Many congratulations on being offered and accepting a place on your School Direct course with Canterbury Christ Church University. We hope that you enjoy your education and training in what we expect to be a challenging, stimulating and rewarding year for you.

The Course Team

Welcome and Induction

Your Welcome Week is an essential introduction to your course and the wider University, helping you to feel confident and prepared for your studies right from the very start.

It is important to check your Course Welcome Week for all the activities you are required to attend as part of your course induction. If any of your welcome activities are in groups, your course team will contact you before you arrive to let you know which group you will be in.

In addition, check the Student Events Hub for a range of fun activities. including the Students’ Union Welcome Fair, to help you make friends and live your best CCCU student life.

Your teaching timetable 

UniTimetables provides an overview of all teaching activities for a course. If your course is taught in groups, it will display information for all groups, not just the group you will be assigned to.

Your individual student timetable will show you what modules and groups you are expected to attend via MyTimetable. This will be available for when your teaching starts.

Learn more about timetabling for new students including user guides and videos.

Welcome

We are looking forward to working with you as you train to become a secondary school teacher. Your studies will be challenging and hard work, but very rewarding.

Getting started

Preparation tasks

Please complete the preparation tasks outlined in our Welcome Pack before you start the course. We will add activities and information (such as timetables) as we get closer to the start of the course. Please check back regularly.

In addition to gaining QTS at the end of the year, you have the option of gaining a PGCE by undertaking some additional study during the course. More information about this option will be given to you at the start of the course in September. To consider whether to opt for the PGCE, you could talk to your colleagues in school when you start.

Getting to know your school

Look at the most recent Ofsted report.

  • What type of school is it?
  • Number of pupils on roll?
  • How many boys/girls?
  • How many children with English as an Additional Language (EAL)?
  • What are the main linguistic groups?
  • How many children have Free School Meals (FSM)?
  • How many children attract Pupil Premium funding?
  • How many children have Special Educational Needs (SEN)?
  • What do you notice about pupil progress?
  • What does Ofsted recommend the school should be doing to improve?
  • bursary eligibility declaration prior to starting your course.

     

    For more information on the bursaries available and the eligibility criteria please visit the Get Into Teaching website.

    For queries, please contact education.bursaries@canterbury.ac.uk.

    We look forward to meeting you during Welcome Week w/c 8th September 2025.

Pre-course reading

All pre-course general and subject-specific readings can be found in the Welcome Pack

You can pre-order or purchase any of the books mentioned on this page through our University Bookshop.

It is useful to note that the University Bookshop offers a 10% discount on most titles in print and has some price-beating book bundles. They also price-match Amazon on core texts recommended in the module handbooks you will receive when you start in September.

International student success programme

International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.

Contact details

Have a question?

Speak to our friendly team for support.