About Us
A dedicated team of education specialists that raise attainment in primary schools
We are proud to be the UK’s leading PPA cover specialists, working with over 100 primary schools to raise attainment and standards of creative subjects as well as mentoring class teachers and members of SLT with the delivery and requirements of numerous subjects.
Our guarantees to your school:
- We will improve the standard of specialist subjects
- Assessments once per year by our staff, saving your teachers time
- Children will be able to demonstrate practical and theoretical understanding of the subject(s) we teach
- Outstanding lesson plans and resources will be provided by our staff coordinators
- We endeavour to provide sickness cover – move to bottom
- If required, termly observations carried out by our senior staff on all of our teachers, ensuring a high quality provision
- Training provided three times change to twice per year ensuring CPD (SEN, Behaviour Management, EAL, Safeguarding, First Aid etc.)
- We take care of all admin and employment costs: NI, Tax, Holiday Pay, Sick Pay, Pensions, Contracts, Appraisals, Dismissals, IR35 compliance, etc.
The PPA Extra Mile
One of the many things that separate us from our competition.
All of our staff have “Extra Mile” training and this also forms part of their induction process with us. We believe in our teachers becoming part of your school team and the relationship between the teacher and the school is at the heart of everything that we do.
As a company, our values are Trust, Pride, Respect, Passion, Teamwork and Ingenuity and we reflect these values in every aspect of our organisation. For this reason, our teaching staff go the “Extra Mile” by:
- Entering children into inter-school, national and global competitions such as Vocab Express
- Inviting children to local events that celebrate the success of the subject they are delivering in school
- Writing individual and personalised school reports (assessments)
- Creating and maintaining subject-specific display boards
- Communicating with parents via mentions of high achievers for the subject they teach in the School Newsletter
- “Star of the Term” certificates presented in assembly once per term
- Communicating and feeding back to school staff and SLT at least once every two weeks
- Sharing best practice between schools
- Inviting schools to our FREE CPD training to enrich their knowledge of the particular subject and understand Ofsted requirements
- Organising residential trips abroad for the school when studying MFL
- Performances to the entire school or year group when delivering Drama, Music, Dance, Gymnastics or MFL
- Choreograph and organise Year 6 Leaver’s or Christmas performances
- Organising school sports day if delivering PE provision
- Running school football team if delivering PE provision
- Running school choir if delivering Music provision
Office Team
We always believe in sharing our achievements as a way of sharing best practice amongst our school network
2020 Business Excellence Awards
Primary PPA Cover have recently been awarded Best Primary School Teacher Cover Specialists 2020 for the UK.
Great Britain’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Primary PPA Cover’s business owners Kerry & Stacey won Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2017. The award is one of the most prestigious awards in the UK and Stacey and Kerry were very surprised to walk away with the award after 1,500 businesses entered and most of them were household names and renowned businesses.
UK’s Best PPA Staff Recruiter
In 2017, we were delighted to be awarded the UK’s best PPA staff recruiter by CV magazine.
Leaders in Educational Recruitment
Also in 2017, we were honoured to receive the “Leaders in Educational Recruitment” award from Acquistion International Ltd.
MFL Curriculum
We have created our own Primary MFL Curriculum that ticks all boxes outlined in the new National Curriculum. Our LinguaLearn© programme has been graded as “Outstanding” every time it has been observed and we are honoured to be the UK’s Leading MFL specialists for primary teaching. The curriculum was certified by UKCCS in 2013 and was transferred into an interactive software in 2017, by investing over £15,000 into the programme. We are currently working towards achieving NCFE accreditation for the programme.
British Gymnastics Certification
We are proud to announce that in 2016, we started to enable children to work towards British Gymnastics badges within their PPA lessons. This has had a phenomenal impact on children’s learning and has also inspired children to pursue gymnastics outside of curriculum time and enter regional and national competitions.
Vocab Express
All schools studying our LinguaLearn© programme are invited to compete in the national and global heats of Vocab Express via our organisation. We enter all children and obtain log-ins for them and run the entire competition for your school. We also obtain the certificates for the winners from Vocab Express and provide an engraved trophy to the winning school. See below photographs of trophies and certificates. We are proud to have won Vocab Express in 2017!
Best Primary School Teacher Cover Specialists 2020 – UK
Primary PPA Cover was selected in the 2020 Global Business Awards, and won the award of Best Primary School Teacher Cover Specialists 2020-UK.
Salford Business Awards
The Directors of our Company were finalists in Salford Business Awards for their tremendous contribution to primary education.
Young Enterprise UK
The Directors of our Company volunteer with Young Enterprise UK to inspire secondary and college students to set up their own companies and actively run the Company Programme on behalf of Young Enterprise UK.
FAQ’s
For Schools
ARE YOUR STAFF ALL QUALIFIED TEACHERS? HAVE THEY GOT QTS?
On our bank of staff we have both Qualified and Non-Qualified Teaching Specialists (approximately 60% do have QTS). If a school requires their staff to have QTS we can accommodate this, however many of our schools have experienced Outstanding gradings from Ofsted with our staff that do not have QTS. As it is not a legal requirement to have QTS to cover PPA Time, it is simply down to each school’s preference. Our priority is that all our staff are degree level qualified or equivalent in their subject areas, have a minimum of one years’ teaching experience and and are trained in Safeguarding and Behaviour Management with knowledge of EAL, SEN and Inclusion.
DO YOUR STAFF HAVE DBS, SAFEGUARDING AND FIRST AID?
Yes, all staff have Enhanced DBS checks, have filled in disqualification forms, and have training in Prevent, Safeguarding, and First Aid.
HAVE YOUR STAFF WORKED IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS BEFORE?
Yes, all our staff have experience teaching in Primary Schools.
DO YOU DO REPORTS?
Yes, our reports are carried out bi-annually on our secure online assessment system. We will simply need class lists from your school to enable us to input them into the system.
WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOUR STAFF ARE OFF SICK?
You will be offered the optional bolt-on for cover insurance, which will guarantee you an alternative teacher should you member of staff not be able to attend their sessions.
Our sickness policy states that staff must inform us before 7am if they are going to be off sick that day, and we then endeavour to allocate a substitute member of staff for that day. In the unlikely event that we cannot secure cover, we will inform the school with plenty of notice and issue a credit note
CAN YOU GUARANTEE ME I WILL GET THE SAME PERSON WEEK IN WEEK OUT?
Yes, our staff contracts are extremely rigid and we pride ourselves on consistency, staff are aware of this and they like to become an integral part of the school.
WHAT IS YOUR PROGRAMME?
Our programmes are specific to each subject, for more information on each subject, please contact us and we will be happy to send you our Unit Frameworks.
IS THE CONTENT IN LINE WITH THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM?
Yes, all our content is in line with the New National Curriculum and it is constantly being updated.
WILL I HAVE A MAIN POINT OF CONTACT?
Yes, all of our schools are designated a dedicated Account manager who will be your main point of contact for the duration of your contract.
DO YOU OFFER EQUIPMENT?
Yes, Primary PPA Cover offers a variety of equipment packages such as iPads and musical equipment that you can purchase alongside your PPA provision with us.
WHAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS FOR MARKING AND DISMISSAL?
Should you wish for your staff member to have dedicated time for marking, or wish for them to stay to ensure the children are dismissed, these can be purchased as bolt-ons alongside your PPA provision. This is of course optional.
WHAT ARE BOOSTER SESSIONS?
Since the announcement of the catch-up funding, we are offering booster sessions, this can be a small group or one to one tuition, Move With Maths and Leap Into Literacy to help bridge the gap in numeracy and literacy or delivering any other sessions while class teachers are doing catch up sessions.
WHAT IF I'M UNHAPPY WITH MY PROVISION?
If you are dissatisfied with the member of staff Primary PPA Cover has provided for your School, you must follow
the below procedure:
· Report your dissatisfaction in writing to our Head Office immediately via e-mail
· Allow Primary PPA Cover one week to investigate the issue
· Arrange a meeting with Primary PPA Cover to discuss the issue face-to-face or via video conference
· Either allow Primary PPA Cover to provide their staff their notice (2 weeks) and replace the teacher with a
teacher more suited to your school (staff working for Primary PPA Cover are on employment contracts and therefore have notices) or provide the staff with a Performance Improvement Plan.
To change a member of staff if a School is dissatisfied, we require a minimum of 3 weeks (including the one-week investigation) for this change over unless there has been a serious incident or safeguarding breach.
Wherever possible, we will certainly strive to change teachers over before the 3 weeks is over but reserve the right to 3 full weeks to protect us in terms of Employment Law. If the School refuses to have a member of staff back, we reserve the right to charge as normal for the service until we are able to provide an alternative member of staff (after 3 weeks)
HOW DO I ACCESS OUR STAFF VETTING INFORMATION?
At the bottom of the page, click on ‘secure access’. this will then take you to our password-protected portal. Use your login details provided by your Account Manager and this will give you access to download their vetting information.
If you have forgotten your login details, please call us on 01530 566750 and we can reset your password.
WHAT OTHER SERVICES DO YOU OFFER?
Please see a list below of the services we provide:
-PPA Provision
– Ipad Leasing
– Booster sessions
– Primary Personnel, recruiting school staff such as SLT, Business Manager, Clerical staff etc.
– Primary Supply cover, to support with staff absence at short notice
– CPD Training and whole school training
– TeachToolpackages with assessment portal
For more information on these packages, please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01530566750 or to check these pages out on our website.
WHERE CAN I FIND A SCHEME OF WORK?
Your subject-specific scheme of work can be found on TeachTool in documents. These outline the topics covered.
DO YOU HAVE A SKILLS PROGRESSION DOCUMENT?
Yes, this is something we provide to all our schools. Subject-specific skills progressions can be found on your TeachTool login. These will outline the lesson objectives to ensure there is a clear breakdown of what is taught and the progression expected from the children.
DO YOU HAVE SUBJECT LEADER ACTION PLANS?
Yes, this is something we can provide for any subject and is tailored to each school. Please see below links to complete to obtain yours:
Mindfulness
Gymnastics
Musical Theatre
Yoga
Dance
ICT
MWM
PE
Art
Drama
Music
MFL
ARE YOUR STAFF ALL QUALIFIED TEACHERS? HAVE THEY GOT QTS?
On our bank of staff we have both Qualified and Non-Qualified Teaching Specialists (approximately 60% do have QTS). If a school requires their staff to have QTS we can accommodate this, however many of our schools have experienced Outstanding gradings from Ofsted with our staff that do not have QTS. As it is not a legal requirement to have QTS to cover PPA Time, it is simply down to each school’s preference. Our priority is that all our staff have a minimum of two years’ teaching experience and are trained in Safeguarding and Behaviour Management with knowledge of EAL, SEN and Inclusion.
DO YOUR STAFF HAVE DBS, SAFEGUARDING AND FIRST AID?
Yes, all staff have Enhanced DBS checks, have filled in disqualification forms, and have training in Prevent, Safeguarding, and First Aid.
HAVE YOUR STAFF WORKED IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS BEFORE?
Yes, all our staff have experience teaching in Primary Schools.
DO YOU DO REPORTS?
Yes, our reports are carried out bi-annually on our secure online assessment system. We will simply need class lists from your school to enable us to input them into the system.
WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOUR STAFF ARE OFF SICK?
You will be offered the optional bolt-on for cover insurance, which will guarantee you an alternative teacher should you member of staff not be able to attend their sessions.
Our sickness policy states that staff must inform us before 7am if they are going to be off sick that day, and we then endeavour to allocate a substitute member of staff for that day. In the unlikely event that we cannot secure cover, we will inform the school with plenty of notice and issue a credit note
CAN YOU GUARANTEE ME I WILL GET THE SAME PERSON WEEK IN WEEK OUT?
Yes, our staff contracts are extremely rigid and we pride ourselves on consistency, staff are aware of this and they like to become an integral part of the school.
WHAT IS YOUR PROGRAMME?
Our programmes are specific to each subject, for more information on each subject, please contact us and we will be happy to send you our Unit Frameworks.
IS THE CONTENT IN LINE WITH THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM?
Yes, all our content is in line with the New National Curriculum and it is constantly being updated.
WILL I HAVE A MAIN POINT OF CONTACT?
Yes, all of our schools are designated a dedicated Account manager who will be your main point of contact for the duration of your contract.
DO YOU OFFER EQUIPMENT?
Yes, Primary PPA Cover offers a variety of equipment packages such as iPads and musical equipment that you can purchase alongside your PPA provision with us.
WHAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS FOR MARKING AND DISMISSAL?
Should you wish for your staff member to have dedicated time for marking, or wish for them to stay to ensure the children are dismissed, these can be purchased as bolt-ons alongside your PPA provision. This is of course optional.
WHAT ARE BOOSTER SESSIONS?
Since the announcement of the catch-up funding, we are offering booster sessions, this can be a small group or one to one tuition, Move With Maths and Leap Into Literacy to help bridge the gap in numeracy and literacy or delivering any other sessions while class teachers are doing catch up sessions.
WHAT IF I'M UNHAPPY WITH MY PROVISION?
If you are dissatisfied with the member of staff Primary PPA Cover has provided for your School, you must follow
the below procedure:
· Report your dissatisfaction in writing to our Head Office immediately via e-mail
· Allow Primary PPA Cover one week to investigate the issue
· Arrange a meeting with Primary PPA Cover to discuss the issue face-to-face or via video conference
· Either allow Primary PPA Cover to provide their staff their notice (2 weeks) and replace the teacher with a
teacher more suited to your school (staff working for Primary PPA Cover are on employment contracts and therefore have notices) or provide the staff with a Performance Improvement Plan.
To change a member of staff if a School is dissatisfied, we require a minimum of 3 weeks (including the one-week investigation) for this change over unless there has been a serious incident or safeguarding breach.
Wherever possible, we will certainly strive to change teachers over before the 3 weeks is over but reserve the right to 3 full weeks to protect us in terms of Employment Law. If the School refuses to have a member of staff back, we reserve the right to charge as normal for the service until we are able to provide an alternative member of staff (after 3 weeks)
HOW DO I ACCESS OUR STAFF VETTING INFORMATION?
At the bottom of the page, click on ‘secure access’. this will then take you to our password-protected portal. Use your login details provided by your Account Manager and this will give you access to download their vetting information.
If you have forgotten your login details, please call us on 01530 566750 and we can reset your password.
WHAT OTHER SERVICES DO YOU OFFER?
Please see a list below of the services we provide:
-PPA Provision
– Ipad Leasing
– Booster sessions
– Primary Personnel, recruiting school staff such as SLT, Business Manager, Clerical staff etc.
– Primary Supply cover, to support with staff absence at short notice
– CPD Training and whole school training
– TeachToolpackages with assessment portal
For more information on these packages, please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 01530566750 or to check these pages out on our website.
WHERE CAN I FIND A SCHEME OF WORK?
Your subject-specific scheme of work can be found on TeachTool in documents. These outline the topics covered.
DO YOU HAVE A SKILLS PROGRESSION DOCUMENT?
Yes, this is something we provide to all our schools. Subject-specific skills progressions can be found on your TeachTool login. These will outline the lesson objectives to ensure there is a clear breakdown of what is taught and the progression expected from the children.
DO YOU HAVE SUBJECT LEADER ACTION PLANS?
Yes, this is something we can provide for any subject and is tailored to each school. Please see below links to complete to obtain yours:
Mindfulness
Gymnastics
Musical Theatre
Yoga
Dance
ICT
MWM
PE
Art
Drama
Music
MFL
For Staff
HOW DO I GET FEEDBACK?
Your Curriculum Support Advisor (at our HQ) will feed back to you and will also be contacting you for your feedback. They will also be observing lessons termly and carrying out termly review meetings with you.
HOW DO WE GET PAID?
You will need to send your timesheet/invoice to Primary PPA Cover Ltd for payment, and all timesheets must be carried out monthly and must be submitted online via the link sent to you on or prior to 20th of each month so that payment can be processed. The cut-off date for pay runs up until the 25th of each month so you must include all hours up to and including 25th of each month. After this date all work carried out will go into the next month’s pay.
IF I JOIN YOU, WHO WOULD BE MY EMPLOYER?
Primary PPA Cover would be your employer, and you would be contracted to work at the specific schools you are delivering PPA for.
WHAT CONTRACT TYPES ARE AVAILABLE?
Depending on your personal circumstances, we have 3 different contract types:
– PAYE Part-time fixed- term contract
– PAYE Salaried Contract
– Self-Employed contract(please note that this option is subject to an eligibility check).
WHO IS MY LINE MANAGER AND HOW DO I CONTACT THEM?
Our Staff Coordinator is Shelly Botham. Shelly can be contacted via email on staff@primaryppacover.com or on her mobile 07494273365.
WHEN WILL I BE ABLE TO SEE LESSON PLANS?
All new employees will be able to see their lesson plans once their contract is signed and returned. Login details will be sent in your ‘Welcome Email’.
WHAT DO I NEED TO WEAR?
Uniform for all staff is as follows:
– Apron for Art PPA
– T-shirt for Move With Maths, Drama, Dance, Yoga, Musical theatre, PE & Mindfulness
– Polo shirt for Music & ICT
WILL I MEET WITH MY SCHOOL BEFORE I START?
We advise that all of our staff meet with their schools prior to their first teaching day. If this is something you would like us to arrange, please inform your line manager and this will be arranged.
WHAT COMMUNICATION SHOULD I EXPECT?
Your line manager will communicate with you as frequently as required either via email, text or phone call, whichever suits you best.
WHAT IF MY DBS HAS EXPERIED OR IS DUE TO EXPIRE?
Please get in touch with us on admin@primaryppacover.com and we will happily process a new DBS check for you at the cost of £63.