Teaching changed my life. Having drifted from university into sales jobs, I found myself living a life completely bereft of any intrinsic reward. 

I was incredibly fortunate to have a company car and a well-paid job, working for three years each at two different worldwide corporations, but there was nothing enriching about the jobs and I found myself just “existing”. 

In 2005, I took the decision to train to become a teacher; in those days, it was through a programme called the GTP and, following a brief interview, I found myself “back in school” and I have genuinely never regretted it for a moment since.

Sadly, currently, there is an enormous teacher recruitment crisis, which is impacting all schools nationally, including here in Basingstoke. 

We are determined to reverse that trend and give the young people of our town access to the very best teachers of the future. 

Admittedly, it is a testing career, but there can be very few other jobs out there which make you feel how being a teacher can make you feel. 

I have been fortunate enough to work with around 5,000 young people over the last 18 years and it still fills me with so much joy when I bump into ex-students, who are always so keen to tell me what they have been up to. 

Now, here in Basingstoke, we at Brighton Hill School have managed to build a relationship with an Outstanding ITT (Initial Teacher Training) provider in SFET (South Farnham Educational Trust), allowing us to offer teacher training, here in the heart of our town. 

We are now looking to recruit trainee teachers to start training from September 2024 and there are some really generous tax-free bursaries on offer to anyone who chooses to train in specific subjects, such as Maths (£28,000) and Geography (£25,000), amongst many others. 

If you feel that this career change may be what you have been waiting for, please do follow this link to log your interest in training through SFET at Brighton Hill School:  https://www.ssfscitt.org.uk/page/?title=About+us&pid=13 

Alternatively, visit the government’s “Apply for teacher training” website and make that application which will change your life forever.

By Brighton Hill headteacher Chris Edwards