Course Structure & School Placements

Lead school

Your initial training will predominantly be based in the Lead School for your chosen subject, alongside some days based at Leeds Trinity University, as our Accredited Provider. This is so you can spend time with tutors who are subject experts. You will be fully immersed in the school environment from the start of the course, providing you with the opportunity to work with and learn from expert colleagues. You will be recognised as a professional by other school members, pupils and parents.

The essentials you will cover in your Lead School training include:

How to develop your subject knowledge for teaching throughout the course
How highly effective planning leads to successful classroom outcomes
How to ensure pupils are progressing within their learning
How to assess different types of learning to implement strategies and next steps

Working alongside other trainees in your Lead School, your learning will not only benefit from discussing ideas and working collaboratively, but it will also help you to build a solid support network throughout your course and beyond.

Stage 1 Placement

Now that you have completed your initial training, you will enter a full-time placement with a partnership school to provide you with the opportunity to apply the educational theory and research in a classroom setting. You will still have some core development days at your Lead School.

During this placement you will have:

a dedicated subject mentor.
support with your subject knowledge for teaching.
support from your mentor helping you to establish yourself in the classroom as the teacher.
a weekly timetable which will allow you time to reflect and develop.
access to experienced and expert practitioners to learn from.

Stage 2 Placement

In this placement you will still receive high quality support as you did in your first placement, from a subject dedicated mentor, the Lead School and Leeds SCITT.

During this placement you will have the opportunity and be encouraged to:

push the boundaries of your teaching by further developing your knowledge and skills as a trainee teacher to help pupils achieve.
participate fully in your department and the life of the school.
refine your teaching to allow you to support every individual in the classroom.
learn from experienced and expert practitioners.

The practical nature of the course fully prepared me to teach. I was confident in starting my ECT year as a proficient teacher thanks to the skills I developed on the Leeds SCITT course. I am now a lead practitioner helping to manage whole school teaching and learning initiatives and I often reflect on aspects of my training that enables me to progress in my career.

— James, Maths Trainee

Being based in a school environment from the very start and learning from experienced colleagues was the best preparation for my teaching career. I was lucky to gain employment in my placement school, working alongside those colleagues I had learnt so much from. I have loved being able to mentor trainees over the past 6 years and now I am the Lead Tutor for Geography. The Leeds SCITT course provided me with the skillset needed to progress in my career to progress to the position that I am in now.

— Louise, Geography Trainee

Course structure