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Harris Highlights Article October 2020

September 2020

This year, we are delighted to welcome over 200 trainee teachers onto our Initial Teacher Training course here at Harris ITE, based at Harris Academy Bermondsey.

Our trainee teachers span primary and secondary and are placed in academies across the Federation.  We would like to thank schools, mentors and Managing Mentors for so warmly welcoming our trainees and for providing them with the in-school support, guidance and training essential to them settling-in and making a positive start to the term.

This year sees the introduction of a new ITE Curriculum and we have worked hard to create a curriculum which, working in partnership with academies, will provide ample opportunities to ensure that our trainee teachers become confident, critically reflective practitioners; and proactive, committed and adaptable professionals, who are knowledgeable about their subjects and how children develop and learn.

As part of our curriculum development, we have also strengthened our partnerships with Subject Consultants and Leads who support our trainees across the Federation and who deliver our ten subject day sessions to the trainees over the course of the year, supporting our trainees in developing excellent subject knowledge and pedagogy.

In addition to meeting the Teachers’ Standards, we aim to develop teachers who commit to realising our shared values through:

  • challenging inequality and promoting social justice;
  • promoting sustainability and environmental responsibility;
  • using the power of education to bring about social change and achievement for all, through ongoing professional development and dialogue.

Prior to joining the course in September, all of our trainees took part in Summer School, preparing them for the start of term.  Since then, trainees have had five successful training days to support their development and have been lucky enough to participate in a range of sessions, including talks from external speakers such as Tom Bennett and motivational speaker, Contender Charlie.  Trainees will also benefit from sessions from Pragya Agarwal on Unconscious Bias and a session from the Black Curriculum exploring anti-racism in the coming weeks.

We would like to thank everyone in our academies who work with our trainees for their ongoing support and the contributions they are making to developing excellent teachers.