Wigan students helped on career path back to the classroom

Molly Ascott and Daniel Pye have both been benefitting from the wisdom of Learning Futures Partnership which has outstanding teacher training as its goal.

Its alliance schools are Hawkley Hall High School, Fred Longworth High School, Byrchall High School, Winstanley College and Tyldesley Primary School and the partnership’s School Direct course awards a PGCE with Masters credits via the University of Cumbria (Lancaster).

Their mission is to recruit, develop and retain exceptional professionals by offering supportive initial teacher training in and around the Wigan area.

Trainees with the LFP are placed in familiar, local surroundings - perhaps even learning to teach in the school or college they went to with the aim of gaining confidence from really understanding the local area and the backgrounds of the pupils they teach.

Trainees Molly and Dan have been on placements at Winstanley College.

Former Byrchall pupil Dan was a credit controller for a while but the lure of the stage was strong and he ended up at the London School of Musical Theatre doing a post-graduate degree and is now working not only in Winstanley’s theatre studies department but also its music department, thus expanding his knowledge.

He said: “After moving back from London, I worked in an office for around a year and half as a credit controller. As time went on, I realised how much I missed working in theatre and that I wasn’t putting my training and qualifications to good use.

“I decided against moving back down to London and to become a teacher of drama/theatre studies instead.

“The support I have received from Learning Futures Partnership has been incredible. My current professional and subject Mentors have been key support units for my initial experience phase.

“Stephen Brockley as a professional mentor has given constant reassurance and positive reinforcement in my training; and Lisa Baty as my subject mentor is teaching me all there is to know about becoming a teacher of theatre studies, through her expansive skill set and knowledge. The experience would not be the same without them.

“The main challenge has been Covid, however, through the support of Learning Futures Partnership, I am still receiving the best training possible in the current climate.

Molly is an ex-Hawkley Hall High and Winstanley College student and says her passion for teaching began during her first years at Leeds University when she became an online tutor.

She said: “Tutoring allowed me to see the rewards teaching can give. It allowed me to see pupils through their exams and see their happiness when they had made it through challenging parts of their courses.

“Learning Futures Partnership was the obvious choice for me as it allowed me the chance to do my placements within schools I was very much familiar with and ones I had a great experience attending through my life.

“The partnership was of particular interest as it gave me the opportunity to do my first placement in Winstanley College and therefore gave me the opportunity to get a lot of sixth form experiences in a very reputable college.

“Another benefit from the Learning Futures Partnership was with it being a school direct course I get a lot of first hand experiences, with guaranteed placements, alongside the tailored university days.

“Being within a college has allowed me to work with students that have a passion for the subject. I have also enjoyed the responsibilities I have been given, regarding setting up my own support groups with the students. The training days on a Friday being smaller with just the members of the LFP present allows for a more tailored, small group type training where we can bounce ideas off one and another, more so than on the larger university-led days.”

Both said that one of the biggest struggles during their year of training has, unsurprisingly, been fitting it in around the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions surrounding it. But they say they have learnt to adapt, gaining the unexpected extra skill of teaching online and feel they have progressed markedly.

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