We are facing a very real teacher shortage in Essex. However, current government cuts mean that teacher training colleges are no longer able to recruit any more primary education trainee teachers unless they can self fund or find funding elsewhere. At Essex and Thames Primary SCITT alone, we are turning away 8-10 good applications a week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARfKfaZtcT8

Estimates suggest that we will only have half the number of newly qualified primary school teachers that Essex schools need within the next year. Head teachers will find it harder than ever to find high quality teachers.

Although we have some candidates who can self fund, sadly not everyone who would make an outstanding teacher can afford to train. Hence, we have launched the 'Sponsor a Teacher' campaign to raise funds to enable high quality but lower income candidates to access training.

With the 'Sponsor a Teacher' campaign, we are appealing to local businesses, individuals and larger organisations to step forward and help invest in the education of our future workforce by sponsoring a trainee primary school teacher for a year in Essex.

Fees for training are £6000, but a bursary between £3,000 & £9,000 can make the difference as to whether a new teacher can afford to train or not. We are asking for donations of any size at all.

In return for sponsoring a trainee teacher, you will gain significant PR from this ground-breaking scheme and be given regular updates on the progress of their trainee teacher. In a recent survey, 82% of customers said their choice of business would be affected by whether a company engaged with charities and its local community - so telling others about your generosity and involvement will help your business or organisation.

For further information please contact Essex and Thames Primary SCITT at sponsor@thamesprimaryscitt.co.uk or visit the website at www.thamesprimaryscitt.co.uk or see our Youtube video at https://goo.gl/jhr3QU