Secondary trained, considering moving into Primary

[MeanMrMustardSeed]

Hi, I’m sure this has been done a number of times but I scrolled back 3 pages and didn’t see anything recent.

I taught secondary for 4 years after doing my PGCE then did another job for a few years when I moved location, before becoming a SAHP. I am now early 40s and thinking about returning to the classroom in the next few years.

I would love to hear from anyone who has transitioned successfully from secondary to primary. Especially, how you did it!?

At the moment I’m thinking observe / volunteer at local primary. Hope for a TA role after a year and then maybe be able to apply for teacher role after a year or so of that. I know it’s a bit of a slow route, but my youngest is one, so I more than happy to ramp up slowly!

Any advice or pointers to anything that would help me. My biggest hurdle is learning my times tables, but I’m sure there are others!

Thank you,

Which subject did you teach at secondary?

I'm a secondary trained and qualified teacher. I taught 10 years secondary and then moved to primary. Currently in my 7th year there.

It was pure luck that I was able to do this at the time, as they were looking for a pt specialist teacher, which was perfect for me.

I have never wanted to be a general primary school teacher as love my subject too much. But unfortunately, Covid has other plans for me it seems 😏

If you have QTS there is no reason why you can't just go straight to primary from secindary. But what I will say is, its a very different style of teaching KS1 from KS5 for example. It will take some time to adjust to. Believe me. But in many ways, the younger kids are easier to manage than the older ones 🤣

Also, you should definitely be able to start as a TA straight away instead of waiting a year first. Some in school observation is always a good idea, but I don't think any school will allow that currently due to covid restrictions on outside visitors.

@Meredusoleil thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I’m geography, so hoping that will stand me in good stead for the science / humanities / maths elements of the curriculum.

I won’t be able to do anything until post Covid anyway as realistically, I’ll need to wait until the youngest is at preschool.

Thanks for the encouragement re going for a TA role. I always read on here how hotly contested they are, but I guess someone’s got to get them. I would hope my QTS would help, but I’ve heard there are lots of teachers looking for TA roles.

Thank you.

I did the move after a gap for having my children - I was secondary music. Back in the day our county did a return to teaching course that you could also do for secondary to primary. I love it. Actually, I loathe teaching English but that's the curriculum. If you've been senior/middle management at secondary level, be prepared for lots of pettiness and frustration at the pace things change.

I did just over 10 years in Secondary teaching History at ks3-5 and sociology at ks5. After time out I temped, took a place in year 6 and then was offered the job. Now ten years into primary and i've only ever done year 5/6.

I will say that the pros are you do get to really know your class and teaching every subject is interesting.

However, the marking workload is much higher and the pressure in year 6 is just the same regarding attainment, if not worse as your cohort is much smaller- every child counts.

Also, although behaviour is better than ,say, year 9, in many ways it is worse. Children who will be in specialist provision for secondary will be included in primary. You will end up with SEND children that require a greater level of support than I ever experienced in secondary. For example, last year I had a students with Downs Syndrome who was still mostly non-verbal and a child with EBD and Autism who was also mostly non-verbal and required handling. In my year 6 class I have children working towards year 1, right the way to able students at year 8 level. You will be expected to work with the SENCO and have individual progress plans for each SEND child.

In my experience primary schools focus on keeping badly behaved kids in class and removing them is not an option- there is no PSU. This is frankly a pain in the arse. By year 6 they don't give a shit about behaviour charts and I really miss the PSU.

Also be prepared to see a lot more of the parents, and for them to grab you at the school gates. You will also be expected to attend TAFs and liase with social workers.

I do like forest school days! If you avoid year 6 it is possible to have joy in the curriculum. And really gen up on maths- it is massively different now and the level at year 6 is surprisingly high. I am now a maths specialist.

@phlebasconsidered and @wasgoingmadinthecountry thank you so much for your messages. I really appreciate the input. That’s interesting re maths - I’ve really enjoyed (sort of! ) the maths with my children during lockdown (years 5 and 3), but would definitely need to gen up a bit. It’s not all straight forward!

I have read that about the marking. I’m hoping that as I’m efficient, that might not be too bad, but I might be kidding myself!

Just wanted to add that I am a TA and came into this job with zero education based qualifications. I do have a BA and MA in a completely unrelated field, and worked with schools before, but nothing like you've done. I'm sure that as soon as you want a TA job, you'll have one.

I tried it and have half managed it. Did supply to get experience in primary schools (although I had done transition projects and teaching in feeder schools in the permanent job I gave up). Some supply agencies supportive, others not so much. A lot of the time I was forced to accept HLTA work in primary. Never got a look in when it came to longer term contracts, including in schools that asked me back regularly as a HLTA. Took a role in an independent senior school and ended up in charge of my subject in the prep school as well after a couple of years. So half/half from a timetable perspective which has worked well for me. I am keen to shift to 'proper' primary teaching rather than just subject-specific, however, so am about to start testing the waters with the supply agencies again.

Thank you @EnoughnowIthink and @Beachhuts90. You’ve just reminded me that I worked with a local primary school (years ago) when in secondary, so could make a bit out of that in CV / poss interview. I am sure there is a bit of luck involved too with being the right person at the right time. I’m hoping that as I’m playing the long game, something will come up for me.

I did PGCE History 20 odd years ago and did something completely different before 3 kids. Between child 1 and 2 I was lucky enough to get on a funded ‘Return to Primary Teaching’ place (even though I’d trained as secondary.)

I then had child 2, I childminded, volunteered an afternoon a week at my kids’ primary, and then 3 yrs ago got a p/t job as a TA. Last year I moved to being a F/T intervention TA, and ended up taking a bubble class during lockdown.

This gave me a massive boost in confidence, and so I talked to the HT about whether they’d take me on as an NQT in the future, in a couple years when my youngest was y5/6.

To my surprise in September, I was offered the chance to do my NQT year. I’m 48, 3 kids, had Corona in October, have had 2 lots of home learning since September - it’s been quite full on. But if I can do it, anyone can. If you have any questions, please do feel free to pm me.

@sydenhamhiller thank you so much for your message, I’ve only just seen it. This is such a great story and I’m so thrilled with how it’s all worked out. That sounds like such an ideal outcome and you couldn’t have planned it any better.
Please let me know how the return goes if you get a chance. It all sounds very exciting!

Ha ha! Where to start :-)
Feel free to DM me, and I’m happy to answer any questions you have.

Every single person I know working as a primary TA has got it through volunteering then being asked to apply

OP there are a number of sort of supply agencies that specialise in primary PPA cover. I worked for one of them as a MFL specialist a few years ago - essentially they supply the lessons and you go in and deliver at an agreed time. It is usually MFL, music, PE, art, IT etc. but do have a look as you might find something maths related - you could also look at the afterschool schemes such as Mad Science, for example, to build some experience. I would hazard a word of caution in that the one I worked for had pretty poor schemes of work in my opinion and needed quite a lot of planning around it to make it work. They sell themselves on the basis of 'already planned' but the resources were poor (and not put together by someone who knew much about the MFL I was teaching - let's just say too much google translate invovled!) but pay was on a par with primary supply teaching (generally less than secondary supply teaching) rather than having to accept TA/HLTA pay.

It might be an option for you to build experience. It was too much for me - I thought I wanted to teach primary but I learnt that I didn't and am back full time in secondary! Learnt my lesson!