Week 9 is straight forward! There is no placement theme or additional tasks to complete.

Reminders of Recent Items

The Importance of Detailed Lesson Planning

Beginning teachers are required to create a full and detailed lesson plan for every lesson they teach, and further details can be found on this page about why it is important and what should be included.

Unless tutors have said otherwise, particularly during their visits, beginning teachers and mentors are reminded to follow the guidance on this page. To support the process, this month’s mentor development activity involves mentors co-planning with beginning teachers. Please see below for further details.

Beginning Teachers’ Individual Needs

At this stage of the programme, support and expectations may look different for each beginning teacher. Tutors may recommend tailored approaches based on individual needs, so not everyone will be completing the same tasks in the same way. If mentors and beginning teachers are unsure, please check with the tutor rather than making assumptions. Further details can be found in this update.

Tutor Visits

Some tutor visits will be taking place this week. Further details on what to expect and how to prepare can be found in this post.

This Week

As usual, beginning teachers will be in school Monday to Thursday and the percentages in the Weekly Expectation grid, on p32 of the School Placement 1 Handbook, should continue to be of four days. Further details of this week’s activities and responsibilities can also be found in this grid. Please remember, the information provided in the grid is guidance and need not be adhered to if it is not in the interest of the beginning teacher’s learning to teach. If mentors have any concerns regarding the pace at which their beginning teacher is progressing, they should contact the relevant tutor.

The Weekly Review

The agenda from this week on will follow that which is set out on p.8 of the placement handbook. However, in short, the agenda is as follows:

1. Review pupil progress
2. Discussion the reflection on the targets beginning teachers have been working on
3. Review teaching moments 1 and 2
4. Set three targets, and their action plans, for next week
5. Discuss any findings from the PDAs completed during the week
6. Plan which lessons will be taught next week and discuss any other logistics for the week ahead

Beginning teachers and mentors can therefore focus on any aspect of practice when identifying Teaching Moment 1 and Teaching Moment 2 at this week’s Weekly Review.

Once again, we suggest that the Tracker is reviewed this week, focusing on areas that haven’t been looked at recently, especially if they relate to the beginning teacher’s targets.

For convenience, page 8 of the placement handbook can also be found on the Weekly Reviews page.

Other Reminders

Previous updates will contain further information about these reminders:

• Teaching Moments: Please may we remind mentors and beginning teachers about the guidance on teaching moments that can be found in the Week 6 update.
• Planning: Please could mentors continue to model the planning process to their beginning teachers (see this post and this page).
• Early Reading including SSP (PDA12): For those in a KS1 environment, a reminder to complete PDA12 by the end of the placement and to email Tiffany, copying in the beginning teacher’s tutor, if there are any questions about it.
• Mentor Development: January’s development activity is now available on this page. It has been designed to coincide with the current focus on detailed lesson planning. More details can be found in the Week 8 update.
• Mentor Training: Annotated slides from the briefing meeting are available on the Mentor Briefing Meeting page and the mentor log can be downloaded from the Level 1 and Level 2 Training page.
• Update Notifications: Please remember to check your junk or spam folders if you are not receiving email notifications about these updates in your inbox. See the Reminder: Updates and Notifications in this post for more details.
• Reading Buddy & Maths Mate: Intervention work should be underway. More information can be found here.
• Lesson observations: Forms can be downloaded here, and guidance on recording the formal lessons can be found here.
• Target setting: All 3 targets set should be achievable in a week, including the FIA.
• Professional Development Activities: Completion of relevant PDAs should continue this week.
• Please could all mentors and beginning teachers ensure they have read and are familiar with the contents of the Primary Entitlement Document. Thank you.