SCORES of new teachers are preparing to begin careers in local schools after completing an innovative training programme designed to keep the best teachers in Bradford.

St Edmund’s Nursery and Children’s Centre in Girlington is the lead school of an alliance of nursery, primary, secondary and special schools that allow new teachers to train on the job in local schools.

In the past year 100 trainees have passed through the School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT), called Bradford Birth to 19 Teaching School, and an event was recently held to mark their completion of the course.

Other partners in the SCITT include Exceed Teaching Schools Alliance, Pudsey Primrose Alliance and Sheffield Hallam University.

Over 70 of the trainees had already secured jobs for local schools in September.

A celebration event to mark the end of their year’s training was recently held at the University of Bradford’s Management Centre and featured musical performances for the trainees by talented pupils from St John’s Church of England and Lapage Primary Schools, as well as talks from education experts, workshops and the chance to network with other teachers.

St Edmund’s was recently judged Outstanding after an Ofsted inspection.

The course has been run in partnership with 60 schools from across the Bradford District, and involves being trained by outstanding teachers in some of Bradford’s best schools.

The SCITT has worked with Bradford Council to find places for the trainee teachers.

The course is designed so that teachers joining the profession start their newly qualified year with enough confidence to be able to teach well from the start of their careers.

It allows them to learn from people who are still based in the classroom, rather than former teachers.

The celebration event involved speakers from other SCITTs, including Cliff Bingham, Director of the Stockton on Tees SCITT.

Katie Waring, Head of Initial Training said: “The day was really special.

“It is exciting to see so many positive faces, full of enthusiasm and ideas that will equip them well for their career.

“We are looking forward to supporting as many as possible in their first few years in the profession.”

Christian Bunting, Teaching School Director of the Bradford SCITT, said: “It was amazing to be part of the journey made by our trainees.

“I am really pleased that so many of them are going to be working in Bradford schools next year. I know they have the skill-set to becoming outstanding teachers of the future.”

The SCITT is one of several ways of boosting school performance in Bradford, which has languished near the bottom of national school league tables in recent years.

It is hoped that it will increase the numbers of high skilled teachers in the district, and help keep them in local schools. One worry raised by education bosses was that too many newly qualified teachers were leaving the district to teach.

It also means teachers can be sent to struggling schools, and successful schools can offer support to improve less successful ones.