If you were wondering if a Post Graduate Teaching Apprenticeship (PGTA) is right for you, then you have come to the right place. Here are some examples of what our current teaching apprentices get up to.
Firstly, we have a day in the life of Lisa at a primary school in Bradford:
“I arrive in school and set up for the day ahead. This is usually about 45-60 minutes before the pupils arrive. This gives me time to set up the computer – load all of the programmes. I’ll prepare the children’s work and books and have all resources ready. I then carry out any necessary risk assessments.
The children then arrive
We have a meet and greet breakfast and check in.
Throughout the day I teach and support children 1:1 with academic tasks. I also help with social and less structured times of the day such as play time and lunch times. Adapting my role and differentiation is also part of my daily job to ensure all pupils’ needs are tailored for.
Safety is important
It is important to constantly carry out dynamic risk assessments to ensure the spaces are safe for the pupils. This would be risk assessing the class and playground as well as the activities.
At the end of the day I always make time to speak to parents /and make any necessary phone calls, ensuring good communication between myself and the families. I also take this time to look through the pupils work, considering next steps / areas of improvement for each child.”
A Bristol experience
Michaela also has an enriching time in her role at a school in Bristol.
“I arrived at school and set up the environment ready for the students, setting all the chairs up and making sure each table had the right resources such as pencils and rulers. I then go and collect 2 children who count as children missing in education. This morning, they were not present, so I visited their houses and reminded the parents that they needed to be in school. The parents brought them in later in the day. I returned to school and stuck in the maths worksheets for the day and discussed with my mentor how the day was going to look.
Head teacher communication
We then had a staff briefing where the head teacher communicated information we needed to know for the day. I work 1-1 with a girl in the morning so I went to the gate to meet her to help her transition as she has social, emotional and mental health needs as well as trauma, so we have a soft start to the day where we watch some Numberblocks and Alphablocks to get her into the learning mood. I do positive noticing so I notice things about her, so she knows I care about her, such as how she has new socks.
We then completed phonics using a scheme, which we use alongside tutoring as we have found that this has accelerated her progress. We then do some English with the whole class, identifying features in a persuasive leaflet such as exclamation marks and adjectives.
Today we had a whole school phonics meeting. We then did maths looking at telling the time with the teaching clock, making it practical by using their whole bodies to create the time.
Specialist roles
After lunch I completed an absence request as part of my role as the attendance lead. I then had my appraisal with my head teacher where we discussed targets for next year and how he sees my role progressing for 2025. We discussed wellbeing and workload as well as communication and how I have met my targets for this year.
On a normal Tuesday afternoon, I would be doing Thrive interventions to support mental health. I would take small groups and do arts and crafts or play based intervention to build connections and resilience. It also helps their self-esteem.
Each day is very different to the last. I am in the preparation stage of my PGTA and start teaching properly in September!”
If you would like to find out more about becoming a teacher through an apprenticeship please visit https://www.orangemooneducation.co.uk/
