Ideas for application for part time PPA teaching please.....

[midnightmoomoo]

Ok, so I'm a teacher currently employed as a teaching assistant in year 2, but with my husband unemployed and our savings depleted I need to earn more money (plus, I'm beginning to struggle with the limitations of being a TA). So, I'm looking at applying for a PPA teacher position......does anyone have any suggestions as to how best to write the application? The school are advertising for 'normal' teachers too, so there are job description/personal spec on the website to use as a starting point, but I'm rusty on the application front as I'd been a SAHM for a few years before Dhs redundancy forced me back to school!!!

[tethersend]

First and foremost, ensure that your application answers each and every point on the person specification, providing short examples of how you fulfil the criteria.

Are you working as a TA in the school you're applying to? If so, this will be of huge benefit to you; make sure you are familiar with the school improvement and development plans, and are able to talk about the priorities for the school (and how you can contribute to them).

As for the PPA aspect, I would talk about your flexibility, adaptability and working with others- you will be working to others' plans a lot of the time, so reinforcing how adept you are at ensuring all children make progress in a short space of time (and how you'll be measuring this) will be useful. Contributing to team planning and developing whole school initiatives should feature somewhere.

I'd also mention the Pupil Premium, particularly if part of your role will involve small group/withdrawal teaching.

Good luck

[tethersend]

Oh, and when they ask you at interview if you have any questions, ask is there anything I haven't covered?, as this allows them to go off-script and ask you further questions about something important which you may not have mentioned.

This is particularly important if you know the interview panel- you MUST pretend that they know nothing about you, and sing your praises as you would to a panel of strangers.