School Direct - Primary Teacher Training

Welcome to Essex and Thames Primary SCITT. If you have landed here then it’s probable that you are interested in school direct primary teacher training in a school in Essex. We work with a wide variety of primary school partners across the county who have markedly different intakes and physical surroundings. One thing that we all have in common though, is our vision and passion for recruiting and training quality graduates to the very highest standards and increasing the pool of excellent and aspiring teachers for our Essex schools.

Take a brief look at the different school direct course options below. Follow the links to find out more.

There are currently a number of different school direct routes offered by our SCITT:

School Direct - Primary Training Route

This is our most common route into teacher training. You need to have a 2.1 honours degree, at least a ‘C’ grade at GCSE in English, Maths and Science and have passed your skills tests in English and Maths. We ask that you have at least two weeks experience in a primary school before you start the course but this can be done after a place has been offered. See Course Entry Requirements

If you are accepted into this route, the SCITT with place you in two schools during the year in different key stages, aiming to find you schools which are diverse in terms of size, location or catchment. Find out more about our School Direct route.

This route carries fees of £9000, but you can apply for a Student Loan to cover this and there are other sources of funding available in terms of maintenance loans and childcare allowances if you have children, parental or low income loans. Many of these sources of income are means tested, but should afford you with sufficient income to complete the course. Take a look at the Student Loans Calculator

School Direct - Primary Salaried Route

Students with three or more years of work experience (not Saturday or student type jobs) may apply to be considered for the salaried route. We have a number of schools each year who are keen to recruit a school direct salaried trainee sometimes with the promise of a job in the school at the end of the training if a position becomes available. These positions are far fewer than the training positions. If you apply to this route you may not get a school, but we always offer the training route to those for whom a school cannot be found.

Fees are paid by the school on this route, the student gets a salary of approximately £8000 and can apply for student loans as above. Remember, however, that all these loans are means tested, so your school income would be taken into account when calculating the loan amount. Some students have found that their income during the year is less on the salaried route so use the Student Loans Calculator to get an idea of what you might be entitled to.

The SCITT has schools each year who ask for a salaried trainee, and if you approach the SCITT with a school willing to offer you a salary, we will do our best to make this work for you. Find out more about our School Direct route.

School Direct - Primary ‘Part Time’ Route

This is the School Direct training route split over two years. See details about the Part Time primary Teacher Training Route.

Assessment Only Route

If you have an honours degree, have passed the skills tests in English and Maths and have taught in at least two schools or Early Years settings then you may apply for this assessment only route. You are assessed in your normal working day in your normal environment, and can achieve QTS in as little as six weeks. See Assessment Only Route.

Useful Links