PRIMARY and Secondary PGCE students at Leeds Trinity University have stepped up to become key workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, undertaking their teacher training placements safely throughout the national lockdown. All trainee teachers were allocated schools in September 2020, despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic. This was achieved due to the collaboration of the Leeds Trinity Partnerships, Placements and Employment team and its strong network of 600 schools. Through their placement, each student receives the opportunity to get hands-on experience of teaching both in school and remotely using programmes such as Microsoft Teams. Christianna Vlamis, a Primary PGCE student said: “I’ve been learning remotely throughout my PGCE, which meant that when it came to starting my placement, I was already comfortable with the software that my school used to teach virtually and could pick things up more quickly.”