Mission patches

Apply for teacher training

The mascot for Apply (and Manage) is a beaver named Brian Townley. We chose a beaver because we are building a complex service and delivering it in the rapid-flowing waters of the ever-changing initial teacher training market.

This patch celebrated the tenacity of our team, who despite a power cut and several building evacuations, launched the service from a nearby pub. November 2019
This patch celebrated the work of the transition team, who travelled the length of breadth of England to encourage providers to join our pilots. April 2020
This patch marked the candidate-facing Find and Apply services joining together under one team. August 2020
This patch celebrated 11 early-adopter HEIs joining Apply as we embarked on our second recruitment cycle. As the University of Bedfordshire was the first HEI to be onboarded, Brian’s mortarboard featured a red tassel. October 2020
This patch celebrated applications for the 2022/23 cycle being made exclusively via the Apply service. Brian dons the helmet he wore in his very first patch as he detonates the UCAS ITT service he helped to replace. October 2021
This patch celebrated the change to the way references are requested. This was a tough nut to crack. October 2022

Find postgraduate teacher training

The mascot for Find is a canary. When we launched Publish we weren’t sure how much our recent integration with DfE Sign-in would work. Our first few providers were used as canaries to test if they could access service – we had many dead canaries until we got the process right and could roll out the service to everyone.

This patch celebrated the launch of the Find service moving into its beta phase. November 2018
This patch celebrated the start of the 2020-21 recruitment cycle. October 2020
This patch celebrated the start of the 2021-22 recruitment cycle. October 2021

Publish teacher training courses

Pip the Publish penguin represents resilience and focus. In freezing temperatures, penguins rely on excellent teamwork by huddling together to keep warm. The heart celebrates the team huddling together to “give Publish some love”, while the bats are a reference to the wider service line. The igloos symbolise the building blocks of the API.

Penguins are streamlined, efficient and resourceful; just like we want to Publish to be.

This patch celebrated the start of the 2021-22 recruitment cycle. October 2021

Register trainee teachers

The mascot for Register is an octopus called Inky. We chose an octopus because they have multiple hearts which symbolises how multiple teams combined to form Publish/Register. Their many legs symbolise how we’re joining up many dots for internal and external stakeholders.

The team was formed during a period where they couldn’t be physically near, so just like an octopus, they reached with curiosity to connect with those around them.

This patch celebrated the service entering private beta with a junior octopus to represent an emerging service. September 2020
10,000 trainees added to Register trainee teachers. October 2021

Get Into Teaching

The mascot for Get Into Teaching is called Tian. We chose a mole due to the fact that we were beginning to open up more as a society, much like a mole surfacing from underground.

We chose the plaid shirt and mug due to the fact that several team members shared this ‘look’ as a profile picture on Slack.

This patch celebrated the service entering Public Beta with a mole to represent our emergence. April 2021.

Support team

Our team of ants represent the drive and passion for supporting users across all our services (the services, currently seven, are shown as the backpacks our hardworking ants carry).

The sun and blue skies depict the happy and contented nature of the team and how they collectively make it a great working space. The Support Team banner flies high as the ants link together to demonstrate their collaboration and support of each other. Their antennae are on constant alert to assist and to be the voice of our users as we take forward their issues to product teams for service improvements.

Ants are ‘superorganisms’ because they operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony. In the same way, this team has a one-team philosophy to support each other, our users and our product teams.

Teacher Services support team 20,000 tickets resolved - 2021 to 2022

Other projects

This patch captured the team trying to find their way. The allocations discovery was a confusing time with complex problems to solve. A fox was chosen for their cleverness but also because a team member’s last name was Fox. January 2020
This patch celebrated how well the team handled the allocations request period. It was a stressful time but we remained calm and collected. July 2020
This patch celebrated the completion of a discovery into the department’s data collection and usage. The team chose a lobster (named Madame Michelle Bisque) as they uncovered many legacy systems which like lobsters, tend to live far longer than they should. February 2020
This patch celebrated the creation of a team to coordinate impactful change across the service line. The team chose an elephant (named Kahar after the team’s founding product manager) given their strength, wisdom and memory. Different coloured eyes represent diversity, and that the team works across Get into teaching (green) and Becoming a teacher (blue). May 2021
This patch celebrated an internal project run during profession time, where teams developed skills in data visualisation by rethinking the end of year report. 2022