Welcome to our website pages dedicated to schools and School Direct.

If you are interested in working in partnership with Thames Primary Consortium you will find all the information you need here and by downloading our brochure for schools

About Thames Primary Consortium

Thames Primary Consortium began its life as a small group of eight schools which came together to create a specific teacher training programme in response to a shortage of high quality Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) in the region. Since our first handful of trainees graduated, the consortium has flourished and now works with 113 schools training 100 teachers each year. The consortium has an unblemished record of success with some of the highest retention rates in the UK.

What is School Direct?

School Direct is an exciting new way of training teachers placing schools at the very heart of the process.

With School Direct, schools can request training places directly; select the accredited provider of teacher training with whom they want to work; agree the content and focus of the training programme depending on their needs, and negotiate directly with the provider about how the money for training should be divided.

Most importantly schools can work in partnership with providers to choose and recruit the candidate they want.

The expectation is that the school or wider partnership of schools will employ NQTs following the training.

There are two types of training places schools can request.

The majority of places available are for the School Direct Training Programme (unsalaried). In this model schools take on trainees whose training is funded through the standard student support package of tuition fee loans, with training bursaries and scholarships available where the trainee is eligible.

Schools may also request School Direct Training Programme (salaried) places where the trainee is employed as an unqualified teacher. The Teaching Agency provides funding to the school to cover the training costs for Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and subsidises the trainee’s salary. Trainees taken on through this route must have three or more years’ work experience.

Our vision and approach to School Direct

The vision of Thames Primary Consortium remains almost the same since our inception, with provision being entirely school-led and mainly school- based.

All our training is designed by schools within the consortium with a view to developing the type of teachers they require.

Our approach to School Direct is based on a firm commitment to offer as much choice as possible to trainees whilst maintaining high standards for schools. We work in close partnership with Christ Church Canterbury University to ensure that all our practice is research-led and our academic standards are of the very highest quality.

Location and existing partnerships

We have two training bases at schools in Wickford and Southend. We currently work with 113 primary schools in total, including seven special schools. Our schools are spread across Essex, with some in Suffolk and London. Our list of member schools can be found here. We are in the process of developing partnerships with several Pupil Referral Units (PRUs).

Courses available

All trainees must meet our basic entry requirements which include an honours degree (at 2:2 or above), and at least three C grades at GCSE in maths, English and science. All trainees must also have had experience in school prior to application.

On the unsalaried training route, trainees are registered for the PGCE with QTS with Christ Church Canterbury University. Trainees can gain M-level credits on each module of the course. Trainees will also receive specialist training in an area of their choice.

On the salaried route trainees take QTS only but have the option to take additional M-level modules with the university, attending further tuition sessions at weekends.

Further details of the taught course can be found here and school-based training here

School support and involvement

Headteachers regularly evaluate and review our course and changes to the programme are made in response to their feedback and to the changing needs of schools.

Schools are involved in both the course design and delivery with many of our lecturers currently working both in and with our schools. All schools are able to easily and efficiently access the lecture programme and emphasis is continually placed on the development of professional dialogue and responsibility in our future teachers. Final assessments are made by the schools which are highly valued.

Trainees will only be recommended for QTS if our schools believe they are ready to make a positive contribution to the education of the children in our schools. We expect all our schools to take an active role in the programme and have a firm commitment to supporting the process of school improvement.

Trainee support

Thames Primary Consortium has rigorous recruitment processes and headteachers are fully involved. Due to this we have very high course completion and retention rates to the profession (97 per cent after three years).

Trainees receive outstanding levels of support during their training programme. The academic team offer small group and individual support if necessary. Each trainee is assigned a personal tutor who tracks their progress throughout the year supporting them both professionally and pastorally. Our tutor team is very flexible and therefore able to offer highly individualised immediate support, ensuring minimal impact on children in schools if there is a problem. All tutors are experienced professionals with relevant and recent school experience who have held senior leadership roles.

Finance

Training Places (unsalaried)

Trainees pay a fee direct to the consortium. Schools then opt to take trainees in each practice. Schools can choose to take trainees in terms one and three, term three, or all three terms. The school will be paid £100 per trainee per week for every week the trainee is in school. A school taking a trainee for all available weeks will generate an income of approximately £2,300 per annum.

Salaried Places

On the salaried route schools will pay an unqualified teacher’s salary to the trainee (typically for a ten month contract on a 0.8). For the full support package the school will also pay the consortium around £5,000 to £5,500. The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) will subsidise this payment by £14,000. Once on-cost and course fees are deducted the typical cost of a salaried place to the school would be in the region of £5,500 - £6,000.

Any schools interested in this route should contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Bursaries

We also offer to broker bursary arrangements for schools who wish to offer a retention incentive to high quality trainees or trainees they have identified themselves. The trainee can then be offered a bursary in return for signing an agreement to take up an NQT post with the school should the school wish to offer them one. Trainees who do not take up job offers may be required to repay the bursary to the school.

Our statistics

Data shows that Thames Primary Consortium achieves an exceptional level of attainment with at least 50 per cent of our trainees gaining an outstanding grade for their teaching.

We are currently ranked among the top SCITTs in the UK by the Good Teacher Training Guide. Both our exit data and NQT data show that 100 per cent of our graduates rate their training as good with a significant number ranking us as outstanding.

Our most recent Ofsted report can be found here.

Contact us

If you are interested in joining us please contact:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (all centres)

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (all centres)

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Southend area)