We have been experiencing some technical issues with the website which has delayed the posting of this update. We believe everything is now working and will post future updates each Wednesday for the following week. If you do encounter any difficulties, please send an email to i.campton@soton.ac.uk.
Welcome to the first Weekly Update
When an update is posted on the partnership website, beginning teachers and mentors will receive a notification email containing a link to it. All their email addresses are now in the system but please couldĀ we ask beginning teachers to check with their mentors that they have received the email. Sometimes theseĀ notifications land in trash and spam folders, so please do check these if you can’t find it in your inbox.
All posts can be viewed directly on the updates page and the most recent are always listed in the footer of every page where there is also a form to sign up to the notifications if you need to.
The partnership website also has all the relevant documentation including planning templates, observation forms and handbook.
Induction
As part of the beginning teachers’ induction to the school, they should familiarise themselves with the content of the policies listed on pages 6 and 7 of the Professional Development Journal and follow the guidance on p5.
Important: Please could mentors ensure beginning teachers receive induction training including safeguarding requirements.
Important Information for Class Mentors
Briefing Video
For those mentors who were unable to attend the briefing meeting at the University on 11 Mar. 2026, please could they watch the video that can be found on the briefing video page. The video provides information about important changes to the programme and the current processes and procedures for school placements.
All the relevant information, including the handbook, is available via the Guidance item in the main menu on the partnership website, and general mentoring guidance can be found under the Mentoring item.
iPads
All beginning teachers have a university iPad or iPad Air. These are to be used strictly for the purposes of recording their formal lesson observation each week. These devices should remain in school and should only leave the premises once all the recordings have been deleted. Beginning teachers and mentors should therefore review the recordings in school. More details can be found here.
This Week
The Weekly Expectations are outlined in the handbook (p.32). Please do remember that these are for guidance and mentors should guide beginning teachers through them at a pace that is appropriate for their learning.
Beginning teachers need to remember to complete the Policies and Procedures exercise in the Professional Development Journal (p.5) to familiarise themselves with the school’s policies and guidance, especially on safeguarding and e-safety.
These pages can be downloaded here for electronic completion. They are also available on Blackboard. Once completed they should be signed by beginning teachers and mentors.
Weekly Theme
This week’s theme is Behaviour for Learning and on promoting positive behaviour for learning. All trainees have the same pre-set targets.
There are also two activities for the trainees to complete this week which can be found on this page. They are both straight forward and are likely to be completed as part of routines associated with good practice. Activity 2 is essentially the formal lesson observation and the guidance provided for this activity can be used in reflecting on the recording.
Activities
The weekly expectations (p.32 of the handbook) suggests that beginning teachers should spend around 50% of their timetable in the classroom teaching (class teaching and group teaching). As they will be familiarising themselves with their new schools and classes this week, it is suggested that only the formal lesson observation is planned, in detail. The focus for this lesson will be on promoting positive learning behaviours, which is this week’s theme.
Formal Lesson Observation
This week, a formal lesson observation should take place, and be recorded, of the beginning teacher teaching the whole class. To help prepare for this, we recommend that mentors and beginning teachers team teach some lessons which could be recorded on the iPads and informally reviewed together. This will help the trainee begin to feel more comfortable in watching themselves on the video.
As outlined in the briefing meeting, mentors are now required to identify two teaching moments from the lesson observation (see p.15 of the handbook) and record these on the form. Because it is very early in the placement, we suggest that Teaching Moment 1 relates to this week’s targets related to promoting positive learning behaviours, and Teaching Moment 2 should focus on any area of practice that mentors feel appropriate bearing in mind this teaching moment will lead to the setting of next week’s FIA target (see p.8 of the handbook).
Weekly Review
The agenda for the weekly review, which should take place on Thursday this week to allow beginning teachers time, can be found on p.8 of the handbook. Discussions that take place will include mentors feeding back on the formal lesson observation, especially the identified teaching moments.
Professional Development Activities
Beginning teachers should plan and begin to start the appropriate Professional Development Activities this week. For mentors’ reference, an electronic copy is available here.
Planning
Beginning teachers should start to become familiar with any planning from which they will be creating lesson plans. Please could mentors therefore take time during this week to model the planning process to their beginning teachers.
From next week, all beginning teachers will be expected to produce detailed planning, and evaluations, for all teaching, whole class and small groups.
Further guidance and planning examples can be found on the lesson planning template page and the importance of detailed lesson planning page.
Primary Entitlement Document
Please could CMs ensure they are familiar with the expectations that are laid out in the Primary Entitlement Document which can also be accessed from the homepage.