Primary school teachers are responsible for providing early education to children. Focusing on key stages 1 and 2 plus nursery and reception, they are expected to teach a wide variety of different subjects, as well as acting as mentors and role models for their pupils. Daily responsibilities include creating fun and interactive lesson plans, monitoring students’ progress, and communicating with parents to further their education.
Working with children between the ages of 4 and 11, primary school teachers play an important role in their students’ early years development. As well as teaching the national curriculum, these professionals are responsible for safeguarding young people’s wellbeing – but it can be difficult to sum this up on a one-page CV.
Need help writing your primary school teacher CV? You’re in the right place. At myPerfectCV, we have all of the resources you need to create your application. Follow our top tips, browse our professional primary school teacher CV sample, then craft your own using our quick and easy CV builder.
We would also recommend that you use our CV examples before you start. You’ll be able to see an array of different expert design and content ideas to help ignite the writing process. Using these expert examples to begin is a great way to get started on the road to your next job.
Ready to begin? Keep reading for:
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Anna McDonald
195 Crown Street
London W12 4WB
07912 345 678
anna.mcdonald@example.co.uk
Professional summary
Creative and adaptable teaching professional with experience in planning and presenting lessons catering to varying needs and abilities. Organised, confident and friendly individual. Uses creative learning strategies to increase classroom engagement and enhance student understanding.
Work history
January 2021 – Current
Woodhouse Green Primary School – London
PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER
February 2016 – January 2021
St. John’s School – London
PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER
Skills
Education
2016
University of London London
Bachelor of Arts Education
We know how difficult it can be to create the perfect CV. However, if you want to set yourself apart from competing applicants, we’ve created a library of helpful online resources. Explore premade CV templates which are available on our drag-and-drop builder to create a CV that will land you a new job.
Before you add relevant information to your CV, you’ll first need to consider formatting. What is the best way to present your information so that it’s simple to read and scannable for ATS software? If you’re wondering about this, then you should know that you can simplify this process by choosing from an already tested list of CV formats.
There are many styles here that you can choose from, but there are two that will work for most professional CVs – the reverse-chronological and the skills-based CV. Reverse-chronological CVs are all about outlining your employment experience, starting with your current or most recent role. A skills-based CV is all about transferable skills, working better if you are applying for an entry-level role.
So, which is going to be the best choice for a primary school teacher? This all depends on the experience you have. If you are a seasoned teacher who has already taught in various primary schools, then you should outline this in a reverse-chronological format. Alternatively, if you are a newly qualified teacher, then it is best to outline your educational background, your PGCE year, as well as any additional volunteering experience that you have working with kids.
What else is important to know?
So now that you’ve selected the perfect format for you, it’s time to get into the details of your CV.
In the following sections, we’re going to outline how to write a CV for a primary school teacher, including:
Let’s get the first thing right – it’s important to add up-to-date contact details, so that any schools that you apply to can easily reach you. The general process for doing this is to note your information near the top of your CV, in a larger or bolder font so that it’s easy to spot.
Make sure to include:
Joe Bloggs
45 Blue Avenue
Derbyshire, DB1 CF4
07123456789
j.bloggs@email.co.uk
Are you trying to make the perfect first impression? You can do this with an effective and persuasive personal statement. This is your chance to outline your most highly sought-after skills, achievements, and qualifications. Keep in mind that hiring managers will be looking for quick information, especially if they’re going through multiple CVs. You’re only going to have three to four sentences to work with, so you’ll have to pack them with information.
Use sentence one to introduce yourself, including your career focus and how many years of experience you have. With sentence two, define something you have achieved backed up with concrete evidence. Sentences three and four are all about highlighting any unique skills or experience you have.
What do we mean by ‘concrete evidence?’ In short, this is any fact or figure you can use to show your employer evidence of previous experience. For example, you could say how you have taught a year 6 class for over a year and achieved high SATs results.
Here are some other important things for you to keep in mind:
Experienced primary school teacher with over 10 years of experience teaching students from the ages of 4-11. Helped to guide a year 6 class to impressive SATs results with a 50% increase in grading compared to the previous year. Particular skills in creating extensive personal progress plans for students, and leading engaging lessons.
OR
Newly qualified primary school teacher with a mission to help drive student excellence. Volunteered at several extra-curricular clubs, helping children to build confidence and new skills in martial arts. Highly skilled in mentoring and lesson-planning for mathematics and English.
Your employment background is likely to be one of the first things a school or local authority will check. The more experience you have, the more suited you are for the position. However, this doesn’t mean that a newly qualified teacher is not desirable. Either way, you’re going to want to define your work experience in an eye-catching and cohesive way.
Begin from either your current or most recent role, noting up to six responsibilities for each role. We would advise you to add more details about your experience that directly reflect the job advertisement in question.
Work through your experience in the following order:
Make sure to keep adding statistics and concrete evidence. For example, if you have previously led after-school clubs, make sure to mention this, such as “coached after-school football, leading team to victory in three tournaments.” Adding in details like this is a sure-fire way to catch an employer’s eye!
You will also want to make sure that you avoid both repetitive or irrelevant information. Instead of writing “taught lessons,” you can write “taught engaging lessons catered to students of all ability levels.” This expands upon the otherwise regular and expected responsibility for all teachers. You should also avoid writing basic tasks such as “answering emails,” as this is a given for many professional job roles.
Lastly, make sure that you write with confidence. Use positive adjectives and action verbs to make your experience come alive. For example, describe yourself as “supportive,” “experienced,” and “positive.” Action verbs are anything you can replace “responsible for” with. For a primary school teacher, consider using “led,” “guided,” and “conducted.
Teacher | The New School, Guildford | March 2022 – Present
Teaching Assistant | Sample School, Yorkshire | March 2019 – February 2022
There’s also a chance that employers may go right to the skills section of your CV. CV skills sections are vital for this reason. These keywords and phrases are added to stand out and let the reader know that you have the right experience for the experience right away. It’s important to note around 12 in total, including some hard skills and some soft skills.
Hard skills are specialised skills that you have obtained through practical experience or through education. This will include things like “lesson planning” or “health and safety.” Soft skills, on the other hand, are positive personality traits that help to describe what you’re like as a teacher. Some of the top examples here include “organised,” “adaptable,” and “compassionate.”
You’re going to need to add both of these to stand apart from your competition. If you need some ideas, check below for some good examples:
You can think of the education section of your CV as the foundation for everything else. It is your chance to show that you have the required qualifications to be an effective primary school teacher. Here is the time for you to discuss your school, college, and university career. You can also add any relevant professional training or memberships to governing bodies that you may have.
As a primary school teacher, you’ll want to extensively outline your educational history, including your GCSEs, A-Levels, and your higher education experience. You’ll also want to outline your PGCE year or any other teaching qualifications that you have. If you’ve worked in different professions, these might not always be relevant – so watch out!
When it comes to outlining your educational history, use the following format:
Coventry University, Coventry | August 2019 – June 2022
English Literature, BA, first class honours
West Midlands College, Birmingham | September 2017 – June 2019
English Literature, Language, Psychology
A Levels: A, A, B
Kingsway High School, Dudley | September 2012 – June 2017
8 GCSEs at grades A-C, including English and Mathematics
Teaching is a competitive profession, so it’s important to set yourself apart. Make sure to mention any unique skills or specialisms that you may have. You can define these in your cover letter and personal statement to make you stand out from the crowd.
It’s vital that you tailor your CV to the position in question. Different schools have different goals, objectives, and student demographics. You’ll need to make sure that you thoroughly investigate these and then tailor your CV so that it aligns with the advertisement you are applying for. Although this means creating multiple tailored CVs and cover letters, it will put you ahead of the competition in many ways – and could be one of the main reasons you will get invited to an interview.
A cover letter is one of the most essential features of your application. In short, it is a one-page document that introduces you to the reader and explains your experience and qualities in greater detail. If you have any holes in your educational or employment history – here is the time for you to explain them. You can also briefly mention your career aspirations and let the reader know that you mean business!
You will want to adequately proofread your application. There’s nothing worse than spending a long time on it only for it to be riddled with spelling errors. Making sure there are no errors in your application is a good way to let the reader know you are serious about the application process and that you are careful enough to check things over.
In your primary school teacher CV, you should include the following sections:
If you’re applying for an entry-level teaching position, your work experience section will look a little different. Instead of previous teaching roles, you’ll need to include examples that showcase your ability to take responsibility – whether that’s a committee position at university, a babysitting role, or a Saturday job.
Make sure to explain how you’ve gained transferable skills that will serve you well as a teacher. However, to gain QTS, you’ll need to have completed a teaching work experience placement. This means it’s unlikely you’ll apply for a role without any experience at all.
A primary school teacher needs to have a strong combination of practical, academic, and interpersonal skills. They must have excellent communication skills as well as the ability to listen. They should also have a good knowledge of core subjects, including maths, science, and English.
The average primary school teacher pay bracket ranges from £25,714 to £41,604. Your salary is likely to depend on factors such as your experience level and location, as well as whether you work in a state or private (public) school.
Our primary school teacher CV is just one of the resources and tools to help you. By using our various CV examples and CV templates you will be able to inspire yourself and check all the boxes to become a primary school teacher. There’s no reason for CVs to feel overwhelming – so find your dream teaching job today!
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