Although I had enjoyed my time as a stockbroker, I was looking for a career change after taking time out to start a family. As a military spouse recently returned from postings in Germany, I attended a Train to Teach event in Southampton and knew very quickly that this was the path I wanted to go down. There seemed to be numerous routes to teacher-training, but I chose SUPA for the geographical proximity of the schools within the partnership, the mix of university-led and in-school training, and the excellent reputation of Southampton’s School of Education. I did not look back. We had a great group of 18 MFL trainees and both schools looked after and guided me brilliantly. Southampton University’s training programme was excellent, imaginative and thorough, with some great speakers, workshops and learning opportunities. I settled well into my placements in both schools and although it was a hugely steep learning curve, requiring real commitment and some late nights dedicated to creating the ‘perfect lesson’, it was massively fulfilling and I absolutely love my job. Training to Teach through SUPA was perfect for me – the PGCE was a hard year, but the support I received from both school and university was absolutely outstanding and I couldn’t have hoped for a better experience.