How To Apply

Here at The Golden Thread Teaching School Hub, we are ideally positioned to provide you with personalised advice about all the potential routes into teaching. Contact Becky Parsons rep@painsley.staffs.sch.uk or book your personal meeting.

Come along to the Careers Convention @ Painsley 6th Form, 6:00-8:00pm on Tuesday 20th October 2026 and talk to our team!

First of all, make sure you can meet the entry requirements. You can check the entry requirements under the appropriate tabs.

Placements on our Secondary training programmes are offered under condition of the following:

A undergraduate degree qualification at class 2:2 or above from the UK (or equivalent) is preferable. If you have a third class degree, please contact us and we will enquire as to your suitability for the course.
If you need to improve your subject knowledge, you may be asked to complete a Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) course in there is one available in your subject area and if you are eligible.
Grade 4 (C) or above in GCSE English and maths Grade or equivalent qualification. We will consider candidates with pending GCSEs or candidates who need to take a GCSE equivalency test in English and maths. Candidates will be advised of acceptable test providers if they are offered a place. Fees will need to be paid to the test providers by the candidate.
Successful candidates will be required to complete a medical questionnaire, provided by the University, which will be assessed by an Occupational Therapist
Successful candidates will be required to provide an Enhanced Disclosure Certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service, application for which can be obtained through the University.

If you meet the requirements, search for us on the DfE Apply website, where you will find the range of courses we offer. You will need to complete an application and provide two referees (references will be requested following the interview, should you be successful). Referees cannot be friends or relatives and should ideally, be a lecturer or tutor from university, college or high school, and a previous or current employer.

Following an initial screening to ensure your application meets our entry requirements, applications will be submitted to the subject staff for review. Successful applicants at this stage will be invited to an interview.

The main purposes of the interview are to:

allow you to understand as fully as possible the nature of the course, the teaching profession and your commitment to it;
begin to explore your subject strengths and areas for development;
assess your ability to communicate effectively in spoken and written English;
answer any questions you may have.

Whilst school experience is not a requirement for being invited to interview, successful candidates will be able to demonstrate during their interview that they have a good understanding of student learning and progress. Applicants may wish to draw upon experiences from their own education or paid or voluntary work in schools or with school-age children to show evidence of their understanding.

You will be interviewed by Becky Parsons (ITT Co-ordinator for The Golden Thread Teaching School Hub), alongside a representative from Staffordshire University. There will be a range of tasks to complete as well as a formal interview. Also, should you apply directly to us, you will be asked to teach a class of KS3 students for approximately 20 minutes, having been given a topic and ability level in advance of your interview.

Applications for 2027-2028 open from 6th October 2026 through DfE Find Teacher Training. The deadline for applications will be during the summer term 2027.

Search for Courses (on DfE Find Teacher Training – https://find-teacher-training-courses.service.gov.uk/

Use location: Cheadle, Stoke-on-Trent, UK

Radius: 1 mile

Provider: The Golden Thread Teaching School Hub

If you are successful, we recommend you join The Chartered College of Teaching. This is the professional body for teachers, who aim to bridge the gap between practice and research and to equip teachers from the second they enter the classroom with the knowledge and confidence to make the best decisions for their pupils.

You can find more information on their website: https://chartered.college/aboutus/

We wish you luck with your application and we hope to see you soon!