Teacher training programme (Primary)

Kickstart your career in education with Lift Schools and our school-based teacher training programme, delivered in partnership with Ark Teacher Training. You’ll earn your PGCE and Qualified Teacher Status while gaining hands-on experience as an unqualified Teacher in one of our 30+ primary schools. With expert support, you’ll gradually take on more teaching responsibility throughout the year.

The programme includes:

• Summer school: Two weeks of intensive training in August to build your confidence.
• Personalised support: Your tutor and in-school coach will be on hand to offer advice and discuss any challenges.
• Weekly training sessions: Ongoing development sessions throughout the year.
• National support network: Our network of current and former trainees spans schools nationwide. As a Lift Schools trainee, you'll have ongoing support from our trust, both during your training year and throughout your teaching career.

Commitment to equal opportunity: We are committed to diversity and equal opportunity in our trust and its schools, and we provide a support system to ensure that all our trainees are able to reach their full potential.

The training programme itself is school-based and you will spend half a day every week in a session with your Ark tutor and other trainees from the network.

Eligibility: You will need a degree at 2.2 minimum and GCSE Maths, English and Science (or overseas equivalents accompanied by an ENIC statement) as well as Right to Work in the UK (full-time) from July 2025 until September 2026.

Benefits: 13 Weeks Holiday, Generous Teacher Pension scheme, Private Health Insurance, Blue Light Card (Discounts) and Vivup company discount scheme, Permanent contracts available beyond the training year, no need to apply for your 2nd year ECT role, it’s guaranteed offering job stability and payment through summer into your 2nd year, £31,000 salary once you’ve gained QTS (from as early as July!), Tuition fees. All of our Primary Training is only offered through the Tuition Fee paying route (student finance available). We offer a £3,000 Bursary that’s unique to Lift Schools to help support your training and offset some of this cost. This is a permanent position so your ECT (Early Career Teaching year) is guaranteed in the same school and you’ll be on a salary of £31,000 from July 2026.

Start date: 1 September 2025

Culture and values

Our vision: Lift Schools believes an excellent education is an entitlement for every child, and we do everything in our power to ensure that our schools are making that a reality for every pupil in our care.

Our mission: We will provide an excellent education to every child, in every classroom, every day. With excellent leadership and teaching in every school, we will help children go on to lead successful and happy lives. We will work with others beyond our network to create capacity in the sector to benefit more children and communities.

Be unusually brave: We’re not afraid to make the right call – and we challenge wrongs, even when it’s difficult to do so.

Discover what’s possible: We create eureka moments for our pupils, helping them to discover new possibilities and opportunities.

Push the limits: We don’t settle for anything less than excellent – and we won’t allow our pupils to, either.

Be big hearted: We choose to treat each other with kindness, warmth and care. We believe that everybody matters equally.

Equality and diversity: Diversity and inclusivity in teaching is essential – teachers have a unique ability to impact what students believe about what’s possible for their lives, and are often some of only a few adults that young people really engage with. It’s therefore incredibly important that pupils have a rich and diverse teaching body to learn from; they’re able to see themselves in positions of leadership and authority, while their perceptions and world-views are broadened. But it’s not just our students who benefit from diversity. At Lift Schools, we believe that inclusivity and the representation of people, circumstances, identities, cultures and ethnicities from all sections of society make us stronger as individuals and as an organisation.