Middle Years (7-13 years)
Middle Years relates to the teaching of Key Stage 2 (KS2) and Key Stage 3 (KS3) to pupils aged from 7 to 13.
We offer two subject specialisms:
Who applies for a Middle Years PGCE?
- Those who want to teach either Science or English in a Middle School
- People who want to teach KS2 in a primary school and take with them a subject specialism in English or Science (which can be used to improve the school’s curriculum provision)
- Those unsure whether they want to teach KS2 in a primary school or KS3 in a secondary school
What does the programme involve?
All our trainees are placed in a Home School for two out of three of their teaching practices. This Home School will be either a Primary School or a Middle School.
- Primary School - you will work predominately with a single class learning to teach all aspects of the KS2 curriculum with a focus on literacy and numeracy.
- Middle School – you will teach your specialist subject’s department (English or Science) KS2 and KS3, enabling you to gain a good knowledge of subject specific pedagogy.
You will move school for the remaining teaching practice - if placed at a Middle School as your Home School then you will work in a Primary School, and vice-versa. In this way you will get experience of teaching KS2 and KS3 within your specialism, and KS2 in all curriculum areas.
Teaching practices are supported by taught sessions at the University campus. You will spend most of your time learning about different aspects of pedagogy, whilst working within your specialist subject group.
We provide subject specific sessions in:
- KS2 numeracy (for all trainees)
- Science (for English specialists)
- Literacy (for Science specialists)
We also work on cross curricular projects looking at the wider KS2 curriculum and pedagogy as a mixed group.
Career destinations
Our graduates frequently go on to:
- Teaching KS2 at a Primary School – taking their specialist knowledge in English or Science with a view to developing a role as a subject coordinator.
- Working for a Middle School - there are 199 maintained Middle Schools in the UK, and many private prep schools which teach a similar age group.
- Secondary Schools – although we recommend you apply for the Secondary route if you are considering this as a career.
Partnership schools
We work with a range of schools across a wide area. Most of our partnership schools are Middle Schools in Dorset and Somerset. We also work with a number of primary schools in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire.
If you are undertaking a MY PGCE, you are likely to be allocated in schools that are a significant distance from Bath.
