Professional Development

At St Thomas the Apostle College we understand that our teachers are our most valuable resource and that we must invest in them to help them grow personally and professionally.

No matter what your experience you will be part of a comprehensive training programme that includes:

• A weekly morning training session run by St Thomas the Apostle staff
• Participation in five twilight inset sessions offering training bespoke to your curriculum area
• Access to a part-funded Masters in Education
• Funded placements on the Teaching Leaders development programme run by the Future Leaders Trust
• Opportunities to attend training run by external providers
• Numerous opportunities to deliver training and share expertise with your colleagues within St Thomas the Apostle and across our network of federated schools
• Joining our Beacon Teacher programme
• Joining our Teaching and Learning Team

ECT Programme

We run a structured and highly supportive ECT programme here at St Thomas the Apostle College. Our aim is to help you continue on your path towards being an outstanding practitioner with a 2 year programme of support, induction and training. We deliver the UCL Full Induction programme in partnership with the London South Teaching School Hub.

We do this in a number of ways including:

• Regular informal (and occasional formal) observations with open dialogue and clear targets
• Weekly ECT meetings lead by staff from across the school
• An assigned subject mentor
• An assigned member of the teaching and learning team
• A reduced timetable (to accommodate the fact that everything takes a little longer when you are starting out!)
• An environment of high expectation and outstanding behaviour which means you can concentrate on the important bits – teaching!
• An “open door” policy where you are always welcome to pop in and observe other staff to help develop your own practice