Plan to stand out in your personal statement

For many, myself included when I was still in teacher training, thinking about job hunting was daunting. Where do you start? How can you be proactive? What can I do to get a head start? etc.

Having now helped hundreds of teachers secure jobs, I'm here to share with you some questions that you can use to reflect on before starting your personal statement. Implement these into your personal statements and increase your chances of standing out from the crowd.

Sound good?

Let's go.

One of the hardest things about writing personal statements is ensuring you don't blend, but stand out from other candidates. If you've decided just to sit down and "wing" your statement, you risk missing out key points due to forgetting them in the moment.

For that reason, I would ensure you are confident in what makes you stand out. Think about the following questions, jot down some ideas and ensure your answers are addressed once you get started writing.

1) What do I (uniquely) bring to the school?

Don't be generic here, remember, all teachers will claim to plan engaging lessons etc. Think more related to your passion, your strengths, your future goals.

Example: You are applying to a school that has a Forest School Curriculum. Knowledge of the outdoors and teaching outside a traditional classroom setting is a strength of yours as you love the outdoors and are currently a Scouts Leader.

2) What are your passions or skills that could contribute to school development/pupil progress....?

We never want to start getting into a tangent about our outside hobbies, however, if you can highlight a specific skill you have that is beneficial for the classroom or school community - go for it!

Avoid ones that have a weak link though otherwise you risk going into a waffle to try and explain. You also need to remember that you have a limited word/page count, so every paragraph is valuable and needs to be purposeful.

Example: You're a career changer and used to be an accountant. You're aware of the reputation that maths hold in many classrooms, however, you love to engage children in maths through challenges, code breaking and make word problems fun by putting them into real-life, practical contexts. --> You show off your subject knowledge, address a pain point for children and also give some examples of how you make maths fun. If maths was an area of improvement for the school, this would be a HUGE advantage for you.

3) Identify specifically how you align with the school (ethos/values/vision).

I read this sentence more frequently than I'd like to admit: "I strongly align with _____'s vision and values." That's it. There's no further details, they're not specifying which vision or value, they're not even proving that they know what the vision and values are. This is one of the easiest sentences to write without having even opened up the school website.

What can be done then?

Make sure you know the school's ethos/visions/values/goals/mission statement (whatever it's referred to as) and actually ask yourself how do you align with those? Stretch your thinking beyond just saying "I also believe X,Y,Z." That proves nothing.

Example: X School wants to provide an education that promotes skills which will make pupils into well-rounded individuals in future. You could show your alignment by providing an example of a lesson where you encouraged future thinking or maybe a PSHE lesson where you combatted gender stereotypes regarding the workplace etc. Can you see how indirectly you're showing skills and attitudes that align with the mindset of the school?

By taking the time to reflect on these questions before you start writing, you’re not only making your personal statement stronger—you’re also making the entire application process less stressful. Instead of staring at a blank page, unsure of where to start, you’ll have a clear direction and solid examples ready to go.

So, before you dive into writing, take 10 minutes to brainstorm your answers. The more clarity you have now, the more confident and compelling your personal statement will be.

Ready to get started with your personal statement now? I'm taking on applications for the next cohort of the Personal Statement Blueprint! 4 weeks of guidance (ending perfectly in time for the start of the job season), interactive exercises, two live calls and a mahoosive workbook to support you too.

As always, any questions, drop me a comment below or contact me if you need any support.

Lots of love,

Annelies

Founder, Petite Primary