Religious Studies PGCE Applicants 2015 Entry

Original post by Simply93

Hey, I was wondering if someone could help me with my personal statement for my PGCE application RE secondary. I'm a little confused as to how I should start my personal statement off. Help!

If you just google PGCE personal statement there are loads of examples online as to how you should complete it. Basically start off with why you want to teach and then cover things like school experience, other transferable skills you have and how your subject knowledge relates to RE.

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Reply 43

Interviewed at YSJ on Wednesday and I had a phonecall offering me a place yesterday. Over the moon as it was the only place I wanted to go.

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Reply 44

OP

Original post by laura.a.c265

Interviewed at YSJ on Wednesday and I had a phonecall offering me a place yesterday. Over the moon as it was the only place I wanted to go.

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Congratulations! I got offered a place at Gloucestershire which I'm going to accept :smile:

Reply 45

Original post by MedicineBug

Congratulations! I got offered a place at Gloucestershire which I'm going to accept :smile:

Ah congratulations! Was that your first choice?

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Reply 46

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Original post by laura.a.c265

Ah congratulations! Was that your first choice?

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No, Bristol was my first choice originally and Gloucestershire my second. I had the Bristol interview first and found that I liked the idea of going to Bristol Uni but I didn't actually like the way that the interview was done (very unorganised which was surprising for such a high ranking uni) and the course co-ordinators weren't that friendly. I don't think that I'd have fit into that uni. Gloucestershire was my last interview and I fell in love with the campus and the interview was brilliant. The co-ordinators were incredibly friendly and my interview basically turned into an informal chat with two people who I felt as though I'd known for a long time! They made me feel at home in the uni and it's a lot like the uni I go to now.

Sorry for such a long reply!

Reply 47

Original post by MedicineBug

No, Bristol was my first choice originally and Gloucestershire my second. I had the Bristol interview first and found that I liked the idea of going to Bristol Uni but I didn't actually like the way that the interview was done (very unorganised which was surprising for such a high ranking uni) and the course co-ordinators weren't that friendly. I don't think that I'd have fit into that uni. Gloucestershire was my last interview and I fell in love with the campus and the interview was brilliant. The co-ordinators were incredibly friendly and my interview basically turned into an informal chat with two people who I felt as though I'd known for a long time! They made me feel at home in the uni and it's a lot like the uni I go to now.

Sorry for such a long reply!

Ah that's brilliant! I think for a course as intense as PGCE the uni has to meet your needs and be the right fit. I was really lucky that my first choice was everything I wanted and the staff were amazing, it was a bit of a gamble because I had never visited. It's a shame you couldn't have given Bristol some feedback!!

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Reply 48

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Original post by laura.a.c265

Ah that's brilliant! I think for a course as intense as PGCE the uni has to meet your needs and be the right fit. I was really lucky that my first choice was everything I wanted and the staff were amazing, it was a bit of a gamble because I had never visited. It's a shame you couldn't have given Bristol some feedback!!

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It's great that you only had to go to the one interview! I wish there was a way to give Bristol some feedback. I met a Bristol candidate at one of my other interviews and she complained to me about how she also felt that Bristol were really unorganised and unprofessional. What did you have to do at your interview? Did you have any written tests or anything?

Reply 49

Original post by MedicineBug

It's great that you only had to go to the one interview! I wish there was a way to give Bristol some feedback. I met a Bristol candidate at one of my other interviews and she complained to me about how she also felt that Bristol were really unorganised and unprofessional. What did you have to do at your interview? Did you have any written tests or anything?

Yeah I was so lucky they were my first one! It was a whole day interview. We had the morning in a partner school so we had to be there for 0845. We were split into groups and had to give a 10 minute lesson to a group of year 9 pupils, the rest of our group and 3 staff. Then we had to complete a booklet on the 8 teaching standards and how our previous experience related to them. After that we had a 40 minute individual interview. If you made it through the morning you made your way to the uni and did a group discussion, literacy task to check you could work at M level and got all your docs checked by admissions for the DBS check. That all finished at 5pm. There was a campus tour for 45 minutes after that but I had booked a train that I didn't want to miss so I didn't get to go!

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Reply 50

BrightonPPE93

4

How is everyone getting along?

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Reply 51

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Original post by BrightonPPE93

How is everyone getting along?

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Hi,

I saw on the other page that you got offered a few places - congratulations!

Hectically trying to meet the conditions of my offer. Just finished taking my skills tests. How are you doing? Have you decided which offer you're going to accept?

Reply 52

Original post by MedicineBug

Hi,

I saw on the other page that you got offered a few places - congratulations!

Hectically trying to meet the conditions of my offer. Just finished taking my skills tests. How are you doing? Have you decided which offer you're going to accept?

What were the conditions of your offer? Did you accept Gloucestershire?

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Reply 53

Original post by BrightonPPE93

How is everyone getting along?

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Congrats on the offers. If you are 100% sure you will get a 2:1 I would accept whoever you like best. If you are unsure about getting a 2:1 I would go with the lower offer just so you aren't putting added pressure on yourself. If you like both then where you go doesn't matter because a PGCE is the same no matter where it comes from. At the end of the day schools just want to know you have QTS. Your final year is stressful enough without worrying about that!

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Reply 54

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Original post by laura.a.c265

What were the conditions of your offer? Did you accept Gloucestershire?

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I accepted Gloucestershire. They gave me the standard conditions (passing the skills tests, DBS, medical check, passing my degree etc.), but, also want me to do a further three days of work experience. So just been trying to organise that.

Reply 55

BrightonPPE93

4

Original post by laura.a.c265

Congrats on the offers. If you are 100% sure you will get a 2:1 I would accept whoever you like best. If you are unsure about getting a 2:1 I would go with the lower offer just so you aren't putting added pressure on yourself. If you like both then where you go doesn't matter because a PGCE is the same no matter where it comes from. At the end of the day schools just want to know you have QTS. Your final year is stressful enough without worrying about that!

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Thank you!! I was co-interviewed at Chi by Sue Phillips, who developed the Island scheme of work in experiential RE. If you've work with The Island it's a pretty amazing scheme.

She's an associate lecturer there, and I think that's swinging it for me. Just waiting for the offer to be made official on UCAS, they said it should be up later today.

Reply 56

Original post by BrightonPPE93

Thank you!! I was co-interviewed at Chi by Sue Phillips, who developed the Island scheme of work in experiential RE. If you've work with The Island it's a pretty amazing scheme.

She's an associate lecturer there, and I think that's swinging it for me. Just waiting for the offer to be made official on UCAS, they said it should be up later today.

Yes I've used The Island, I worked in an RE dept once a week for a year when I was doing my resettlement ahead of leaving the military and they used it with year 7. Sounds like Chichester May be the place!

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Reply 57