I am due to start my PGCE in September.  I applied for anything and everything - I got a Maintenance Grant, Maintenance Loan and Tuition fee loan.  I will also get the bursary from College.  I didn't qualify for the Childcare help because hubby earns too much (in their opinion), as far as I can tell if your partner earns more than £15k then you won't get any help with childcare.  It is going to be a struggle, but I am determined it will work out.  After all it's only for a year and then (hopefully) I will get a job teaching.

Hello. 

I'm starting a full time PGCE in Sept and I am a mum to a 1 and 4 yr old.  As my husband runs his own business and gets fairly well paid, we can't claim anything for childcare.  So for us it's the maintenance loan, the bursary and our savings.  We can last the year (even though our childcare bill is very high), but I just hope I can get a job at the end of it!!!!

Good luck mums....I think its going to be a hard and very busy year for us, but if we can cope with kids we can cope with anything

I don't have the details on me, but think (off the top of my head) it was somewhere in the region of £3200.  I didn't apply for the maintenance grant as didn't think I would get any due to husbands salary.

And don't forget to claim your Council Tax exemption. If you are a couple, you'll get 25% off your bill, and a single parent with no partner, 100%. You need to submit a letter from your uni stating your status and academic year dates.

I did my middle years PGCE a few years ago now but I remember that with the £9K bursary, maintenance loan and university bursary, all untaxed obviously, my net "income" was pretty much the same as when I began work on MP1 and paid tax, NI and student loan. I'm just about to start on MP4 and my advice is stick out the PGCE (and it is tough I promise you! My homeschool was 45 minute drive away from the university even though my children's schools were both within minutes of the university and I had filled in a form stating that I needed to be close. I was told that I had to accept that homeschool or postpone for a year!). Having all the holidays off with your own children is priceless. I even got to sports day this year by swapping my PPA with another teacher. I tend to work very late at school one night a week (7pm) and am away by 4pm on 2 or 3 other evenings. The marking at home is tiring but I go flat out in term time and make sure my holidays really are holidays. Good luck. As other writers have said, being a parent means you are already great at juggling!