TRAINEE TEACHER TEAM-BUILDING
A huge part of our teacher training programme is promoting wellbeing and developing tools for maintaining a healthy work/life balance. We are committed to growing the next generation of teachers with healthy habits right from the start.
On Friday 23rd March our trainee teachers downed tools, donned their wetsuits, and headed for Stanley Park lake. We were the first group to brave the water-based activities this year due to the cold weather but it didn’t put us off! It was a really fun afternoon and reminded us how much we have grown as a team since September.
Half were sent out on the lake in canoes in pairs whilst the other half built a raft. The raft building revealed that we were collectively quite rubbish with knots and, despite the scientists using their theories and the mathematicians creating calculations… everyone was soon very wet! The boys were really competitive and determined to go as far as they could across the water. It was freezing!
The canoeing involved a game of polo on the water and a challenge to try and stand up on the edges of the canoe without falling in. It was such a good afternoon and a lovely end to the half term.
WE’RE RECRUITING
Have you got what it takes to teach? We are now recruiting together for primary and secondary candidates for September 2018. Please visit our new website (www.fyldescitt.co.uk) and our SCITT Facebook page for more info about our programmes for you to share with friends and family.
CAREER CHANGERS
Paul Foxton joined the SCITT in September 2017 to train as a maths teacher. He decided 6 years ago to give up working as a financial advisor as he wanted a career change. This was not a decision he took lightly as a father of two young children with bills to pay. He undertook a degree in Mathematics and its Learning with the Open University because it’s a subject he enjoys but mostly he says, “because it is so fundamentally important in studying many other subjects and is used in almost all, if not every walk of life.” In his personal statement when applying for the SCITT he explained his intention was to “ensure the children will leave secondary education with sufficient mathematical knowledge to allow them to progress on their path of life. Whether it be equipping future parents with the knowledge of how to measure food or milk for their baby or giving potential astrophysicists the basis to progress to the complex mathematics required for a career in this field.”
How are skills transferable?
Whilst working as an engineer he was a mentor for several apprentices. He had to ensure they had the required skills, both practical and academic, but he noticed he could often learn a thing or two from them and he enjoyed that. When working in financial services he became a bank assurance induction coach training newly appointed financial advisors recruited by the company. Weekly staff training sessions were also part of his role. Meeting stretching targets, prioritising and managing workload and staff, planning, time management and effective communication are just a few skills he has brought which allowed him to make rapid progress this year.
He came into the programme with his eyes wide open as he had gained recent school experience and carefully reflected on it.
In September, he said “I am under no illusion that a career in teaching will be demanding but I thrive on being pushed & challenged and having the opportunity to continually change and develop.”
Paul certainly has thrived on the programme and he’s really enjoying it. He has secured a full time teaching position on the Fylde Coast for September 2018.
OUR PARTNER SCHOOLS
- Hodgson Academy
- Millfield Science & Performing Arts College
- St Mary’s Catholic Academy
- St Georges High School
- Baines School
- Montgomery High School
- Unity Academy
- Aspire Academy
- Garstang Community Academy
- Red Marsh Special School
- Highfurlong School
- Rossall School
- Educational Diversity