About Us

Who We Are

Established in 1989 TimePlan Education introduced the concept of a professional recruitment service for schools and teachers. Since then the company has expanded to include a network of 9 offices throughout the UK and international recruitment in Canada, America, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. To date TimePlan has provided 100,000 staff to schools all over the country and has well established links with Local Education Authorities. TimePlan was awarded the Quality Mark when it was introduced in 2003, and has achieved 100% compliance in every Quality Mark Inspection.

What We Do

TimePlan Education supplies highly qualified teachers, nursery nurses and class room assistants for schools throughout the UK, we provide permanent staff as well as cover for day-to-day and long-term positions. Our teachers and School Support Staff (SSS) range from newly qualified to the highly experienced.

Our Hallmark

TimePlan’s success stems from its determination to provide schools, teachers and SSS with a professional service; our educational ethos is our hallmark. Strict checks and vetting procedures ensure that we only take on the very best teachers and SSS. We also match the subject and age specialism of the teachers or SSS to the needs of the schools. This not only provides schools with the right teacher or SSS in the right place at the right time, but also ensures teachers’ and SSS’ job satisfaction. It is TimePlan’s quality control and emphasis on education which sets us apart from other employment agencies.

Our Commitment 

We only recruit qualified teachers and SSS who are adaptable, positive and have proven classroom management skills.

We fully support all of our teachers and SSS and encourage

constructive feed back so that our knowledge base as an organisation is constantly growling. Likewise our close relationships with head teachers have allowed us to adapt and enhance our service to meet the changing needs of schools

What can TimePlan offer?

TimePlan teachers and SSS are there to help you in a variety of ways.

Day-to-day: Staff illness or training may mean that you need a teacher or SSS for one or two days. The teachers and SSS we use to cover these situations are flexible, resilient and authoritative.

Long-term: Maternity leave, long term staff sickness or an unfilled vacancy can leave a gap in the timetable for half a term, a term or even more. In cases such as these you need a teacher or SSS who will fully participate in school life and provide curriculum continuity for your pupils. 

Permanent: Many long-term teachers and SSS become fully-fledged members of staff once a school have assessed their suitability for the role.

For all types of work teachers and SSS are matched to meet your needs. At primary level we differentiate between nursery, infant and junior, and at secondary level we recognise that teachers and SSS are subject specialists.

Where do our teachers and SSS come from?

TimePlan also recruits teachers and SSS from around the world, however most of our overseas candidates hail from Canada, America, New Zealand, Australia and

Ireland. 

Outside of the UK, international advertising draws a regular number of well-qualified applicants. Prior to a candidate being introduced to a school our network of International Recruitment Coordinators take the candidates through our rigorous checking procedures and in depth interviews.

How do we support our teachers and SSS?

We pride ourselves on giving sound, personal support from the moment a teacher or SSS registers with us. On accepting an assignment a teacher or SSS is given a full briefing on what is expected and is also provided with travel directions. We also provide our teachers and SSS with:

Head Teacher Consultants: Mike Kelly our Head Teacher Consultant is able to offer practical advice and guidance drawn from his many years of experience as both subject teacher and Head Teacher.

Training Programmes: we run seminars covering behaviour management, Literacy and Numeracy Hours and all aspects of the national curriculum.

Accommodation assistance: We offer advice and assistance to all our staff seeking both temporary and permanent accommodation.

Airport Collection: TimePlan South East offers free airport collection to all teachers or SSS that will be working in our area and arrive at one of the following airports, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead. We collect teachers and take them to their chosen guest house or permanent accommodation.

Banking: We have an arrangement with Lloyd's Bank which enables us to help our teachers or SSS set up bank accounts.

National Insurance Numbers: We guide all our overseas teachers or SSS through the process of applying for their NI Number.

Healthcare: We explain to our overseas teachers or SSS how to register with a doctor and dentist and provide local lists.

Social Events: We organise regular Social events for our teachers.

If you would like to have a chat about how we can help you give us a call! On 01732 373340 or email us at kent.sussex@timeplan.net

Getting the best out of classroom discussions

Discussion is a powerful tool, but using it in class can be a minefield. Mike Gershon shares tips on making it work

A problem shared is a problem halved, goes the old saying. But what does it really mean? Analysing the maxim helps us to understand why discussion is a powerful tool in the classroom that can help pupils to make significant progress, no matter what the subject.

If we share a problem in the classroom through discussion, we:

• use language to articulate the thoughts and experiences that are in our minds;
• share this with another person;
• respond to that person, first by rephrasing and altering our speech to make our meaning clear and second by taking account of what they say;
• decode, analyse, compare and assess what they have said; and
• create new thoughts and pieces of speech as a result.

In addition, the teacher can benefit from listening to what his or her pupils are thinking and use this information to adapt the teaching.

Discussion prior to writing gives pupils an opportunity to order and arrange their thoughts before having to translate them into that more complex medium. This allows them to give their full attention to the process of articulation, without having to divide their energies between writing and working out what they want to say.

Paired discussion

In most classrooms, pupils will be seated in such a way that they can team up with their neighbour or someone sitting behind them. This makes paired discussion simple to use and easy for the teacher.

Here are three ways in which you might put it into practice:

1. Do a little bit of teaching in which you lead the class through a new idea or piece of information. Ask pupils to pair up with the person next to them. Display two or three questions related to what has been taught. Ask pupils to discuss the questions with their partner.
2. Put pupils into pairs. Give each pair some stimulus material. This could be provided to each group, perhaps in a hand-out, or to the whole class, possibly in the form of a video. Ask pupils to share their thoughts on the stimulus material. (You could scaffold this with some open questions, such as “What are your thoughts on this?”) Finally, invite the pairs to feed back the results of their discussions to the whole class.
3. Throughout the course of a lesson, give pupils 30- to 60-second windows in which they can discuss a point that has been raised with the person next to them. This will assist them in understanding things that come up during the lesson.

Group discussion

This sees the teacher giving up some control in order to gain the benefits that come from pupils working collaboratively. The risk is that pupils may lose focus or become distracted. Here are some strategies you can use to structure discussion and avoid such pitfalls:

1. Keep group sizes small. Three or four pupils per group is ideal. This diminishes the possibility that some pupils will sit back and let their peers carry them through.
2. Assign roles. Give each member of the group a specific role to fulfil, for example, timekeeper, scribe and motivator. A good way to imbue the “role ethic” in your class is to develop a collection of roles with them at the beginning of the year, specifying what each one entails.
3. Divide the discussion into separate parts and give each of these a specific length of time. This helps pupils to maintain focus, creates a sense of pace and urgency and avoids protests that they don’t know what they are meant to be doing.
4. Provide a series of mini-tasks or questions for groups to work through. Again, this helps to keep discussion moving and prevent pupils from becoming bogged down or losing concentration.
5. Display clear instructions on the board. These could include all of the above, giving pupils a reference point they can turn to throughout the activity.

In each case, the emphasis is on distinguishing group discussion in the classroom from group discussion elsewhere. The key is to make it clear that discussion is being used as a means to an end - learning - rather than an end in itself, as in social discussion.

Whole-class discussion

Whole-class discussion differs considerably from paired and group discussion in terms of its structure. In the other two approaches, all pupils get a multitude of opportunities to talk and be heard. In whole- class discussion, only one pupil at a time is allowed to speak, while the rest must listen.

This has three great advantages. First, pupils are exposed to a wider range of ideas and viewpoints than might otherwise be the case. This will lead to a more nuanced and rounded understanding of the matter in hand.

Second, it is easier to facilitate debate because a whole class is much more likely than any single group to contain competing perspectives.

Third, the teacher is in a position to make teaching points during the discussion. These will be attended to by the whole class and will either be in reference to something a pupil has said or based on something the teacher feels has been missed.

If the teacher can facilitate pupil-pupil interactions (instead of pupils’ comments always coming back through the teacher) then more powerful learning will take place. A good way to do this is through “bouncing” what one pupil has said over to another pupil, without commenting on it. For example:

Pupil A: “In my opinion, the greatest threat to our freedom is government surveillance.”

Teacher: “Thank you for that point. Pupil B, what are your thoughts on what Pupil A has said?”

This leads to a more natural discussion in which pupils engage directly with their peers. It avoids a situation where a series of separate conversations between individual pupils and the teacher takes place, which are then bracketed together as a whole-class discussion.

In summary

Discussion is a powerful tool for helping pupils to learn. It allows them to bridge the gaps between minds, to order and articulate their thoughts, to process and respond to the ideas of others and develop new knowledge and understanding.

There are many ways it can be used in lessons. But for the discussion to be effective, it has to be structured and clearly aimed towards some goal.

How to show progress through discussion

• Appoint a scribe to keep a record of what is talked about.
• Follow up discussions with a written task.
• Provide pupils with a worksheet on which they can make notes. This could be used prior to, during or after discussions.
• Ask pupils to note down their thoughts before beginning a discussion. At the end of the activity, ask them to revisit these and to write a reflection.
• Use peer- and self-assessment. This could be done at the end of lengthy discussion activities or in response to pupils’ contributions.

Rules for discussion

It is helpful to have clear rules guiding discussions in the classroom. These could be negotiated with pupils at the beginning of the year. Here are the rules I stick to when using discussion:

• If someone is talking, everyone else must listen.
• One person speaks at a time.
• Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
• Everyone must support their opinions with reasons, evidence or examples.
• Everyone must remain polite at all times.

Tips for keeping any discussion on track

1. Make it interesting. Choose engaging topics or questions.
2. Keep it structured. Make sure pupils know what you are asking them to do.
3. Move around the room. Keep an eye on pupils and get involved in their discussions.
4. Be flexible. If your questions turn out to be less stimulating than you imagined, draw things to a close sooner.
5. Create guidelines. You can then refer pupils to these if necessary.

Different types of discusser

• Pupils who prefer to talk, rather than listen. Encourage these pupils to do the latter by asking them to relay to you what their peers think. In addition, you may want to appoint them as scribes. This will mean that they have to pay attention to the ideas of others.
• Quiet pupils. These pupils may be timid or shy and so reluctant to take part. Encourage them by showing interest in what they think and praising the insight that underpins their ideas. They will most likely find paired discussion easier, so use this technique where possible. Put them in a group with supportive peers.
• Dismissive pupils. These pupils may not be prepared to accept or tolerate the reasonably held views of others. Model good etiquette and discussion manners for them and refer them to the rules by which all pupils are bound. If they persist, give them an individual task as a sanction.
• Pupils who want a social discussion. These pupils look for opportunities to turn talk away from the learning and towards other matters. Stay close to them and gently redirect them when necessary. If they persist, exclude them from the next discussion.
• Pupils who run out of things to say. Give these pupils prompts such as further questions and sentence starters.

Read more about using discussion as a classroom tool

How to encourage structured speaking and listening
Mike Gershon shares his tips for enhancing students’ thinking skills by working on speaking and listening.

Tried and tested questioning strategies
Questioning is a valuable tool to use in lessons and these techniques will help you get the most from your pupils

Find Mike Gershon's books on Amazon here

Free teaching resources for use in class

Discussion Toolkit
Guides you through a variety of activities you can use to structure and encourage discussion in the classroom.

Debating lesson
Lesson detailing rules and strategies for a class debate - includes co-operative learning strategies.

Developing empathy
This lesson plans get students to develop empathy and consider the impact of their actions on other people’s feelings through script work or hot seating.

Source: http://newteachers.tes.co.uk/content/getting-best-out-classroom-discussions

How to find a teaching job you love

Find a good source of job vacancies, read behind the lines and decide whether the school is the right fit, advises Alan Newland

If you’re thinking of changing jobs, the first thing to remember is to be very careful. Choosing the right school has far-reaching implications, not just for how happy and supported you feel, but for what kind of teacher you become.

Whether you are a newly-qualified teacher or looking to move up the career ladder, you need to pay close attention to three issues: finding good sources of job vacancies; assessing adverts; and deciding whether you are the right “fit” for the school.

Sign up to as many sites and agencies as you can – you don’t need to register yourself exclusively to just one. But make sure you customise your search so you don’t waste time trawling through jobs that are not relevant to you. Some teaching job sites, such as Guardian Jobs for Schools and timeplan.com, allow you to save your job search preferences by region, town and city, subject, phase and school type – and will send automatic email alerts of the latest vacancies.

Adverts can be difficult to gauge these days, however. If you were to believe everything they say, all schools have “fantastic children”, “enthusiastic colleagues” and are “committed to high standards”. Certain tell-tale signals you should look out for include “personalised professional development” or “individual, guaranteed support during your induction period”. The advert can also reveal more than the person specification. For example, calls for “Energetic and resourceful teacher required for lively but loveable class” is code for, “You’ll need the patience of a saint to teach this lot”.

Deciphering whether the school “fits” is trickier, especially since you should try and suss this out before you prepare an application or interview. Here are some tips on what to try:

• Read the school’s website and the latest Ofsted report. Most of this information is there to attract parents, but is there a human element as well as the corporate gloss?

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• Read the Department for Education information about the school. This gives another dimension as it makes comparisons with schools of a similar profile – absence rates, trends in performance etc. Search for a schoolhere.

• Don’t jump to conclusions. You won’t necessarily be happier or better supported in a school with a string of “outstanding” Ofsted reports. Don’t assume “special measures” is to be avoided; schools in challenging circumstances often have the most committed and hard-working teachers who will inspire and encourage you.

• Visit the school prior to interview if possible. Get a feel for the children, the staff, the building and the local area. For first appointments, the school may arrange group visits with other applicants. Don’t be intimidated by that – go and see what you make of it.

When you do visit, be sensitive to:

• First impressions. You may see and hear things that strike you as odd, such as children addressing teachers by their first names. You may find the buildings awkwardly arranged, like some classrooms in portacabins. However, you will get used to strange, new ways very quickly so don’t put too much store by these.

• Atmosphere. How are you greeted? With warmth, consideration and time to answer questions or with haste, anxiety and cursory courtesies? Do teachers seem to be having fun? Is staff turnover an issue? Do children and students dash about pushing and shoving each other? Or is there a reasonable degree of orderliness given their energy? Are students reasonably eager to get to class? Or do they drag their heels coming in from breaks, hanging around toilets and corridors?

• Relationships. Do teachers and children speak to each other with respect and courtesy? There are bound to be a few lapses but what is the general tenor? Are children engaged or do they answer back?

Most new teachers tend not to be picky about whether a school is “faith” based or “community.” Nevertheless, you will want to feel that the ethos, values and culture of the school suits you. For example, if you are an a vowed atheist you may well find the ethos and beliefs of a traditional Roman Catholic school not to your liking. If you are not religious, you will probably be asked if you are sympathetic to the school’s beliefs and ethos. Accepting an appointment in such a school presumes that you would at least respect this.

You may relish the thought of teaching in a tough inner city environment, working with children who are ethnically and culturally diverse, some of whom will be coming to school fluent in two or three languages. The picture is changing rapidly of course but if teaching socially and economically disadvantaged children appeals, these days you are just as likely to find them in coastal towns and rural areas as you once were in inner cities.

The advice to take from this is whatever the advert or website says, try to visit a school and decide for yourself whether you feel comfortable with it – whatever its reputation. If the school feels good because the staff seem genuinely hard working and friendly then it is probably the kind of school where not only children are thriving, but new teachers will too. Trust your instincts.

Source http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/oct/28/how-to-find-a-teaching-job

Classroom layout: your questions answered

Fretting about how to set up and organise your classroom? Gererd Dixie dispenses some advice

What’s the best classroom seating layout – in rows or groups? 

Experience and research has shown me that the best way to keep a group of pupils focused and engaged is having pupils seated in rows. Personally I would have this as your ‘default’ arrangement. There will be time when you do actually want ‘cross-table chat’ and of course this is when you do need to sit pupils in groups. My advice would be: do not have groups of any larger than four because there will be more opportunities for pupils to be a) distracted and b) marginalised. 

It is also vital that you set up your parameters for group work. ‘What does good group work sound like’ and ‘what does good group work look like’. Then get the pupils to ascertain how this positive learning environment might be achieved. You can make things easier on yourself by producing a series of different seating formats, labeling them A, B, C, D etc and then appointing monitors to lay the desks out according to the plan provided for them.

What about using the horseshoe layout for infants' desks?

Advantages: The horseshoe seating arrangement creates a degree of intimacy which pupils appreciate. It allows the teacher to make appropriate eye contact with each pupil. Breaking away from the traditional and formal seating arrangements can indicate to pupils that they are being treated like adults and they usually respond positively to this. The physical layout of the desks also engenders a degree of trust between teacher and pupil. Encourages fuller contribution - as there's less likely to be marginalisation.

Disadvantages: If pupils are not provided with firm parameters before you introduce this seating arrangement you could be met with chaos. All it needs is pupil to make inappropriate eye contact with their peers and the spell is broken. What do I mean by parameters? You need to tell the pupils that you will be treating them as big boys and girls and that you expect them to behave appropriately. You need to warn them if anybody can't manage to learn like this then they will have to be moved.

My advice is that this seating arrangement is not used on a regular basis but for specific discussion type activities where you would be looking for contributions from all of the pupils in the class.

How can I make my classroom a friendly environment for my students?

In general terms you need to introduce a ‘wow’ factor for when pupils enter your room (This means that your displays need to be constantly updated and changed). I suggest a strong use of primary colour as background paper. You can get cheap wallpaper remnants quite easily – these make superb backing paper.  I also suggest introducing lots of green plants into your room – these along with the playing of music, can create a calming effect in the classroom. Bombard the pupils with interesting photographs, proverbs, quizzes, riddles jokes etc. In addition to this give due consideration to the role of the ‘hidden curriculum’ when planning your displays by displaying material that supports academic, social and emotional learning.

The Senco has advised me to have a relaxing area in my Y2 classroom for with emotional difficulties. Is there anything you can suggest?

I strongly support the advice given to you by your Senco. Providing a safe, secure and relaxing area for all pupils can have a significant impact on the behaviour and learning climate in the classroom. As far as older pupils are concerned I would take away the soft toys but would encourage a soft seating area - perhaps an easy chair or bean bags. A water dispenser might be good; plants also add a calming effect. The form classroom is often the only safe haven for some of these pupils, so you need to give your class ownership of who is allowed in there during breaktimes and lunchtimes.

In order to get to know pupils names quickly, I am planning on sitting my classes in alphabetical order to start off. My problem with it is initially getting them to sit in this order without chaos.

Produce a series of laminated name labels for each of your groups. Place these labels on the desks before the pupils enter the room. Meet the pupils at the door – explain that they are to sit where their labels are and robustly warn the class that you do not want them to a) write on the labels, move the labels, take the labels away with them or eat them (yes, I know it sounds far-fetched but I have had this happen). Allow a few pupils into the room at a time – this way you can check that they do not move the labels.

What should be included on a tutor group notice board and ensure evolves over the year?

You can divide your noticeboard into sections with the following headings:

• Things to do/happening today – for example, hand in reply slips, school photographs, get log book signed etc.
• General information – parents evenings dates, school productions etc
• Pupil of the week – type out reasons why this pupil received this award – this could be academic, social or an out of school contribution
• Celebration of pupils’ work  – Gather examples of your pupils’ work from across the curriculum.

How do I introduce the classroom rules and routines?

It is important to convey the message to your pupils ‘I say what I mean and I mean what I say’. In fact, I would strongly advise you to display a poster to this effect on your wall. However, this will only be effective if this is actually true. You have to convince your pupils that you will always follow up on everything – rewards and sanctions. 

You really do need to run a strong establishment phase. Design a PowerPoint and spend at least half an hour running through your expectations, rules, rewards and sanctions. Make it clear who you are, what you stand for, what you will not put up with, what will happen if pupils behave or misbehave. Produce a list of your own gradated sanctions and rewards to support the school system – get pupils to stick these into your books. Stress the ‘partnership’ aspect of the teaching/learning equation – tell pupils what you expect from them but also tell them what they can expect from you. 

Any tips for the first 'getting to know you' lesson? 

One good activity to run is called ‘Two truths and a lie’. Write down three statements about you and/or your life. Two of these statements are true and one is false. Get the pupils to discuss which one they think is the falsehood and to come up with a reason for their decision. Once you have modelled this process, get the pupils to have a go at the activity themselves. It is absolutely amazing what you learn about your pupils and what they learn about each other.

Gererd Dixie is an Advanced Skills Teacher specialising in Initial Teacher Training. He is also an educational consultant and author.

How to use brain science to engage students after the holidays

 Neurologist and former teacher Judy Willis explains how techniques such as walking backwards and changing the furniture in your classroom can motivate students on the first day back of term

 It can be hard enough for teachers to feel motivated after the holidays, nevermind trying to excite students who just want to talk about what they’ve been upto. Photograph: Alamy

As the holidays come to an end, thoughts of students and lesson plans replace time spent indulging in puddings and turkey. But teachers know all too well that it’s challenging enough to motivate a class on a Monday morning after a weekend, nevermind after a longer break. To reignite energy levels this January here are my tips as a neurologist and former teacher:

What gets the brain’s attention?

All learning starts as information perceived by the five senses: vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell. There are also millions of sensory nerve endings throughout the skin, muscles and internal organs. But the brain is only able to process about 1% of this information and it gives priority to certain things.

With the help of brain imaging, we can see that the sensory information that gets priority is that which helps mammals survive. This tends to be information that is unexpected – our attention filter first takes in sensory information about change and novelty.

On the first day back get your class to share stories

After a break, there is a higher than normal amount of new sensory information competing for access to the brain. Students have not seen each other for a while and the novelty of returning to school is enhanced by their interest in what classmates did during the holidays.

So beginning the first day back by returning immediately to routine is unlikely to get your students’ attention and can cause bad behavior and inattention. But if you know that a child’s brain is programmed to be curious about new experiences and what friends have done, you can use it to promote important qualities.

Students are likely to want to tell their class about what they got for Christmas or a trip they’ve been on. Tell them they can do this but only if they also share something that they did for others or generous acts that they saw or heard about.

Get class attention through curiosity

Once students have had the chance to satisfy their curiosity about classmates, you can redirect their focus to classroom instruction by starting with sensory input that is most likely to get through the attention filter. Through neuroimaging research, we know the types of novelty or change that get attention priority include movement, curious objects, pictures, videos, unexpected class visitors or speakers, changes of colour and things you do that are unusual. So why not wear something unusual? Have music playing when children enter class, open with a dynamic video clip, a curious picture, or an optical illusion?It’s essential that students remember the information you teach them. For this to happen, you can use strategies to make sure the sensory information you provide (through what you say, show, do or have them experience through physical movement) gets through their attention filters.

Here are some other suggestions:

What you say (or don’t say). A sudden mid-sentence silence is a curiosity the attention filter wants to know more about. A suspenseful pause in your speech before saying something important increases alertness and memory of what you will say or do next.

Change the furniture arrangement. Or put up photos of last year’s students doing an activity your students will be doing in the unit they are beginning, light a candle, put a new exciting poster relating to the new unit under the one that has been hanging and when you walk by, “inadvertently” bump into the wall so the old one falls down and the new one is suddenly revealed.

Get moving. Since movement gets high priority, you can move in an unexpected way such as doing what you usually do (handing out papers or posting information on the walls) while walking backwards. That could lead to a lesson about negative numbers, negative electric charges, going “back” in history, or the past tense of verbs.

Rotate techniques, lest the unexpected become expected. Greet students at the door with a riddle or a note card with a vocabulary word. They can seek their new seats by looking for the table with the note card that has the riddle answer or the definition of their word.

Good teachers are highly responsive to their students’ moods and needs. Knowing a bit of the neuroscience can help you prepare for times when it’s harder to get your students’ attention. I recall a poster that read: “A Mind Stretched Will Never Revert to its Original Size.” That mind stretching is what teachers do. Using strategies to first captivate their attention will hook into their brains’ intake programing, stimulate their curiosity, and sustain the attentive focus needed to turn information into knowledge.