Congratulations on being offered a place on our PGCE primary School Centred programme.
The following information has been provided to ensure you are ready to begin your career in teaching and prepare you for the professional and academic expectations of your PGCE Please do make sure you check this blog regularly and work through all of the information and tasks provided for you as this will ensure you are able to make a positive start to you training programme.
As you prepare to start your PGCE, please do make sure that you have met all of the conditions attached to your offer by the stipulated deadline.
This will include:
- DBS documentation
- GCSE confirmation or equivalency tests
- Degree confirmation
Please note there are drop in sessions for your ID checks to be done on campus between 1pm & 3pm on the following dates:
| Date | Room | Time |
| Wed 15th May 24 | DG 104 | 1.00 – 3.00 |
| Tues 28th May 24 | DG 104 | 1.00 – 3.00 |
| Wed 12th June 24 | DG 120 | 1.00 – 3.00 |
| Wed 26th June 24 | DG 103 | 1.00 – 3.00 |
| Wed 10th July 24 | DG 120 | 1.00 – 3.00 |
| Wed 24th July 24 | DG 120 | 1.00 – 3.00 |
| Wed 8th Aug 24 | DG 103 | 1.00 – 3.00 |
If you have any questions relation to your conditions, please do contact our admissions department at pgce@yorksj.ac.uk
Please also note that our admission team will be available on our face-to-face induction day which will be help as York St John University on Saturday 15th June. There will be more information about the university induction day to follow but do save the date in your diary.
Calendars
The following calendars show the days when your university training will take place. Please note that these are just your YSJ training days and not those provided by your alliance. For Esk Valley, Wonder and Polaris students, all of your university training will take place at York St John. For Campus Tees, Middlesbrough (MSTA) students, some of your university training will take place in York (blue days) and for those days showing red, your training will take place within a local school, but delivered by your university tutor. Please make sure you access the calendar that corresponds to your alliance and be aware that these are still in draft form and may change due to timetabling requirements.
Reading is a fundamental skill that unlocks learning across the whole curriculum. As primary school teachers, it is essential that we promote the joy of reading, as research shows that those children who choose to read, develop academically and socially. Therefore, you must become a role model for the children in your class and promote the value of reading across the whole curriculum. To support you with this, we have provided you with the following list of recommended texts. Please select the age range that you will be teaching and spend some time over the summer enjoying examples of children’s literature. There is no need to buy these texts but I would recommend visiting your local library and accessing the children’s section. Happy reading.
Developing your General Knowledge
As a primary school teachers, you are required to teach the full range of National Curriculum subjects and areas of the EYFS Framework, and although we acknowledge that each teacher will have curriculum strengths, all teachers need to develop a secure grounding across all subjects. To support with your broader curriculum knowledge, we request that you spend some time reflecting on those areas where your general knowledge is weak and begin to gain experience.
To facilitate this, you should visit local museums, art galleries and places of worship as these are rich sources of curriculum knowledge.
The following is a useful website to locate museums and galleries in your area.
https://www.great-days-out.co.uk/museums-galleries/north-east-england
Subject Knowledge audits
The following audits have been written to ensure you are aware of the level of subject knowledge required to be a primary school teacher. The audits are a formative tool and enable you to reflect and identify areas of personal need. The audits cover key aspects of the English, mathematics and science curriculum content and to ensure you are prepared to teach these, revision in weaker areas will be needed during the summer.
Please access the audits via the links contained within the following word documents. Once completed, record you scores on the same tracking document and record any revision work you have done as preparation for your start in September. Please note that these audits will be repeated before you begin your final placement to demonstrate progress. You should be prepared to show your subject knowledge audit scores with your alliance in September as areas of development will inform your early targets. Please also save your completed subject knowledge trackers electronically because you will need to upload these onto your electronic portfolio (Pebblepad) at a later date.
Suggested reading and resources have been provided to support your revision and again these can be found in the documents below. These should be a starting point and not a definitive list. Please be as proactive as you can be and use the time over the summer to revise and build confidence in areas where develop is needed.
We would suggest that you complete the audits before your face-to-face induction day (Saturday 15th June) as we will be holding subject knowledge taster events on this day and you can select the most appropriate workshops that will support areas of development
Professionalism
Professionalism is a fundamental aspect of the role of the teacher and this expectation is far-reaching. It covers how we present ourselves, how we communicate (written and verbal) and meeting the professional expectations of the Teachers’ Standards.
To support you in understanding the professional expectations of the PGCE, the following PowerPoint allows you to reflect on your current understanding and consider what aspects you may still need to develop, e.g. time management skills, standard English or understanding of school policy. Please click on the link below to access the PowerPoint and save a copy to your device. This will allow you to work through the session in your own time.
Professional Competency Audit
The professional competency audit has been devised to allow you to demonstrate the required knowledge and skills in essential literacy and numeracy that have been identified by the DfE. All teachers are required to be effective communicators and to be able to interpret data and, therefore, you need to demonstrate a minimum level to be awarded Qualified Teacher Status.
To help you demonstrate competency in these essential areas, you should take the following audit which can be accessed via the link below. Please note that for this audit, there is a minimum pass mark that must be met to show competency. That pass mark is 65%. If you reach the required pass mark, you will not need to take the audit again. If you do not reach a pass mark of 65%, please do not worry as there will be a further opportunity in January to re-sit this. There is no need to record this score anywhere as we will track who has passed and who needs to re-sit at a later date. However, do remember to include your full name when completing the audit. The deadline for completion of this audit is 2nd September 2024.
Safeguarding
Please note that the remote module (Prevent Awareness – Course 1 only) must be completed before your September start date and you MUST present your certificate to your school as proof of completion on the very first day of attending school. Please do keep electronic copies of any certificates as these will need to be uploaded to your online portfolio at a later date. Even if you have undertaken this training previously, this must be renewed before your September start date.
FGM recognition and prevention is an important aspect of your safeguarding training and the Home Office remote training module can be accessed from the link below. You will need to register to access the training but you can simply do this by following the link.
Please ensure that you have completed the remote module by 2nd September and you have a copy of the certificate to show to your school on your first school-based day. An electronic copy of your certificate should be saved to allow you to upload this to your online portfolio later in the year.
Induction Day 15th June
Your face-to-face induction day is timetabled for 15th June. Please arrive at 9am and meet in the dining room where our admission team will check your certificates and clarify any conditions you will still have, e.g. degree certificates or DBS enquiries.
Input from the programme team will begin at 9:30in the Fountains Lecture Theatre and there will be opportunities throughout the day to take part in subject knowledge taster workshops as well as speak to current student teachers. The day is due to finish at 15:30.
The timetable for the day can be found below together with any PowerPoints we will be using and your Induction Handbook. Please download these as access is time sensitive.
Link to induction day PowerPoints
Basic Safeguarding Awareness
The document below gives clear instructions on how to access the remote training provided by York St John University and how to access the Qualtics quiz which will ensure you are presented with your basic safeguarding certificate. Please ensure you follow all of the steps in the instructions as this will mean we are able to present you with your certificates. If you have any problems, please contact our admin team at admin.teachereducation@yorksj.ac.uk
Meeting the Academic Expectations of your PGCE
The following workshops have been designed to support you in meeting the academic expectations of your PGCE programme. Studying at M Level is a significant leap for undergraduate study. It is expected that you read with a critical eye and present discussions that are informed by a wide range of valid research. This way, you can become genuinely informed about current education policy and practice.
The Reading Critically workshop aims to develop your reading skills and asks you to question the relevance and validity of the sources you are reading. Please do engage with this workshop before you move onto the writing workshop as reading critically is the foundation to M Level writing.
Reading Critically Workshop.pptx
The Critical Writing workshop aims to support your writing development and allows you to gain formative feedback on your academic writing before you submit your first assessment. Please do engage with the PowerPoint below and prepare a 500 word critical response to the identified article. Please remember that we want your writing in its rawest form so any feedback we provide will be valuable and based upon your need. Your formative 500 word response should be submitted in the first week on your PGCE (week beginning 2nd Sept) once you have access to Moodle.
CV
In preparation for the start of your PGCE, you are required to complete a brief CV. Please complete the template bellow and save this electronically. You will required to upload this to Pebblepad once you have received training. Please do remember to save electronic copies of everything you undertake during the induction period and save them to either a memory stick or accessible cloud storage, e.g. OneDrive.
Programme Handbook
The handbook below gives information covering the content and structure of your PGCE programme. Please do take some time to read the handbook over the summer and add to your pre-course reading list.
Organisation and information concerning the 2nd and 3rd September will be posted here by the end of August.