Example of a Personal Statement for an NQT Primary Pool

I first became interested in primary teaching through working with a local Brownie Pack,
something I have done since I was 15, training to become a leader in the process. This
made me realise I enjoyed working with this age range, and school experience
confirmed teaching as a career choice. My subsequent four year BA Primary Education
course at university has served further to fire my enthusiasm and prepared me
effectively to take responsibility for my own class.
My degree has trained me to cover all National Curriculum subjects, and my subject
specialisms are Design and Technology and English, with an elective in Drama. I have
also studied D & T at Subject Leader level and am going to be jointly presenting an
INSET session for teachers on Computer Control; I would eventually like to be the co-
ordinator for this subject in the school in which I work.
During my degree I have undertaken two practices in Key Stage 1 (Years 1/2 and 2) and
a further two in Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6), my preferred phase. These included
schools in inner city deprived areas and a school in a former mining town. These
practices have given me a good understanding of the primary curriculum and of what
makes effective teaching.
My time in school has developed my philosophy of valuing each child as an individual,
as well as part of a community. I aim to give children as many learning opportunities
and experiences as possible in order to engage, motivate and prepare them for future
life. An appropriate, balanced, challenging and creative curriculum is essential in
developing children’s skills, knowledge and understanding. These all underpin
personalised learning.
I have in particular come to understand the value of sharing learning objectives and
success criteria with children. Knowing exactly what is expected and how they can
achieve allows children to focus more clearly on tasks. This also facilitates effective self
and peer assessments, as there are clear criteria and objectives to assess against,
encouraging children to take more responsibility for their own learning.
Progression needs to be planned for, so that as children work and explore at their own
pace, there is something else to move them on and take them further in their learning. I
also believe that differentiation and meeting varied learning styles are key to effective
teaching and learning. Work should be set at an appropriate, but challenging, level.
When I prepare lessons I make a conscious effort to ensure I am not just catering for
visual learners like myself, but try to see lessons through other learners’ eyes. For
example, to introduce Year 2 children to pictograms, I got the children to create ‘human
pictograms’ arranged by name length, pets, eye colour etc. and then transferred that
information as pictograms to the board. Kinaesthetic learners were thereby catered for
in the physical movement and manipulation, visual learners in the pictograms created on
the board, and audio learners as we discussed and interpreted the graphs.
I feel it is important to make learning interesting and creative, and one way to achieve
this is through the use of drama; this allows children to explore and understand
situations, and express feelings, thoughts and emotions. An example of how I have
successfully used drama was with a Year 6 class learning about Victorian railways. I set
up a debate with the children taking the roles of people affected by the building of the
railways. They were incredibly enthusiastic and threw themselves into the task. They
found this a fun, enjoyable and worthwhile learning experience, which enabled them to
better understand the situation and empathise with those concerned.
Whilst on my school placements I have used various assessment techniques. The most
successful were noting comments about how well children have met the learning
objectives, using a traffic light system, and recording those who achieved above and
below expectations. I have also set and levelled some Literacy work, undertaken
formative marking and carried out maths tests. Additionally I have allowed children to
self-assess and carry out verbal peer assessment. As part of my final placement I was
required to write an exemplar report on a child, which was highly commended by my
mentor. I would like to expand and further develop my expertise in assessment during
my induction year, with more focus on self and peer assessment.
During all of my placements I have taught ICT and used it to enhance my lessons with
interactive white boards, the internet, videos, voice and sound clips, digital cameras,
interactive games and work sheets. I have worked with other teachers to plan the
curriculum; planned and organised the work of TAs; delivered an assembly to two year
groups; attended a parents’ evening, staff meetings and INSET days; been on school
visits, including helping to organise two and writing the risk assessments; observed and
helped run after school clubs and contributed to the classroom environments through
interactive displays.
In my third year at university I studied a module called ‘Integrating the Curriculum’,
looking at global issues such as sustainability and how these could be taught cross-
curricularly. This made me appreciate how this approach can be useful, particularly
when addressing important social, ethical and global issues.
Within a third and fourth year module on Inclusion I have focused on including all
children, regardless of ability, learning needs, language, ethnic origin or other factor. I
have learnt how to identify and find ways to effectively aid the learning and meet their
needs in ways which appeal to and best help them develop, gain a beneficial experience
from their education and achieve their full potential. I have incorporated some of my
learning in my final practice, as there was an autistic child in the class. I ensured that his
learning needs were planned for and his TA was fully aware of what was expected.
As well as preparing me for school life, my university course has enabled me to take part
in various experiences for my professional development. During my first year I
undertook a week’s residential camping holiday at Anglesey. With other students I cared
for a group of six Year 5 children, preparing and organising a range of outdoor learning
activities and games, such as building shelters on the beach, orienteering and visits to
sites of interest. It was an incredibly challenging week, but was also one of the best
experiences I have had. It has made me aware of the value of such trips in extending
children’s education beyond the classroom.
I would like to work for your Local Authority as it is close to my home, but also because
its NQT programme appears to be one that is tailored to support me in my first year of
teaching when I have so many new challenges to face. Your authority is also appealing
as it has on-going school building programme, unlike many other areas of the country.
My university course, especially my teaching practice, has confirmed my belief that
teaching is one of the most challenging, demanding, exhausting but varied and exciting
careers there are. I really look forward to working in a job that is so important, being
privileged to be such a vital part of so many young lives and making a real difference.