A PARTNERSHIP between Truro diocese and the C of E University of St Mark and St John, Plymouth, has been given permission to run a school-based teacher-training scheme for primary teachers in Cornwall. The first students on the one-year scheme Schools Direct will start training in September. Initially limited to five places, the diocese hopes that it will be allowed to expand.

Based at the 270-pupil St Uny Primary School, Carbis Bay, near St Ives, the trainees will gain experience in about ten church primaries in the diocese, including small schools with fewer than 60 pupils. The diocesan director of education for Truro, the Revd Simon Cade, says that it is rare for trainee teachers to gain experience in small schools that, individually, do not have the necessary resources. The diocese has 44 schools and academies, 14 of which have fewer than 60 pupils.

Although the diocese of London has been training teachers through its schools since 1995, and other dioceses now have similar schemes, the partnership between Truro and St Mark and St John is believed to be the only one between a C of E diocese and an Anglican university.

The Church's chief education officer, the Revd Nigel Genders, said: "This Schools Direct project is a great example of what is possible."