Initial Teacher Training at Cheltenham Bournside School

At Bournside we offer PGCE placements through our partnerships with universities and providers including the University of Gloucestershire, Bristol, Worcester, and Gloucestershire Initial Teaching Education Programme (GITEP).

We have a proven track record of providing outstanding mentoring. Working closely with our partnerships, we guide and support trainee teachers to become reflective practitioners through a blend of theoretical learning and classroom-based practice.

During your PGCE placement you will gain a full insight into current curriculum expectations, access up-to-the-minute thinking of teaching ideas, and learn what turns a good teacher into a great teacher.

PGCE

We provide school-based experience for trainee teachers. You will be assigned a Subject Mentor who monitors and supports the development of subject-specific practice in a highly supportive and aspirational environment. You will be encouraged to develop the professional knowledge and skills needed to plan and deliver creative, purposeful, and challenging teaching and learning to enable you to meet each professional teaching standard to become a newly qualified teacher (NQT).

Weekly professional study meetings are held with our Initial Teacher Training Coordinator (ITTC) and key post holders to support continued professional development in teaching and learning, pastoral duties, and professional conduct. As a trainee teacher, you are given a hands-on role in a child’s education, and an opportunity to put into practice the latest pedagogical developments and immerse yourself in planning and delivering inspiring and engaging lessons.

Your training is carefully phased so you begin by observing lessons, gradually increasing your teaching under the guidance of the class teacher, your Subject Mentor, and the ITTC.

By the end of your programme, you will have transformed from a watchful observer to an active participant, taking on full classroom responsibility and preparing yourself for the NQT year.

For further information about teacher training with our partners, please visit:

• University of Worcester

• University of Bristol

• University of Gloucestershire

• GITEP

School Experience Mornings

We run School Experience Mornings throughout the academic year to support you with your PGCE application. You will be chaperoned by one of our experienced teaching assistants, observing different teaching styles and we will endeavour to place you in your subject specialism where possible.

Teacher Taster Days

School experience is highly recommended if you are interested in becoming a teacher and are considering applying for a PGCE placement. We hold two Teacher Taster Days each academic year which help strengthen your application and prepare you for interview, and most importantly, help you decide if teaching is right for you.

If you would like to attend one of our School Experience Mornings or Teacher Taster Days, please email our ITT Coordinator, Jacquie Pedley - jmp@bournside.gloucs.sch.uk - with your subject specialism and the universities/providers you are considering applying to.

We aim to reply to all requests within 48 hours. For more information about gaining school experience visit the Department for Education’s Getting into Teaching page.

Bournside is an active and proud member of the Cotswold Edge Teaching Alliance (CETA). CETA is a partnership of schools and institutions sharing their skills, experience, and capacity to help improve the learning and achievement in schools across
Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.

CETA members have a shared vision to work together to provide excellent provision and outcomes for all students in their schools and to support other schools to do the same. This is achieved by pursuing excellence in teaching, learning and leadership through training, support, research and development created and delivered by schools for schools. Working in partnership across the primary and secondary sector is central to our ethos.

Our shared values:

• A commitment to being professionally generous in all aspects of our work as we strive for excellence in teaching, learning and leadership within and beyond the alliance
• The relationships between partners, built on trust and respect to support effective collaboration
• Equality of opportunity for all young people and the staff who work in our school
• The diversity of schools within our alliance, each of which brings value to the collaboration
• The contribution that other partners make to our alliance and the success of young people
• Effective governance that provides support and challenge to our alliance. 

Our strategic partners:

• Marling School 
• Marlwood School 
• Severn Vale School 
• Stroud High School 
• Rodborough Community Primary School
• Uplands Community Primary School 
• Bussage Primary School
• Powell’s Primary School
• GITEP
• University of Bristol
• Gloucestershire County Council
• St. Joseph’s Primary School