Teach First trainees always go above and beyond

I’ve been headteacher at St James’ for eight years.  

St James’ is in the lowest quintile for deprivation. We have high levels of social need and around 65-70% of pupils have English as an additional language (EAL).

But the school is in a really good position.  

We retained our Ofsted outstanding rating in November 2023, and we're usually in the top 5-10% of performance data for SATS.

And we’re so much more than that.  

We believe that our children have a right to have the best opportunities to develop, not just academically, but holistically.  

They deserve to have a rich curriculum, delivered by people who are passionate and care about what they're doing, and that aligns with Teach First.

We’re an inner London school, within an outer London borough

One of the key challenges we face at St James’ is staff retention.

We have the funding that goes with an outer London borough, but the costs of an inner London borough.

I lost four staff last year to inner London schools, purely because of higher salary opportunities.

That’s where Teach First comes in.

Trainees are with the school for two years – it's almost like an extended job interview. They can see if your school is somewhere they want to remain and work, and you have time to see whether this person really fits your school.

Phenomenal trainees

When I first became head at St James’, we ran a teaching school alliance which was about 12 schools in Croydon and the surrounding area. It was hard to manage the recruitment process.

Then, we had two Teach First trainees who were phenomenal.  

We had a really good experience and I felt it was important that we continued the relationship with Teach First.  

We have a reciprocal relationship with Teach First, not just us taking, we have a role to play in teacher development as well.

You end up with really strong practitioners

The recruitment process with Teach First is rigorous and challenging.

We know that we will get people who aren’t just doing it because they don't know what else to do.

Early on you can see the trainees developing their own pedagogy, their own idea of how they want to be in the classroom.  

But it’s always based on the latest educational psychology and research and tried and tested methods.  

You can see the training behind their techniques and delivery. If they have a lecture or an essay to do, it's always based around their classroom practice.  

That means you end up with really strong practitioners.  

Quite often, they are trying out new things in the classroom, and their partner teacher (because we are two form entry), will also try it out. They’ll hone that so that it works for them and the children.

If I had to describe Teach First trainees in one word, it would be committed.

They are deeply committed to the children.  

Opportunities to develop

One of my trainees has previously taken on the running of phonics.  

When I first started at the school there was no phonics scheme at all.

She was coming to the end of her first year and said, “I want to help, I want to run that”. She managed, led and ran the rollout of the entire phonics scheme.  

We suddenly went from 36% of students getting their phonics check, up to 80% and then the following year, the 20% that hadn't achieved the phonics check achieved it.  

She moved onto a promotion at another school, became assistant director and then moved on to working within phonics as a big area lead.

Ellen, another one of my Teach First trainees has taken on PE lead and is running and organizing after school clubs and competitions.  

In summer, she'll be running a Croydon’s catholic school’s junior athletics day.  

We’ll have a proper high jump with a crash mat, long jump, discus throwing, relay races. It’s going to be an event which wouldn’t be out of place in the private sector.

Teach First work with the school to get the right person

The Teach First team try and match trainees with the school’s needs.

If there are any issues, they act quickly and support you in supporting the teacher to improve and develop. Teach First are extremely robust when it comes to this.  

Teach First’s proactive nature has kept me coming back.

It’s a symbiotic relationship with Teach First. The charity has a responsibility towards me as a headteacher in the school and to the trainee.

But I've also got a huge responsibility to a trainee to make certain they can be successful.

If you work in partnership with Teach First and the trainee to fast-track their development and support them, then it's a great way to do it.

Our rigorous selection process finds people with the skills and spark to make a brilliant teacher. Work with us to hire trainees who’ll make the biggest impact on your school and pupils – and a lasting difference in education.

Learn more about hiring trainee teachers.