A WEST Devon school is to play an important role in improving teaching skills and raising classroom standards.
St Andrew?s Primary in Buckland Monachorum is one of 15 new training schools in Devon to be granted training status by school standards minister David Miliband.
Under the programme, the school will receive government funding of £45,000 a year for the next four years, and will work closely with the College of St Mark and St John to improve the quality and capacity of initial teacher training.
For the first time, staff from the school will get the chance to lecture at the college, and in September they will take on a graduate trainee teacher.
And the creation of a high-tech ?virtual classroom? containing an interactive whiteboard, webcams and projectors will enable students at Marjon to see a lesson in progress.
Classroom assistants will be trained to prepare interactive materials to support whiteboard teaching.
Headteacher Bill Houldsworth said becoming an official training school would give staff greater input into Marjon?s under-graduate teacher training programme.
?We were waiting anxiously to find out whether we had been successful in our bid, because we were told competition was greatest in the South West, so we are really pleased about this.
?It will be an excellent professional development opportunity for the staff here because they will be directly involved in lecturing at the college.
?And all our staff will be involved in mentor training, which will be absolutely invaluable.?
St Andrew?s secured its new status as part of a consortium with Hooe Primary School in Plymouth and Oreston Primary in Plymstock. The three schools will work together under the programme to increase the opportunities available to Marjon trainees.
In all, 21 new primary and 59 new secondary training schools have been appointed in the latest expansion of the programme, bringing the total across England to 166. These schools will share £7.5-million in the next school year.
School standards minister David Miliband said training schools were at the cutting edge of teacher training and made a real difference.
He said: ?Training schools and prospective teachers are benefiting from the innovative resources and practices that are being developed by this programme.
?Nearly 10,000 more people are starting school and college-based teacher training courses this year than in 1999/2000 and applications for next year are buoyant.
?Training schools are helping to provide the high quality training environment that these new recruits to the profession need to develop their skills.?