Our Strategic Partners
Nottingham Institute of Education has a number of strategic partnerships in place with Schools/Multi-academy Trusts across the East Midlands.
Below you can view each partnership, along with the objectives both parties wish to achieve.
Diverse Academies Trust
Diverse Academies Trust is a forward-thinking family of schools committed to transforming lives through inclusive, high-quality education. The trust serves a wide range of communities across Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, fostering environments where students and colleagues feel seen, supported, and inspired. Through strong collaboration, innovative practice, and a deep commitment to social equity, Diverse Academies works not only to raise academic achievement across its primary, secondary and special schools, but to nurture personal growth, resilience, and a sense of belonging in all. Its schools are active contributors to their local communities, offering enrichment opportunities, family support, and pathways into teaching and leadership that reflect the Trust’s commitment to empower, respect and care.
"Working as a strategic lead partner with Nottingham Trent University to deliver Initial Teacher Training brings significant benefits to our trust, and enables room to shape the development of future teachers in alignment with our own values. Collaborating with NTU enhances our capacity to influence curriculum design, mentor development, and quality assurance processes, while also providing access to robust academic expertise and cutting edge research-informed practice. The partnership strengthens our talent pipeline, supports workforce sustainability across our academies, and reinforces our commitment to excellence in teacher education through shared innovation and mutual support."
Rick Macpherson
Routes into Teaching Lead
Victoria Ringer
PGCE Applications and Placements Co-ordinator
Lionheart Teach
Lionheart Educational Trust is a multi-academy trust of 17 East Midlands Schools - from primary to sixth form - working together to provide an enriching educational experience through both academic excellence and holistic development. We seek to create confident, resilient, mature, aspirational young people.
To achieve our aims, we invest in our teachers, leaders and associate staff, through extensive CPD opportunities, encouraging the sharing of best practice across the Trust, and promoting ownership and empowerment.
Our Mission:
To empower every person from every background to unlock their future and thrive in a competitive world.
We do this by:
- Delivering an outstanding and equitable education for young people, focused both on academic excellence and holistic development Embracing opportunities and challenges where we can make the most difference
- Doing what is right, not what is easy
- Ensuring that equity is at the forefront of everything we do
- Encouraging ambition and recognising achievement
- Celebrating diversity and individuality
- Investing in and developing our staff to achieve their full potential
- Employees living our values – Pupil-centred, Positive and Professional
" As a Strategic Lead Partner with NTU we benefit from a collaboration that brings academic expertise directly into our classrooms. It is a powerful opportunity to influence practice, nurture new talent, and strengthen the profession from within. We value the opportunity to collaborate with a university that shares our commitment to excellence and innovation in education."
Emma Lowe
Lead for Lionheart Teach
Steph Coates
Assistant Lead for Lionheart Teach
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our partnership is founded on the principle of collaboration and an absolute belief that by working together we can improve outcomes for all students in schools.
Our Lady of Lourdes has a long record of partnership with NTU in helping to train teachers. If you choose to train with us you can expect:
- Successful trainees will obtain a PGCE and QTS by the end of the programme
- A programme that gives you four days a week in school and one day a week at University
- The chance to observe and work with outstanding teachers
- Outstanding mentoring from an experienced and trained mentor
- A programme of support sessions
- A comprehensive induction programme
- A second school placement in a contrasting school
"As a lead partner with NTU in delivering teacher training, we benefit from a strong strategic collaboration that combines academic excellence with practical insight, ensuring a high-quality pipeline of skilled, confident, and future-ready educators." Vanessa Scott, Trust ITT Hub Manager
Lisa Floate
Director of Performance & Standards
Vanessa Scott
Trust ITT Hub Manager
The Minster Learning Alliance
The Minster Learning Alliance is a partnership of schools who work collaboratively to share best practice, learn from each other and support improvement in schools. The MLA is a facet of Minster Trust for Education, a growing multi-academy Trust incorporating primary- and secondary-phase schools around Nottinghamshire. The Minster Learning Alliance also extends beyond our Trust, and welcome the opportunity to work with any school, regardless of status, phases MAT membership, religious affiliation or location. We believe that together, we help every child to flourish, opening doors to fulfilling futures.
We design and deliver professional learning, including as the Nottinghamshire Music Hub and in partnership with East Midlands East Maths Hub, Redhill Teaching Hub and local universities. We provide ECTE training for the Newark and Sherwood region, and offer a range of NPQs across the county. Our annual conferences are attended by more than 500 participants and we work with individual schools to design and facilitate bespoke training packages which meet individual school improvement needs.
We have provided teacher training in the primary and secondary phases with Nottingham Trent University (NTU) for over a decade, and are proud that many of our trainees continue to work within our member schools. We support undergraduate and postgraduate teacher training, in addition to teaching apprenticeships and internships, and have a team of Lead Mentors who work in partnership with NTU to support mentors and trainee teachers during their school placements. We are excited to continue our partnership work to foster collaboration and development which will create the teachers of the future, sustaining our impact for years to come.
"Working as a Strategic Lead Partner of Nottingham Trent University benefits our students in so many ways. The development of our teachers who work in partnership with NTU to shape and deliver teacher training ensures that our own practice is high quality and informed by current research, and our students also benefit directly from working with trainees on placement within our schools. Our relationship with NTU enables us to ensure that our pedagogy and teacher training continues to be excellent, ensuring that higher education is informed by the real experiences of teachers within schools, and vice versa."
Nicole Lyons
Leader of Teacher Education
Stacey Sills
Teacher Training Co-ordinator