A NEW teacher training school for graduates is set to open in Basingstoke – run in partnership with a special school.

Dove House School Academy, in Sutton Road, South View, has opened one of the first accredited teaching schools in the country.

The Basingstoke Alliance School Central Initial Teaching Training (SCITT) programme will offer graduates the chance to train to teach at secondary schools in the Basingstoke area, and gain qualified teacher status, in liaison with Dove House Teaching School Alliance and Dove House School Academy.

The Basingstoke SCITT initiative was set up in response to the need to find high-quality teachers for Basingstoke schools, to ensure that children are taught by well-qualified teachers who are committed to the area and to investing in its young people.

Dove House School Academy has acted as a hub between all the Basingstoke secondary schools during the last year, which resulted in a successful bid to the National College for Teaching and Learning in the summer.

The programme will run at Worting House, in Worting Road, and start in September next year for those considering a career teaching maths, English, history, modern foreign languages, PE, computer science or physics.

Nathalie Hetherington, programme manager, said: “Dove House is the hub that organises everything.

“We are now in the process of putting together the course that will start in September next year. We are going through the recruitment process.”

Those taking the course, which costs £8,000, will spend much of their time in the classroom gaining practical experience, and it is hoped that at the end of the year they will get a job in a Basingstoke area school.

Miss Hetherington said: “For many Basingstoke schools, it is a real challenge to recruit high-quality teachers from outside the area, so this Basingstoke SCITT initiative comes as a response to the need to ‘grow our own’ high-quality teachers in order to ensure that our children are taught by well-qualified teachers who are committed to the area and to investing in its young people.”

She added: “The aim is to try and attract people who want to settle in Basingstoke once they are trained. We would like people to stay in the area.”

For more information, email Miss Hetherington on nathalie@dovehouse.hants.sch.uk or call 01256 351555.