The Centre for Teacher Education (CTE) trains over 400 teachers each year in over 600 local and regional primary and secondary schools, 72% of trainees gaining employment in schools local to the University of Warwick. It is committed to working with children, young people, families and communities who may otherwise never set foot on Warwick’s campus. CTE actively shapes the life chances of children, whilst acting as advocates for a leading Russell Group university.

CTE holds events for local residents through information evenings and recruitment events, drawing from the wider campus population and from the immediate communities which Warwick serves. CTE staff work closely with its SSLCs who have been instrumental in organizing a range of fund-raising events: Comic relief and Marie Curie cake sales have raised thousands of pounds, along with the brilliant work for the local shelter and food bank charities - contributing to many food parcels throughout the year often for local refugee charity ‘Carriers of Hope’. CTE colleagues hold a termly quiz to raise money for ‘Hearing Dogs for the Deaf’, ‘Teenage Cancer Trust’ and other local charities such as ‘Coventry Women’s Haven’, with staff contributing to a number of charity competitions, including ‘Guess the Baby’ and movie quizzes. CTE is also committed to improve sustainability and green community initiatives. A ‘bug hotel’ was made in 2016, including instructing trainee teachers how to make green infra-structure on a budget, to support green initiatives to be implemented in local schools. This is complemented through some of our Primary teachers’ through for example, Enhanced Placement Opportunities in Forest Schools and through Widening Participation in Science.
CTE has invested heavily in a number of WP initiatives over the years. Our Science staff run Continuing Professional Development (CPD)/teach meets for newly qualified staff in some of the hardest to reach schools. English masterclasses have been highly successful, with secondary experts offering free CPD to departments in Birmingham and North Warwickshire with high numbers of pupil premium families. CTE recently concluded a two-year long project for students drawn from WP districts, developing a range of literacy skills in Year 6s to help better prepare them for the transition to secondary school. And each year children from CTE’s partner schools participate in a very special World Book Day, including readings, poetry and performances in Parliament, London. They get to take a tour around the House of Commons and the House of Lords – again, demonstrating CTE’s longstanding commitment to community engagement.

CTE has also developed and adapted its teacher education programmes to ensure our trainee teachers contribute to campus life through aspects of the programme including: a weekly programme of learning, including on-course well-being sessions for staff and students;sensitively sequencing lunches for an improved student experience andsplitting the increasing number of Secondary trainees across two days to re-personalise the student experience; CTE school partnership lunches and programme development meetings where representatives from our partner schools attend university, positively showcasing spaces on Westwood and raising the profile as Warwick as a university for Coventry schools and the local community; CTE Masters students visit Westwood campus for taught sessions on Saturdays and trainee teachers based in London and Derby attend teaching sessions on campus, bringing future teachers from across the Country to Warwick campus; our CTE Awards evening is a celebration of the PGCE students’ success, including school partner representatives and again serves to raise the profile of Warwick as a local-to-Coventry university.

This nomination clearly underlines the significant contribution made by the Centre for Teacher Education (CTE) in terms of community contribution, at all levels of its business.