Lone parents tbinking about/emarking on teacher training

[HauntedLittleLunatic]

Following on from a previous thread there seem to be a few of us embarking upon a PGCE as lone parents.

I am scared shitless about it. I have been told to take as much support as I can....so we van hold hands, cry together, rant together, sit up til 1am together completing last minute dissertations cos DCs wouldn't go to bed...and anything else that occurs between now and gaining QTS...

It is worth looking into GP but don't assume you will be better off. It will be £12-14k ish Iirc.

I am training for shortage subject and get £9k busary and full maintenance grant which brings me to £14k - tax free. I also get full child tax credits....council tax excemption....and I am not sure how those would be affected (if at all) by a GTP salary.

For some subjects, and personal circumstances GTP is definitely financially more rewarding but not all.

Personally...I have worked out that I will have a higher take home 'income' over the next 9 months with all my burseries, grants and tax credits than I ever have. Having said that I have free to pay, books to buy and fuel for potentially significant placements. But I know I will be in the minority. I am going to see a 30% effective cut when I actually start working....

Another one with phone induced typos...and too tired to proof read . Sorry.

I'm in England and will be OK financially - slightly better off than I am now (and I have been on a low income for years so am used to it! - once SFE sort themselves out. But £5.5k of my "income" is a loan (plus there is tuition to repay and I have £3k from my first degree to repay so total debt £11k) It will be repayable as soon as I hit £15k (which is not a lot). I will take any teaching post over 16 hours on qualification but would prefer full time to give me the best chance of getting to grips with the job.

My university have said that they will "do their best to place me locally". Even then, I can't drop preschool DD at childcare until 8am and have to make registration at a potential placement at 0820 . Google Maps says the journey is 19 minutes long.......! It will be easier when she is in school and I can drop off at 0745 but that's a year off.

I am hoping to get on a PGCE course to teach art in 2012. Anyone know how much the financial sting will be for that?
I am planning to spend the next year doing maths GCSE (joy!) and sorting out my portfolio.

Ninah - I looked into doing the GTP when i lived in England but there were only 12 places and we were basically told they wouldn't even look at your application if you didn't ahve a 1st class honours degree otherwise a salary and learning on the job would have been great - also that qualification isn't recognised in Scotland (PGCE is) so I would never have been able to move home!
Had a bit of a result with my loan/finances. Thought it was a bit bit dodgy as other people - including those with working husbands - were getting bursaries so i phoned SAAS and... they'd got it wrong Hallelujah!!! I can now afford and s!!
So... what I will get (so any of you wondering about finances might get an idea)
£6783 student loan - £2300 of which is a lone parent bursary and an independent student bursary and doesn't need to be paid back.
I will also qualify for some help from the uni discretionary fund and should get all my childcare paid for (other people - again those with working DHs) are getting all their childcare paid so really can't see why i wouldn't. And possibly some extra money from them as I'm a LP but they haven't processed my form yet so can't say for def what it will be.
Council tax benefit (this includes water in Scotalnd) - free CT!! Just need to pay 5% of the bill towards water and sewage
free school meals for kids
£40 school uniform grant
tax credits - not WTC just CTC
maintenance (haha!)
CB
wages (not much as only work 8 hours)

thank you for all your good wishes and support - hard day today - a full day all about theory - Piaget et al. Couldn't get my head round some of it - ZPD n all that but out on nursery placement next Thursday so def getting thrown in at the deep end!
newbaby it's not so much the managaing with the workload of the pt job that's the problem, I have to be at work for 5pm 2 nights a week and if I get a placement an hour away or more I could be in trouble as the uni have already told us we should be in school around 8am (not possible as breakfast club only takes kids from 8) and to stay till 5pm gto show commitment. Don't knwo what I'm gonna do - I'm in ostrich mode about it too saggy! It eill resolve itself one way or the iother. Uni knows my situation and they should try and place me near home or work - we shall see.
Anyway good luck to all of you - off now to try and get DC in bed without too many arguments before tonight's light pre-reading for tomorrow - 38 pages of Learning to tecah in the primary school. Tonight ladies we have.... Child Development! < needs .

offers

Glad you got finance sorted. Sounds as tho it is on a par with me.

I have thought of an essestial to do before I start....buy lots more underwear for DCs so that I am not trying to find some if I get behind on the washing at start stressing at 8am when we need to be out of the door .

underwear, good one, not thought of that! I went out and bought a slow cooker.
mmap I think provision for gtp has increased this year, it certainly did at my uni. There's no way I'd have got on it otherwise, I got an average upper second. Great news about the funding! I can't be in school for 8 either. It's just not physically possible. I feel that I will be having to prove myself as doubly able because of the childcare issues and it's scary.
Money will be tight, but yy cftb that will be nothing new here, either . It will be a killer all what with petrol money, childcare not to mention all the new underwear lol - worth it in the end hopefully.

I start on Friday for real but going in earlier in the week to try and get my head round some of it. Getting really nervous now.

I start a 2 week primary placement a week today and PGCE proper 3 weeks today.

I am going to try and do at least 50% of my Christmas shopping on thirst when kids start back at school so I don't have to think about that till the 24th when I will be desperately wrapping it :)

I may sound super organised but it is all a facade really

Excellent news Pinot!!

My KS2 placement doesn't start for another 10 days. I am finding it very hard to concentrate at work now. My mind is racing (and my stomach is rumbling - am trying to lose a stone which I need to shift anyway and figured the physical demands of teaching require me to be fitter anyway )

I'm interested that quite a few here have just said they "can't" be in school for 8. Certainly in the 3 schools I've taught in you have to be in for 8 really (for an 8.20 registration) in order to sort out mail, see teachers, staff briefing etc. It was definitely expected. I'm not quite sure how a school placement would work if you were regularly late.

It's a concern of mine as I'm wanting to go back into teaching (after a 3 year break for children) and as stated above childcare is often from 8. I think I will have to employ someone just for 30minutes in the morning to take them :(

I have been advised that 8:30 would typically be the cut-off but the earlier the better.

I have childcare options from 7:30 so could do an 8am start if needed depending on distance but probably not every day.

Fear not ladies. My nursery opens at 830! I'm using the university nursery though - my tutor is v supportive & said he'll tell all of the schools about my situation and they'll have to put up with it basically. I'm not thinking about it tbh or I'll worry too much!

I'm finding all of this stuff fascinating and very educational! Also wanted to correct earlier posts - I'm not going to be doing the post grad course in 2 years - doh! - I'm thinking of doing the 4 year BEd in 2 years if my job is made redundant then. If it lasts longer, I might finish my degree with OU and then might do the post grad. I wish I'd read stuff properly before posting

pinot, thats great about the finance all being in place. I'd tried to find out about loans/grants last year when I first started looking into this, and was all at it all. The early starts worries me a bit too - DD's breakfast club doesn't open 'til 8.15 so unless I was given a placement in one of the 3 schools on my doorstep, I've not got a hope of meeting the expected time for registration etc. Still, I've time to try and work that one out (if I ever can!).

newbaby, that's great that your tutor is supportive. I think that would be the best scenario if I ever get round to doing the same.

I'm off to try and figure out what to do with myself Never got a reply about the classroom assistant course, so it's back to the drawing board.

Well.... very stressful but hopeful week - got a really bad placement in terms of location, meant i couldn't get to my pt job (I had let them know all of this in my pre placement form) and it all got too much (tears )- all the local students without kids/and without transport problems got local schools that would ahve been perfect for me (and the ones without transport) and the lone parent with kids got the one which meant childcare and the essential pt job was a prob ... anyway work have been utterly amazing, given me time off and late starts so I can do my placement without stress . AND... found out the uni funding will be in the thousands rather than hundreds!!! Whoohoo!!! having tonight!! Was in tears with stress re placement as it was impossible to do - they do 'promise' to accomodate needs (a la Curriculm for Excllence - listen to and respond to wants, needs and views of students, remove barriers to learning etc etc etc) but they seemed to just accommodate the single young students without children - rant over!! My boss has made it possible so I'm happy!! had a few sleepless nights though!! Lectures etc have been great - common sense - just the theory stuff that stresses me!! good luck everyone and hope yu ahve stress free placements!! make sure your uni know what problems you may have with other commitments!!

Sign - think that comment about expected time for registration is for secondary - most primaries expect you in by 8.30 - sure if you get a good Head they'l be understanding if you're later though x

Hello all :)

I am hoping to do a pt PGCE in April next year but have a question about finances etc.

If I am on a low income, I think I am eligible for a bursary/support, but can I still claim income support?

Yes I believe that if you are a lone parent you are eligible for income support. I haven't looked that closely tho as I lose out on other criteria.

Sounds stressful pinot. Dreading finding out my placement. I could be an hour+ away. If I am the only option I would have would be to give custody of dcs to xp or withdraw from course. Have spoken to placement co-ordinator and she seems understanding. Says that they have to stick to our preferences. If they want to go outside those it would only be done after a consultation with individuals and at the end of the day they can only make recommendations based on our developmental needs.

Yay to the extra money tho. Is that thru student finance or direct from Uni?

Start my primary placement on Monday. Quite happy sitting home and filtering away my day :)

I'm off to IKEA today to buy a bookcase. I can't decide what is the smallest I can get away with...

haunted that money will be direct from uni don't know how much but if they're giving £2500 to a married student with kids whose husband earns a very good salary, surely they have to give me around the same as I'm on a much smaller income with similar expenses?!! Fingers crossed you get a local placement.
Just downloaded all the pre placement stuff for Thursday and OMG - will need a second mortgage to pay for all the ink for the stuff we have to print out! Looks very scary what we have to do - begining to panic a bit now!

Right....I am off to bed. First day of primary school placement tomorrow.

If anyone can summarise the NLS or NNS strategy in a paragraph it would be helpful....

Christine, I think its similar funding to BA and with that I was out of scope for IS as they assume you are taking out the full loan offered even if like me you don't want to. If thats right, you obviously lose any IS / related benefits (for me, legal aid). However I was still entitled to free school meals etc for my children and free dental care... AND better off even without student loan somehow.

Yes they do assume you have taken full loan even if you don't, but thinking about it when I went to student support to talk thru logistics of separation IS was definitely something that was discussed so you should get something.

Hi, how is everyone doing?

I've managed to get my childcare sorted so that I can be there for 8am as long as the placement is within 10 miles (live in a big city so lots of partnership schools) so fingers crossed the university will come good on their promise. I've finished work now so that's it. Primary placement starts Monday. That is very close to home so gives me two more weeks to whip our routine in to shape before the early starts start!!

Me...I'm exhausted! I have done 4 days of primary school placement.

Having a minor panic tho as schools obviously have strict rules on mobile phones in the classroom. I had a couple of missed calls from Dd'a school yesterday so was panicking a bit. Turns out that they had nominated dtd2 to go to high school as a singing leader and not that she had been rushed to hospital or anything dramatic. But made me realise that I could have an issue with schools trying to contact me...and getting away in an emergency. I guess even if I was teaching I would have to be given (probably) unpaid leave to get dc's like that. I guess that is part of the shit of being a lone parent...which I am still getting used to in its own right.

I've done four days too hll! well five if you include teacher training last week. I am with a fabulously organised and helpful teacher, which makes everything very positive. The whole school is lovely, great children, am loving it. I do worry how I am going to run a classroom, as at the moment I'm mainly observing and am being eased into it. And the college stuff hasn't started yet! trying to write up notes every evening.
They seem quite relaxed and supportive about the lone parent thing, and the fact I have to leave early and get in at 8.15. I am concious of the time thing and trying my hardest to make up for it by being as well prepared as I know how. Best of all one of the other teachers did her training as a mature lone p with three really young kids - she is my inspiration!