD,mutual support and involvement withthe recruitment of staff, expandingschool-based development events forstudent teachers, the college as abase for G&T development activitiesor as a venue for a wide range ofevents such as a debating contest,schools and college working togetherto help shape strategic developmentse.g. the recruitment and training ofstudents in shortage subject areas(not necessarily those prioritysubjects identified by the TDAeither!); the sharing of ‘expertise’;short-term job exchange; reciprocalsupport for working groups, steeringcommittees, curriculum developmentteams; involvement with our overseasactivities…and so it continues.Developments such as these are onlylimited by us and our capacity towork differently. These are genuinelyworrying times and I have particularconcerns for Initial TeacherEducation. Michael Gove has madesome things very clear and the threatto 4 year ITE courses is very real asare his observations about the levelof degree qualifications for entry ontoPGCE courses. However while wehave to “watch this space” I amconfident that our partnership withschools is stronger than ever and thatexciting prospects lie before us. Weare always interested in exploringnew ways of working with schools soif you have ideas about how this canbe further developed then please letus know.

Dr Mick DunneHead of Initial Teacher Educationm.dunne@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

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Dr. Mick DunneHead of ITE

his year we had many schools nominated by students, staff and link tutors for a partnership award. We think this demonstrates the high quality of placement provision offered by our partnership schools. After much deliberation the awards were presented to six primary and six secondary schools.

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Partnership Awards

TPrimary•• Hebden Royd Church of England Primary School

•• Low Ash Primary School

•• Riddlesden St Mary’s Church of England Primary School & Nursery

•• St Bartholomew’s Primary School

•• St Paul’s Church of England Primary School

•• Windhill Church of England Primary School

Secondary•• Appleton Academy

•• Belle Vue Girls’ School

•• Dixons Allerton Academy

•• Gomersal Middle School

•• University Academy, Keighley

•• Laisterdyke Business & Enterprise College

There were more applicants than ever and so competition for the Partnership Awards was at its highest. We were delightedwith the keen interest from across our partnership schools which reflects the high quality of their support. Congratulations to all of these schools and to those who were nominated.

Judi BainbridgePartnership Co-ordinator

Mentor Training Sessions

‘Twilight’ Secondary Training Event8th February 2011 from 4pm until 7pm

Please contact Joanne Courtney at: j.courtney@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

Bespoke Training SessionsThese can be arranged for you or your staff working in schools or

organisations in partnership with Bradford College University Centre.

For Primary sessions please e-mail Marian Stead at: m.stead@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

For Secondary sessions please e-mail Joanne Courtney at: j.courtney@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

Enhancing Our Partnership

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Enhancing partnership links already occurs in one form or another. For example the TDA ‘Beyond Partnership Project’ provides exemplars of partnership models.

Partnership Models•• Harness Effectively harness the skills of those providing trainee placements to achieve substantial improvements for all partners.

••Support Support growth in professional learning across and between the different professional cultures working in the children’s and young people’s workforce.

••Deliver Are able to deliver regionally and locally key national priorities and areflexible enough to meet local needs making the best use of all the stakeholders’ expertise.

In looking to enhance our partnership links McMillan Schoolof Teaching, Health and Care houses four key communityprogramme areas: Early Years (including EYPS); CareCommunity and Health (including Social Work, YCD, Dietand nutrition); ITE (both Primary and Secondary); andEducational and Professional Studies (including Masterscourses). Each of these areas is associated with a highdegree of expertise in both FE and HE providing a unique opportunity for collaboration to fully realise the ECM agenda and address the recognition in the Children’s Plan that

much still remains to be done if we are to meet our aspiration of making our country the best place in theworld in which to grow up the full compulsory education age range.

We are presently working with four schools to look at theadvantages and challenges of our enhanced partnershipproposals; for example a primary school taking 16 ITEstudents in one term or an educational setting workingwith Social Work students. If you are keen to know moreabout how this enhanced partnership could benefit yourschool please contact me.

Enhanced Partnership•• Relationship A more structured working relationship with placements and students e.g. placing a member of McMillan staff in a school, for example, a day a week.

••Professional Development Provision of the opportunity for professional development e.g. engagement with practitioner research and whole school improvement.

•• Teacher Tutor Exchange Effectively harness the skills of those providing trainee placements to achieve substantial improvements for all partners.

••OfSTED Better support for OfSTED inspections, NQT staff..

•• Continuation Exploration of the continuation of the work with external groups such as Creative Partnerships; Maths and Dance.

••Multi-agency Working Greater understanding of the value of multi-agency working.

•• Teaching Experiences Provision of a wider range of teaching experiences for students e.g. 1:1; small group work; working with adults; engaging with curriculum continuity.

••Peer Collaboration Peer collaboration and support presenting more ‘multiagency’Opportunities.

Dr. Clive OpieDean of McMillan School of Teaching, Health and Carec.opie@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

Bradford College University Centre has made its first in roads into Nigeria whereby several members of ITE have worked with a school delivering CPD in an innovative partnership.

n July 2010 Mick Dunne, Ashlee Perry and Dave Howard made the 10 hour flight to Lagos. Our destination was Olashore International School,situated in the lush Jungle of Osun State, 4 hoursdrive from the Nigerian capital, Lagos. The drivehighlighted some of the challenges facing Nigeria. Whilstincome from oil has given Nigeria relative wealth by Africanstandards behind the adverts for mobile phones and theEnglish Premiership this is still a third world country. Withhalf of the 170 million population under 18 years old, highquality education is vital for Nigeria to make progress; we hope in our small way to contribute to this.A private boarding school with 700 pupils from 11-18,Olashore offers a world class education and importantly forits many overseas students, mostly sons and daughter ofNigerians working abroad, a ‘Nigerian’ experience. TheEnglish Principal of the school, Steve Valentine, wanted theCPD to reflect the needs of Nigerian teachers teaching in aNigerian school. During the CPD sessions we wanted thestaff to have access to what we regard as best practice interms of pedagogy, and then be able to adapt this to suitOlashore in the 21st century. The visit of three UK teacher trainers to deliver a week’s CPD is unique in Nigerianeducation.

After speaking to the 90 teaching staff as whole group tooutline our aims for the week smaller groups broke off foractivities that allowed a dialogue between the staff and theBradford College team. Throughout the week the teachersat Olashore were fully committed to the training,professional, and considerate; from a personal view thewelcome we received and their dedication to the teachingprofession was extremely humbling. During the sessionsmany of their concerns, insights and ideas about educationwould not be out of place in any staff room in the UK. Infact this commonality was both surprising and useful in thatthe teachers were able to fully engage and question someof our approaches. Further to this the staff drove thetraining as we adapted the sessions to responses andrequests from the staff throughout the week deliveringtraining on, among other things, Assessment for Learning,differentiation, classroom management and group work.

The school is named after its founder the Kabiyesi, or BigKing, Oba Oladele Olashore who took time out of his busyschedule to meet with the Bradford College team. The Kingspoke positively about the feedback he’d received from hisstaff about the training and his hopes for the school in thefuture. During this meeting we were treated to Nigerianspecialities - pepper soup and pounded yams, andreturned the compliment by presenting the King with a boxof Yorkshire Tea. On reflection the feedback we receivedfrom the King, the principal and importantly the staffsuggested that our training was very successful. The stafffelt valued by the school for arranging this CPD event andempowered by knowing that much of what they dorepresents good quality teaching. We feel confident that they will begin to implement the new ideas into their teaching.

Bradford College University Centre’s involvement withOlashore continues. In September Ash returned to deliveranother week of CPD and built on the ideas covered in thefirst week. Ten members of the staff are undertakingMasters training with Bradford College University Centre,and we are looking at sending trainee teachers to Olashorefor special placements. There are also opportunities for ourpartnership schools to be involved with Olashore throughthe sharing of resources or setting up of projects betweenpupils in both schools. If you wish to be involved in thisexciting project please contact me.

Dr. Ashlee PerrySecondary Science Tutora.perry@bradfordcollege.ac.uk01274 431645

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Out of Africa

IAsh Perry With Students from Olashore International School

CPD at Bradford College

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If there are Continuing Professional Development needs that you think we could help your staff with then please get in touch.

e work in partnership with a large number of schools and other organisations and tutors particularly enjoy having staff from differentcontexts learning alongside each other. Wemay have something already or we can create a bespokesession or programme for you. Below is a list of courses weoffer. We offer evening provision for most courses toaccommodate busy teachers and support staff:

Please contact me at: k.sawyer@bradfordcollege.ac.uk if you have particular requirements for one-off sessions or bespoke provision.

Six Masters courses start in January:Education, Teaching, Leadership and Management,Inclusive Education, Practitioner research and Early Years Practice.

Modules are taught in the evening and attendanceexpectation varies depending on module choice.

10 free places are available to colleagues teaching inNational Challenge schools and there is a reduced fee forthose which take Bradford College students on placement.Fees for partnership organisations: £750 per year.

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•• Behaviour Management 15 November to 10 January 5 - 8pm This module will consider behaviour with regard to general classroom management and the management of individuals who may present more challenging behaviour. It will encourage individuals to explore their own practice and the challenges they face in terms of behaviour management. It will consider the roots of behaviour difficulties in terms of individuals and organisations. It will consider different approaches to behaviour management with an emphasis on formulating approaches that are both positive and effective. Contact Lynn Taylor on l.taylor@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

••Health and Safety at work and First Aid This can be bespoke provision or lead to a recognised qualification such as the HSE First Aid at work. Contact Dennis Nunn on d.nunn@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

•• Understanding Autism 17 January to 7 March 5 - 8pm The purpose of this module is to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of autism and to explore the implications for affected individuals, their families and educational practitioners. You will be encouraged to evaluate a range of teaching and learning strategies that can be used to meet the needs of learners with autism. Contact Lynn Taylor on l.taylor@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

••Supporting Mobility in Educational Settings 14 March to 9 May ( including a mandatory Saturday lecture at Henshaw’s College in Harrogate) 5 - 8pm The core element consists of an induction session and the study of a range of visual impairment and mobility issues,theories and training strategies. The units within the core offer the flexibility for you to further extend your skills, knowledge and understanding within a specific context, directly related to your personal development and your existing and future professional roles and responsibilities. Contact Lynn Taylor on l.taylor@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

•• Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector Do you have staff who are involved in training their colleagues or who want to have insight into teaching but don’t deliver any? If so the Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector will be very useful. An 11 week course one morning or evening per week, February and October starts. If you have 12 or more staff interested we can deliver on your premises with a start date to suit you. The course teaches the basics of planning and delivering a session in an active, experiential way. Contact pcetadministrator bradfordcollege.ac.uk. 01274 436389. Fee:£175.

•• The Foundation Degree in Supporting and Managing Learning in Education now has routes for primary and secondary support staff. The route for secondary support staff includes modules in supporting special needs and pastoral care and requires attendance of one afternoon and evening per week. The course starts again in September but if interested you need to apply now. Please contact Debbie Rolls for further information d.rolls@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

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art of the rationale for this partnership newsletter is to bring to the attention of schools information that theymight find useful. The Department ofTeacher Education has always valuedthe provision of outdoor education forits student teachers. Colleagues seethese experiences as useful for teambuilding during the induction phase ofnew courses but as valuable real lifecontexts in which to develop subjectknowledge and skills as well as expanding pedagogical principles.Students have benefited from out-of

n 2009/10 a partnership was established between Lower Fields Primary School, Bradford and the PE department in Teaching Health and Care. Thisdeveloped as a result of a strong, long standingrelationship between the lecturers and the school (who hastaken trainees over a number of years).

The Mentor took on the role of the PE Coordinator at theschool in September 2009 and asked for support from theLink Tutor who is a PE specialist. This request was seen asan opportunity for the PE specialist to model PE teaching tosupport both the teachers in the school (professionaldevelopment) and the ITE students. Also this provided anopportunity for the Mentor to attend college PE sessions toenable her to gave a greater insight into the trainingprovided for the students and further her own knowledgeand understanding in this subject.

Nine Wednesday afternoon sessions (non-contact time forPGCE students) were identified to model teaching and to support students teaching parts of a PE lesson. TwentyFour PGCE students were recruited. Feedback from the school

and the trainees has been very positive and indicated this to be a most worthwhile experience for all involved. As a result this programme/ partnership is continuing to roll out this year.

If you are interested in more information or would like todiscuss developing similar partnerships then please contact Sally Fisher. Email: s.fisher@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

Feedback

“One thing that I’m finding this course invaluable for isbeing able to observe excellent teaching practice inaction” (student)

“this is a fab opportunity for students to really get ‘handson’ with the teaching of PE which has followed on verynicely from our own PE sessions in college” (student)

“I enjoyed the different people helping us to learn newskills. I enjoyed all of it” (year 5 pupil)“We have fun with you. I learnt a lot about basketball andgymnastics” (year 5 pupil)

Outdoor Education

Partnership in P.EWorking in partnership with a primary school to develop teaching and learning in Physical Education.

college experiences in a wide range ofsettings including some exoticoverseas locations. However themajority of this sort of work takesplace more locally and a particularlygood venue is the Cober HillConference Centre, Cloughton on theYorkshire coast. If subject knowledgedevelopment is a priority then this is afabulous base in which to study awide range of subjects includingphysical education, history,geography, science, literacy andnumeracy. If social or personaldevelopment goals are important thenit’s a great place to experience a widerange of team-building activities andto develop cooperation andcommunication skills.

The accommodation is first class andbecause it is managed by theRowntree Trust costs for schools areparticularly competitive. A wide range of teaching rooms (even a theatre) are

available supported by all the AVAresources that you might need. Allmeals are served in an amenabledining room and a comprehensiverange of packed lunches can beprovided. It’s a delightful locationwhich we take full advantage of.

If you would like any further information visit their web page www.coberhill.co.uk orcontact them at Cober Hill,Newlands Road, Cloughton,Scarborough, North Yorkshire,YO13 0AR (Tel: 01723 870310).

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Cober Hill Conference Centre

PGCE Secondary Studentsundertaking field work

International Co-operationReaches Its Twentieth Anniversary

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he arrival of fourteen eager students from Poland and Spain in September heralded the twentieth anniversary ofthe School of Teaching, Health andCare Erasmus-Socrates programmes.Through this programme nearly 400students from across Europe havesuccessfully studied alongside our owneager and friendly groups (!!!) as partof a European Community initiative toencourage cross-border circulation ofgood practice in academic and ITEtraining. We are a very popularinstitution and thanks must go tocolleagues and students for creatingthe friendly and cooperativeenvironment that greets thesestudents upon arrival and during theirstay with us.

Where and when did it all start? From an initial arrangement with Oslo College, arranged through friends of former colleagues, working in Oslo, the programme has expanded to its present position of having successful agreements with 15 partner institutions across Europe. These range from Norway and Finland,

through Poland to the Netherlands. Belgium and Austria to Spain and Portugal, Greece (Crete) and most recently Turkey.

These agreements enable all studentsto study with each other usually for asemester. Through the BolognaAgreement the modules studied arecredit-bearing and consequently nostudent is disadvantaged by goingabroad. Our students are entitled tostudy abroad, though recent pressureapplied to achieve standards seems tohave deterred many. I am hopeful thatthis can be reversed. It is a great andinvaluable experience. In fact manyEuropean institutions have specialprogrammes in English. Funding isavailable through the EuropeanCommunity’s Erasmus-SocratesProgramme administered by the British Office and accessed through theCollege’s International Centre.

The distribution of funding is makingInternational work accessible to morecolleagues across the College.The majority of these agreementsstarted as a result of cooperation withthe Humanities Department of MarnixAcademie in Utrecht (the Netherlands)simply because their coordinator was aGeographer and was introduced to meby Barry Miller. This led to a mostsuccessful programme of CPD (initiallyorganised and taught by myself andDutch colleagues) for all of theinstitutions with whom we have thelinks today. Additionally through linkswith Science, Youth and Communitywork and Citizenship other links wereestablished and these are maintained.In fact this Semester we have three

T students from Gdansk, Poland. A firstfor them and us!!

Can I be involved?A most pleasing development over thepast few years is the involvement ofcolleagues from other subject areas.Currently we have several lecturers fromMathematics and Science, for example, with the funding to visit and teach in Gdansk, Wroclaw and Turkey. This ‘opens a window on the academic world’ for participants as well as the promotion of the successes of Bradford College on a wider scale.Thanks must also go to PartnershipSchools, many of whom provideopportunities for Teaching andFieldwork Placements as well as anopen door to visitors. This is anotherinvaluable contribution to theprogramme. This Semester places have been limited but with a programme accessed by more colleagues across the School we should be in a strong position to bid for and offer more v isits abroad.

Howard LisleInternational Coordinator

A Bradford College Studentlooking at land use in Crete

Bradford College Erasmus students enjoy a pottery lessonin Crete

ince the last issue of The Partnership magazine

was issued, several members of staff have left

the College. We thank them for their significant

contributions to Teacher Education and partnership

work. We wish them the very best for the future.

They are:

Mike Arnold - Science EducationCaroline Haley - BNETTPhil Linsell - Maths EducationGeorge Murphy - Language & LiteratureAnita Rowell - Modern Foreign LanguagesRob Senior - Science EducationMalcolm Smith - ICT

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Staff Departures

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started an Open University degree when my daughter started nursery. When she began full time school I was appointed as a SEN assistant at a primary school. In the end I worked for 4 years as a SEN assistant, whilst completing the OU degree in Art History. I thoroughly enjoyed this post but knew I would like to teach and get qualified.

Looking back over this programme, there were many highsand some lows.

High points

Meeting people, I have made some genuine friends onthis course who have offered a fantastic supportnetwork and provided an immense resource bank todraw on; everyone has such a varied background.

It has helped me develop new skills and uncover talents Inever knew I had - a bit of a journey of self discovery!

I have developed my role witin school. My school hastrusted and encouraged me from day 1 to ‘have a go’. IHave built strong relationships with colleagues, pupils andparents alike. People now come to me for advice or to talk anidea through.

Low points

There are high work loads. As the terms go on thetiredness levels build up: I quickly learned to grab 5minutes whenever/ wherever possible e.g. reading a bookon the bus, grabbing a cappuccino whilst waiting for mytrain etc; just appreciating simple pleasures in life.

Anyone in a partnership school who is interested inundertaking the Graduate Teacher Programme orknow of someone who might be can call 01274431617 for further details or visit www.b-nett.co.uk

Life as a Graduate TeacherJoanne Housecroft of the 2009-10 primary cohort is coming to the end of her employment-based training. At the Induction Day for the 2010-11 cohort she related her experience as a Graduate Teacher.

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Joanne’s Top Tips for surviving on the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP)•• Observe Go into other classes as often as you can. You learn so much from observing colleagues; even now teaching 80% of the week I’m still asking others if I can pop in to see a lesson and am benefiting from it.

••Plan Do things straight away if at all possible: Focus Tasks, PTPs etc. Don’t put it off as you may forget and you don’t know what else will take up your time.

•• Have a go Give yourself a chance and have a go at everything put in front of you. Try to put any pre-conceptions you may have to one side. You may surprise yourself like I did with teaching PE. Enjoy it! It goes faster than you can imagine. When you’re having a difficult patch just try to keep in mind the end goal and why you are actually doing this.

CPD Events - International Activities - GTP Experience

The listed courses are available to partnership schools and organisations. Please feel free to get in touch if you or any of your staff would be interested in undertaking any of the above. Further course details can be found on page 08.

•• One Day CPD Event for NQTs Early Reading / Synthetic Phonics Update Spring 2011 to be confirmed

Further information will be published on the college website http://mcmillan.bradfordcollege.ac.uk

•• Behaviour Management 15 November to 10 January 5 - 8pm

Contact Lynn Taylor on l.taylor@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

•• Understanding Autism 17 January to 7 March 5 - 8pm

Contact Lynn Taylor on l.taylor@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

•• Supporting Mobility in Educational Settings 14 March to 9 May (including a mandatory Saturday lecture at Henshaw’s College in Harrogate) 5 - 8pm

Contact Lynn Taylor on l.taylor@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

•• Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector Contact pcetadministrator@bradfordcollege.ac.uk. 01274 436389. Fee:£175. Foundation Degree in Supporting and Managing Learning in Education includes modules in supporting special needs and pastoral care

Please contact Debbie Rolls for further information d.rolls@bradfordcollege.ac.uk

CPD Courses at Bradford CollegeUniversity Centre