Issue 7

March 2015

The Buckingham Partnership SCITT

Newsletter
Welcome to our January Newsletter. The aim of the Buckingham Partnership is to offer excellent provision to new teachers entering the profession. Our vision is to ensure that every child has a good or
outstanding teacher , equipped to cope with the demands of the role, in front of them in our Partnership Schools.

SCITT TEAM:
Lizana Oberholzer - Director of Partnership -

Inside this Issue:

1)

SCITT Priorities 2014/15

2)

Partnership and Staffing News

3)

SCITT Training

4)

NQT News

Sam Brewer - Director of Primary

5)

CPD News

Howard Astley-Jones Lead Tutor Maths

6)

SCITT Calendar

Liz Nourshargh - Lead Tutor Science

7)

Contact Us

loberholzer@royallatin.org
Mobile Number: 07534 476122
Becky Ellers - Headteacher of the Primary Lead
School

Laura Whitty - Finance Officer lwhitty@royallatin.org

Catherine HyndAdministrator
chynd@royallatin.org

2014/ 15 Priorities

A coaching approach for mentors when feeding back

Effective use of the guidance and descriptors when assessing and

grading lessons for accurate outcomes

A coaching approach as mentors when setting targets enabling

the trainee to be more reflective and clear on their progress and
learning to have a greater impact on pupils' learning

Longer Term: Effective support for NQTs linked to the partnership

Partnership News!
Dear Partnership Colleagues,
The past few weeks presented the partnership with opportunities to challenge and reflect on how to refine its
practice even more on a variety of levels. We have started off with a UCAS conference where we have been
made aware of the challenges the sector is facing regarding recruitment. According to UCAS statistics the impact of the improved economy and the fact that next years cohort, the first fee paying graduates, will have a
negative impact on recruitment overall in ITE. Current recruitment is down by 25% nationally and reports suggest that primary in particular finds it more challenging to recruit. However, the current picture for the partnership is that in comparison to the previous two years we are reflecting a similar picture and have filled a third
of our current allocation; however, our recruitment does reflect the dip in primary. Recruitment is unfolding
steadily and we have been supported by a variety of stakeholders within the partnership to interview candidates. Mentors and Professional Tutors were approached across the partnership to support us with interviews
and we have enjoyed working with them to find high quality candidates for the next year. However, we are still
continuing to work on our cohort for 2015.16.
The SCITT also went through a NCTL Ofsted Review to support the SCITT in its preparations for Ofsted in the
summer. Dr Carole Baker led the review. A range of tutors, mentors and trainees took part in the panel activities which were undertaken over two days and we would like to thank schools for their continued help and support regarding the matter. A few points were made during the review which we have shared with Trainees during their sessions ,as well as Professional Tutors and Headteachers during the Ofsted Preparation meeting on
the 13th. It was lovely to meet with so many of our Professional Tutors face to face. One of the key messages
that came across via the review is the fact that Partnership schools firstly need to be ready for the inspection
on all levels and have a clear understanding that when a trainee or school is selected we are not able to change
arrangements. The only changes that can be made are in cases where a school is being Ofsteded or in mitigating circumstances regarding the trainees situation which needs to be considered. However, all other cases
we need to comply and do exactly what the Lead Inspector requires of the partnership. All issues and concerns
need to be communicated to the Director of Partnership immediately for both Primary and Secondary Schools
regarding Ofsted to enable her to feed this back to the lead inspector and address the issues immediately.
Some valuable feedback was shared with the partnership and Dr Baker shared key points to focus on, Phonics
at primary and also Literacy support and the use of Phonics in Secondary as a national priority. Trainees need to
be able to reflect on how they have been developed to teach in modern Britain with a clear focus on Part 2 of
the Teaching Standards, the extremist agenda and Spiritual, Social, Emotional and Cultural values this also links
strongly with Schools and the Section 5 inspection overall. The importance of teachers as researchers, as highlighted by the Carter Review, was emphasised throughout the two days. Maths Mastery is key too. The partnership has many valuable sessions which it delivers during centralised training. However, training in partnership
schools happen on a daily basis with mentors and professional tutors leading on that too. If possible can you
again touch on these important elements too in your discussions with your trainees. The partnership planning
templates also need to be used as training tools when trainees are planning lessons. Please support us in this to
ensure that the training we deliver has a standardised approach and trainees are able to make rapid progress.
Overall, the partnership profile regarding outcomes is very positive and it reflects a similar picture in comparisons to the previous year. It is therefore important for us to make sure we assess trainees outcomes accurately through the use of the grade descriptors. We would like to thank all our stakeholders for the positive feedback we have received so far. It is clear that it is due to your hard work and support that we are able to make
sound progress and develop our trainees effectively to make a difference for children across the partnership.
Regarding trainees employment it is exciting to note that 52% of all trainees are already employed for 2015.16
which is much higher percentage than the previous year where only 37% were employed at this stage in their

In terms of Primary Trainees involvement in the partnership some supported with a trip to France this term, and
also visited schools in London to gain a greater understanding of how EAL is delivered in the phase they are working in. We are also looking forward to a range of training activities which are to unfold this term. Trainees are
attending a Talk for Write course led by Dashwood Primary School and our NQTs are attending a session on how to
deliver MFL lessons effectively led by Kelly Brookes as the Primary NQT Tutor.
Regarding recruitmentour primary team has led a very successful Teacher Taster Day and we had the opportunity
to meet prospective applicants in person with the aim to answer a range of questions and support them with their
applications. Many thanks to Sam Brewer as Director of Primary and the Primary Lead School for supporting us with
this event.
Overall, it was a very busy term so far, but we look forward to responding to the feedback of the review as soon as
possible and we shall be making sure we inform you on as many occasions as possible on how to move forward in
a positive way in response to the review and in preparation for the summer.
Yours Sincerely,

Lizana Oberholzer
Director of Partnership

UCAS Conference March 2015

Staffing News:
The Partnership said goodbye to Amy Mackenzie this month. Amy has been offered an internship to train as a charted
accountant and we shall greatly miss her. She has made a tremendous contribution to help set the SCITT up regarding
its finance systems and have been a fantastic credit to the team. We wish her well and I am sure that she will make a
great success of this new challenge and exciting opportunity.
I would also like to take the opportunity to introduce our new administrator Catherine Hynd who will be joining the
team this month. She will act as our administrator and Laura Whitty will move across as our new Finance administrator. Can all information requests regarding the overall running of the SCITT, Session notes, recruitment etc. please be
directed to Catherine. All tutor visits, summative mentor reports and data documents as well as finance information
must be directed to Laura Whitty. Laura also oversees UCAS, SLC, DBS checking and invoicing.

SCITT Training:

Centralised Training:
A key point to make is that training is not only centralised at the SCITT every Wednesday. Training continues to happen
during mentor meetings and also feedback at schools between mentors and trainees. Please make sure that feedback
reflect subject specific elements throughout. Trainees reflections and PDPs are part of their training and need to have
clear and detailed links to their wider reading regarding their practice as well as their subject. They must make the why
clearer. Aim to challenge them in asking: What underpins your practice as often as possible please. During mentor
meetings we want to stress the importance of conversations between mentors and traineesplease discuss what was
explored in the centralised training and consider how this can be linked to your training.

PDP templates also suggest certain topics which can be of use in your discussions during mentor meetings. Please make
sure that both the mentor and trainee check the trainees e-portfolio upload in the last 10 minutes of the mentor
meeting to ensure that it is up to date and that you have verified the PDP each week.

During the centralised training in Secondary we have covered a variety of elements, Assignment 3 is currently a key
focus and the emphasis is on SEND. Trainees had a session on SEND as well as how it links to the assignment more specifically. (This Newsletters recommended reading is also in relation to this topic.) Trainees are encouraged to speak to
school SENCOs to find our more about what strategies they need to employ to support learners. These discussions and
whole school Insets are also part of their training in schools.
In addition, a session on AS was led by Julie Thewlis and case studies were discussed on how pupils can be supported
effectively. In SecondaryJane Causon led sessions on Behaviour Management and Dave Bundy spoke about motivating disaffected learners.

During our Primary sessions we have covered a range of topics for example, working effectively with classroom assistants to plan intervention. In addition, sessions also explored how to teach RE and PSHE and we are looking forward to
Paul Adams session next week on how to embed ICT effectively in classroom practice . Paul also leads on the online
modules for trainees and developed a Computing online module which will support trainees with their developing in
this area too. In addition, Amy Rogers, Deputy Headteacher at Dashwood Primary School, kindly developed a detailed
numeracy module which will aid trainees on this aspect of their developing too.

As a joint session the partnership offers a session on Bullying exploring the different types of bullying and how to address issues regarding Homophobic bullying as well as teaching in Modern Britain. Trainees are reminded of the reading
material we have provided you with earlier in the course from the Bristol Guide which touches on this topic too. We
look forward to seeing all our trainees at the Royal Latin School for this very important session next Wednesday!

EAL opportunities at Lord Grey: The Partnership was informed that there is an exciting
EAL opportunity next Thursday and Friday offered by Lord Grey. Trainees will be able to
have a tour of the EAL facilities, observe a lesson, have a small group experience and a
training session on EAL. We would like to thank Mrs Jones, the Professional Tutor at Lord
Grey for facilitating this for us.

NQT and CPD News

In the past few weeks we have seen a range

of events unfold for our NQTs . We have
started our Twitter discussions led by
Caroline FitzGerald on Creative Teaching
and Kayleigh Bevan on AFL. These
sessions offered a range of thoughtful
questions to respond to and provoked a
range of ideas and insightful comments.
Please join us every Monday at 8.00 to
discuss teaching and learning and wider
issues!

Recommended read for this month, with

a focus on SEND:

Alex Stanworth and Rebeka Clancy kindly

supported us during the NCTL Ofsted
Review this week and shared their
experiences as NQTs with Dr Baker. Kelly
Brookes also represented the partnership
in her role as NQT Lead Tutor for Primary.
We would like to thank them for their
excellent contributions and support
during the week.
Steve Dutch and Rosemary Shuttlewood is
currently supporting with Maths and
Science school improvement support
across the partnership too.

NQT and CPD Events

Primary and Secondary: Monday Evening8.00 Twitter NQT Chat on Teachingin

Modern Britain
Primary and Secondary: Tutor visit CPD discussion
26th March 2015 Primary MFL Session led by Penny Clarke a MFL primary specialist.
The aim is for it to be an interactive and exciting session on how to deliver French
effectively in the classroom.
She will be introducing changes in the new curriculum, expectations and progression
through the years. Exciting and engaging games, activities and songs will be shared that
can be used to teach all ages of children. Please contact: Catherine Hynd for more
information.
Talk For Writing13th April 2015Please book a place via Catherine Hynd

Important Reminders:

Headteachers and Professional Tutors :

Many thanks for attending the Partnership Ofsted Preparation meeting. I am looking forward to
meeting with some of our colleagues in person regarding this aspect of our operations. Just a reminder that the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders are outlined in the handbook and a
checklist is provided too. Harry Dodds kindly support with Professional Tutor support if you need
any guidance. In addition, can you kindly please observe trainees once a term to moderate outcomes for the partnership and ensure that mentors assess accurately with the guidance in mind.
Mentors:
A reminder of:

Summative assessment form (term 2) deadline20 March 2015

Trainee self-review to be completed prior to the completion of this document.

Trainees:
A reminder of:

Tutor visits for March 2015

Summative assessment form (term 2) deadline 20 March 2015

Trainee self-review to be completed prior to the completion of this document.

Assignment 3 deadline24 April 2015

Tutors:
A reminder:

Tutor report form (term 2) and 2 lesson observations20 March 2015

Trainee Progress guidance to be completed after each visit

NQT TutorsReports: 26th March

Tutor Meeting23 April 2015 (Please note the change of date!)

Contact Us:

Our contact details:

Telephone: 01280 813605
www.rlstrainingschool.co.uk

www.facebook.com/pages/The-Buckingham-Partnership
@bpscitt

Find Us on Linkedin

Inspiration:
Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!
Audrey Hepburn