Odyssey Teaching School Hub provides Appropriate Body Services to all schools in Gloucester, Tewkesbury and The Forest of Dean.

All schools that offer Statutory Induction are required to have an Appropriate Body (AB) for their Early Career Teachers (ECTs).  

Appropriate Bodies play a key role in statutory teacher induction.   In addition to monitoring that ECTs receive their statutory entitlements,  ABs  support schools and ECTs to meet the new statutory guidance. Through moderation and quality assurance, they work collaboratively with schools to ensure that ECTs are fairly and consistently assessed. ABs  also  conduct Fidelity Checks  to ensure that ECTs receive a high quality programme of support and training based on the Early Career Framework (ECF).

Odyssey Teaching School Hub is already providing Appropriate Body services to over 30 Primary and Secondary schools across Gloucester, Tewkesbury, and Forest of Dean.

The Odyssey Teaching School Hub Appropriate Body Offer

As your Appropriate Body we will support you by providing:

• Comprehensive advice and guidance for supporting the progress and assessment of your ECTs. We're here to advise on concerns about your ECT and provide a full support service.

• An experienced team offering dedicated online and telephone advice and support for Induction Tutors

• Registering your ECTs with the Teacher Regulation Authority (TRA) via ECT Manager and providing ongoing access to ECT Manager - a clear and secure paperless system for ECT registration, assessments and induction resources

• Email reminders for key dates and deadlines

For further information or to register your teachers with the Odyssey Teaching School Hub Appropriate Body Service, please email admin@odysseytsh.org.

There are 2 Appropriate Body providers in Gloucestershire. Schools are recommended to sign up with their local provider:

• Odyssey Teaching School Hub serves schools in Gloucester, Tewkesbury and The Forest of Dean. 
• Balcarras Teaching School Hub serves schools in Cheltenham, Stroud and The Cotswolds.

Note: From September 2024, Local Authorities (LA) will no longer operate in the role of AB.   From September 2024 schools will need to move  any ECTs who have not completed induction with LAs to a new AB, which for Gloucestershire would be Odyssey or Balcarras TSHs.  To support a smooth transition for all, if you are registered with  GCC this year (2023-24), please ensure that you retain copies of all Progress Reviews, Support Plans, Observations and Assessments so that they can be provided to the new AB.