Irish NQT considering move to teach in Bristol

Traught1

I'm an Irish primary NQT considering moving to the U.K. to get my induction done! Bristol would be my only location option as I want to be close to my partner who works on wales! (I cannot teach in Wales until I'm fully probated) can anybody recommend any teaching agencies to go with? What it's like to live in Bristol etc?! What are schools like in Bristol! I would appreciate any responses! Thanks

Skatedude

might want to wait a few weeks, will bexit affect you in this case?

Traught1

Skatedude wrote: »

might want to wait a few weeks, will bexit affect you in this case?

Possibly but it's unlikely that if a leave vote passes that it will come into effect straight away! Plus a visa is always possible is this is the case! I would still like to get people's experiences of teaching agencies in the uk, and living and working in Bristol?

Dave0301

Traught1 wrote: »

Possibly but it's unlikely that if a leave vote passes that it will come into effect straight away! Plus a visa is always possible is this is the case! I would still like to get people's experiences of teaching agencies in the uk, and living and working in Bristol?

Hi, I got a job in London with Engage Education, and I found them to be quite good. I am not sure if they are around Bristol though.

Since then I have moved to the South West and teach in a school around an hour from Bristol. Bristol is a great city. Great night life, good university there, and plenty of transport options to the rest of the UK.

If you Google supply agencies in Bristol there are a few, but I have no direct experience with them. You might be better off looking on TES Jobs section to see if there are any full time posts you fancy applying for, although it is coming towards the end of when all the good jobs are advertised.

If you have any other questions about teaching in the UK or the area, let me know.

AJG

I'll preface that this is entirely my own experience of things and everyone's will be different. I also worked in secondary:

I worked in a school in Bristol for about 18 months or so up until the middle of last year. As others have said it's a great little city with a good buzz about it.

I was let go from a job in Dublin in late 2013 and decided to just up sticks and try the U.K. I remember I registered with quite a few agencies (the names escape me but they're easily googled) but secured a job at a school within a couple of weeks of searching.

The main issue was that although I secured a job I couldn't start until my DBS had cleared (equivalent to a Garda vetting). This actually took about 5 or 6 weeks from what I remember. I'm not sure if you can apply for it outside the U.K. but it would be worth looking into. Once I got it the school let me start and I registered with the DBS update service which allows you to keep the same cert without having to apply for a new one every time you switch jobs.

I guess after working in a U.K. school for a few months I realised that all the stuff you read about schools over there is true. It was probably one of the most demoralised staff rooms I'd ever been in. There wasn't any teacher over the age of 35 from what I could make out. They're going to face or are probably already facing a massive recruitment crisis over there. Considering the pay and conditions it's a pretty awful job (if you want some insight read the Guardian's articles penned by the 'Secret Teacher'). Although if you're young and enthusiastic you could probably stick it out for a couple of years (I've a good few years work experience to draw on and my initial enthusiasm wasn't enough to carry me through unfortunately).

I was sad to leave the city as I had a really great network of friends. I would have stayed but couldn't secure anything that payed well enough to allow me to live but a better opportunity came up elsewhere.

Good luck with whatever you decide.