what are these uni’s like?

Hi Ccxx31221

I'm a 3rd year Primary Education student at York St John and Student Ambassador for the university. So I would be happy to answer any questions that you have about the course or the university in general. 🙂

I have really enjoyed the course. Across the 3 years you will have lectures and seminars about the foundation and wider subjects, whilst also developing yourself as a professional. You will also have a school placement every year which gets longer each year and your responsibilities increase. I have found this really helpful as it has developed my confidence and prepared me for the classroom post university.

As for York St John University we are a smaller university compared to most as we have around 10,000 students on campus. I really like this as it gives the campus a community feel. This makes it easier to get in touch with lecturers, as in seminars there are about 25-30 people per group. The university also offers lots of support. When you start you are assigned an academic tutor who supports you throughout the 3 year course. We also have academic support tailored to your course and wellbeing support which is easily accessed through the York St John website.

I would recommend attending any open days for the universities you are interested in, if you can. We have some coming up soon, which will be posted here https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/meet-us/open-days/ . We also offer campus tours if you wanted to have a look around and get a feel for the university and the city. https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/meet-us/open-days/https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/meet-us/campus-tours/

If you have any questions please get in touch.😃
Best of luck with your application process!

Myla
YSJ Student Ambassador

Reply 4

Original post

by YSJ_Myla

Hi Ccxx31221
I'm a 3rd year Primary Education student at York St John and Student Ambassador for the university. So I would be happy to answer any questions that you have about the course or the university in general. 🙂
I have really enjoyed the course. Across the 3 years you will have lectures and seminars about the foundation and wider subjects, whilst also developing yourself as a professional. You will also have a school placement every year which gets longer each year and your responsibilities increase. I have found this really helpful as it has developed my confidence and prepared me for the classroom post university.
As for York St John University we are a smaller university compared to most as we have around 10,000 students on campus. I really like this as it gives the campus a community feel. This makes it easier to get in touch with lecturers, as in seminars there are about 25-30 people per group. The university also offers lots of support. When you start you are assigned an academic tutor who supports you throughout the 3 year course. We also have academic support tailored to your course and wellbeing support which is easily accessed through the York St John website.
I would recommend attending any open days for the universities you are interested in, if you can. We have some coming up soon, which will be posted here https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/meet-us/open-days/ . We also offer campus tours if you wanted to have a look around and get a feel for the university and the city. https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/meet-us/open-days/https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/meet-us/campus-tours/
If you have any questions please get in touch.😃
Best of luck with your application process!
Myla
YSJ Student Ambassador

hi thank you for getting back to me, I am currently quite interested in ysj, I had my interview for primary education 5-11 the other day and will hear back on monday. I guess I do just have a few questions, what is your experience with student support like, and I know you may have to big it up obviously making the uni sound great but genuinely has there been a time where the uni has showed good support for u and how, like also do u know if mental disability support is good and lecturer support. then my second question is about the primary ed course, has there been modules specifically on special education needs teaching and much education on SEN as thats my specific interest with teaching I want to do in the future.

thank you so much for getting back to me.

Reply 5

Hi,

That's amazing that you have had your interview!

We are always encouraged to share our genuine experiences of the university. Personally I have used the wellbeing support services at YSJ. In my first year I struggled with a bit of homesickness, which is completely normal and I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the move to university. My academic tutor was the one who supported me in contacting the services and within 2/3 weeks I was able to speak to someone. It is sometimes nice to just talk to someone and it helped me to realise I was doing okay just getting myself slightly overwhelmed at times. It is just really important that you talk to your academic tutor or someone at the university, as there is so many support services available, it is just about asking for help and then you will be guided in accessing the right support for you.
I will share the links to disability support https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/student-support/disability-support/ it outlines a little more about how the university can support you.
I have also attached the link to the wellbeing support available too: https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/student-support/wellbeing-and-welfare/
As for lecturers support aside from my academic tutor other lecturers are really friendly and there have been lots of times where I have just emailed them and asked questions about academic writing or arranging a meeting to discuss feedback and they have been more than willing to help.

In the 2nd year there is a bigger focus on SEN, of course it is talked about at all points throughout the course but with a larger focus in the 2nd year. We also complete ITAP Weeks (Intensive Training and Practice) which all have a different focus. I can't say for sure what they will be about for your cohort but in my 2nd year we did an ITAP focused on children who have English as an Additional Language. We also went into schools with high levels of EAL and observed how teachers and staff supported children. This has been really useful for my placements going forward.

Hope this helps.
And wishing you all the luck for Monday.

Myla
YSJ Student Ambassador

Reply 6

Original post

by YSJ_Myla

Hi,
That's amazing that you have had your interview!
We are always encouraged to share our genuine experiences of the university. Personally I have used the wellbeing support services at YSJ. In my first year I struggled with a bit of homesickness, which is completely normal and I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed with the move to university. My academic tutor was the one who supported me in contacting the services and within 2/3 weeks I was able to speak to someone. It is sometimes nice to just talk to someone and it helped me to realise I was doing okay just getting myself slightly overwhelmed at times. It is just really important that you talk to your academic tutor or someone at the university, as there is so many support services available, it is just about asking for help and then you will be guided in accessing the right support for you.
I will share the links to disability support https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/student-support/disability-support/ it outlines a little more about how the university can support you.
I have also attached the link to the wellbeing support available too: https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/student-support/wellbeing-and-welfare/
As for lecturers support aside from my academic tutor other lecturers are really friendly and there have been lots of times where I have just emailed them and asked questions about academic writing or arranging a meeting to discuss feedback and they have been more than willing to help.
In the 2nd year there is a bigger focus on SEN, of course it is talked about at all points throughout the course but with a larger focus in the 2nd year. We also complete ITAP Weeks (Intensive Training and Practice) which all have a different focus. I can't say for sure what they will be about for your cohort but in my 2nd year we did an ITAP focused on children who have English as an Additional Language. We also went into schools with high levels of EAL and observed how teachers and staff supported children. This has been really useful for my placements going forward.
Hope this helps.
And wishing you all the luck for Monday.
Myla
YSJ Student Ambassador

thanks so much for spending the time to give me that advice, I guess just another question I have is then would you say in comparison to other primary ed courses u have seen or heard of, does ysj include enough about SEN to prepare a student for going into the world of work when they want to be a primary education student.

thank you

Reply 7

Hi,

I don't have enough knowledge of other courses at other universities to truly give you an honest answer.
My only advice would be to look on the course specifications of each course to see what they are teaching to get a better overview of what is being offered. https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/initial-teacher-education-qts/primary-education-5-11-ba-hons/#starting-the-journey-to-qts:-professional-studies-1

Sorry I can't be more help on that question.

Myla
YSJ Student Ambassador

Reply 8

Original post

by YSJ_Myla

Hi,
I don't have enough knowledge of other courses at other universities to truly give you an honest answer.
My only advice would be to look on the course specifications of each course to see what they are teaching to get a better overview of what is being offered. https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/initial-teacher-education-qts/primary-education-5-11-ba-hons/#starting-the-journey-to-qts:-professional-studies-1
Sorry I can't be more help on that question.
Myla
YSJ Student Ambassador

no you have been so much help thank you, but would you say u personally now feel u would be fully equipped for going onto being an SEN teacher if you wanted to after the education from this course

Reply 9

Hi,
I really feel confident about supporting children with SEN within a mainstream classroom and the course and my placements have definitely prepared me well for that. I haven't personally been aiming to become an SEN teacher so I wouldn't say I feel fully 'ready' for a specialist SEN class yet but I think that is due to the fact that it is such a specialist and skilled role. I imagine with further experience or CPD focus on SEN I would feel more confident. During the summer between 1st and 2nd year you are asked to complete a diversity placement, which you find yourself, so it can be based on your specialist interest. I personally chose a village school as where I live at home it is predominately village schools, so I wanted more experience in how village schools work. But this would be a great opportunity for you to seek experience in an SEN school and gain experience from professionals who work with children with SEN everyday. I have focused my degree/ work experience around my goals as a graduate teacher, so I don't feel fully confident becoming a specialist SEN teacher but if I had aligned my experience to that I'm confident I would have been ready after the 3 years.

Myla
YSJ Student Ambassador

(edited 1 week ago)

Reply 10