GOOD NEWS: Medway Valley Training Partnership schools and academies are recruiting as normal for their teacher training positions for September 2022. Even better news is that all applicants that accepted a place with MVTP for this academic year are currently fully engaged in schools on their teacher training course as normal. OUR COURSES ARE RUNNING!
LESS GOOD NEWS: A school is likely to only have one place available per subject. ONCE THAT PLACE IS GONE, IT’S GONE. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is that you apply early; especially 2022 university graduates and those looking for Primary places.
CONTACTING MVTP
The MVTP office is located at the Thomas Aveling School and there is a telephone there during school hours only for you to leave a message. But PLEASE REMEMBER that due to my teacher training responsibilities, I am out and about supporting trainees and their schools and therefore not always available on the end of a telephone line. However, you can still contact me in one of the following ways.
EMAIL: Either office@mvtp.org or aplank@thomasaveling.co.uk
WEBSITE CONTACT: Click on this link, fill in the required information and select SUBMIT
PHONE: Mobile: 07729 608135 (during office hours only) Please be prepared to leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
SCHOOL EXPERIENCE PROGRAMME
Partner schools are gradually beginning to reopen their doors to visitors and if you are looking to gain some school experience, the first place to look will be the DfE School Experience Portal. If your preferred school is not listed please contact me via the WEBSITE CONTACT link above and I will contact the school and see I can do.
HOW TO APPLY FOR A COURSE
Look at the Search Teacher Training Courses tab for information on which schools still have vacancies in your subject field. You can then read about each school in the “Partnerships Schools” tab. It is often worth looking at a school’s homepage but please be careful of any OFSTED report. These are a great source of information if the OFSTED was conducted in the past year or two but older OFSTED reports can be extremely misleading as any school would have evolved in one way or another. If you would like further unbiased advice about any school and their course, I will gladly have a chat through one of the MVTP contact methods.
Once you have chosen a course and school, visit “find postgraduate teacher training”, select Medway Valley Training Partnership as your provider and follow the links to your chosen course and school via the campus code. You then complete a full DfE APPLY application as normal. Once both referees have submitted their references, your application is released to us for consideration.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HAVE AN INTERVIEW?
As schools reopen to vistors, interviews are returning more to our preferred face to face model. Not only can we engage in a more personal approach but you will be able to see the school, meet the department and gain a real feel of what it would be like to train there. If a school or the COVID situation changes for the worse, we will revert back to interviews being conducted on-line. In this case, you will be invited to a conference call which will involve a member of our training provider; Kent and Medway Training, the Professional Tutor and a Subject Specialist of the school that you have applied to. You will need to electronically send scanned copies of your qualifications along with either a passport or driving licence and a household bill or bank statement with your current address on.
You will need to take any entrance test and/ or audits. This, again, will be on-line and details of the process will be given at the time of interview.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU ARE OFFERED A TRAINING PLACE?
A conditional offer will be made and the conditions will now include gaining school experience in the school of your choice but only if the school reopens to visitors before the end of the academic year.
If you have any questions or concerns, then please do not hesitate to contact me. I will give straight answers to questions that will enable you to make an informed choice of course and training provider; even if you do not choose a MVTP or KMT partner school.
In the meantime, please stay safe.
Regards
Andy Plank