Agnus Dei Catholic School Alliance

IOE Lead Partner Direct 

We work in partnership with UCL (Institute of Education) We are offering Lead Partner Direct Tuition Fee (LPD – formerly School Direct) places in the following subjects for 2025/2026.

• Art & Design
• Biology
• Business Studies
• Chemistry
• Computing
• English
• Geography
• History
• Mathematics
• Modern Foreign Languages (French, German, Spanish)
• Music
• Physics
• Psychology
• Social Sciences

We are looking for applicants who have the potential to become outstanding teachers, and who are able to work independently on their studies while training in a school context. These personal attributes include:

Subject knowledge: you will not be taught subject knowledge per se during this one-year course; you are expected to possess much of the knowledge required before you start your training, which focuses on how to teach the curriculum successfully.

An individual, imaginative and creative approach to teaching your subject: inspirational teaching often requires lateral thinking, as you will need to find different ways to make your lessons stimulating and challenging but above all, your will need to make yourself interesting and engaging. Students will need to feel your tangible enthusiasm for your subject.

A recognition of the individual differences of all students: you will never teach two students who are the same, therefore, your approach to teaching different classes will never be the same. One of the many exciting things about teaching is the varied and diverse nature of the students who you will teach.

Confident, exciting, dynamic and clear exposition: you will need to develop the skills to elicit high quality writing from students that reflects their understanding. Students in all subjects will be required to write in lucid and cogent prose in their examinations. Perseverance so that you keep going when things get tough.

Motivation: to be successful by ensuring the success of the students for whom you are responsible. Students will need to be driven by your own palpable commitment to making them successful.

Warm engagement with the students: it is essential that you are able to build appropriately encouraging relationships with students. Empathy and a liking for young people is, of course, crucial because teachers spend most of their time with students, and need to understand how they are thinking and feeling in order to help them do as well as possible in their education.

The capacity for reflection, outstanding teachers are constantly reflecting on how to teach better.  Our aim is  to recruit, train, retain the very best Catholic school teachers and develop them into the best Catholic school leaders, reflection is very much a part of our daily life.  

Entry Requirements for LPD:

Degree

Applicants must hold and be able to provide certificated evidence of having an undergraduate degree conferred by a United Kingdom higher education institution or an equivalent qualification. Most successful applicants will have 2:1 degree classification or better. A candidate with a 2:2 degree classification will be considered, if he or she is able to provide additional evidence of potential, such as the award of a higher degree or substantial relevant professional experience.

In line with teacher training initiatives and University guidance, we will not consider anyone with a 3rd class degree unless the applicant is already holder of a higher degree or has extensive relevant professional experience.

The degree or graduate-equivalent qualification shown on your application should relate to the needs of the course and the secondary subject specialism applied for.

GCSE Requirements

Applicants will need to have achieved at least a grade C or above in both Mathematics and English Language GCSEs (or approved equivalents). While applicants without one or both of these GCSEs (or approved equivalents) will be considered for interview, priority is given to those candidates who have already met this requirement. If you do not currently hold a GCSE grade C or above in Mathematics and English Language, please note that we accept the equivalency tests in both Mathematics and English offered by Equivalency Testing.

School Observation

Ideally, applicants will need to have recently (within the last 2 years and ideally the last 12 months) spent some time observing lessons in a UK secondary school before submitting an application. You may wish to use this experience to draw upon if offered an interview.

The purpose of this observation is to enable applicants to offer well-developed responses to interview questions regarding the world of the secondary school.

Candidates should note that school placements will be in state secondary comprehensive schools so observational experience outside of this sector might not provide an adequate understanding of the rewards and challenges presented to our teachers. All observational experience in either the state or independent sector should provide an opportunity to gain insight into teaching, learning and reflection upon the professional responsibilities of teachers.

Legal Requirements
All places on this programme are subject to satisfactory health and criminal convictions assessments. Successful applicants will be required to complete an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and obtain a registration number from the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

Apply via FIND postgraduate teacher training using our provider code (2BD) or contact agnusdei@stbons.org for further information.