ABSTRACT
Early visits to placement schools Your ITI provider will give you guidance as to what to find out about and how to prepare for placements. Most allocate preliminary visits of some sort where you will get to know relevant teachers and other members of staff, gather information about the school and the pupils, agree your timetable etc. This is a good time, even if you are not required to do so, to ask to see the school's policies for SEN, behaviour, bullying and equal opportunities. These will tell you a lot about the school, its values, its ethos and the quality of relationships it aspires to. Admittedly, any policies are only as good as their implementation, but looking at the policies is a good starting point and can also be an excellent basis for discussion. As you experience placements in different schools you will begin to 'get a feel' for what makes an effective policy and what to look out for when seeking your first post as anNQT.
