Surrey school takes fresh approach to tackling teacher crisis

The Magna Carta School in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey is taking a fresh approach to recruiting staff by using technology to connect directly with local teachers.

The national teacher shortage has been reported widely across the UK, however the crisis is particularly acute in Surrey, which is likely to be attributed to outdated salary weightings coupled with increasing pupil numbers.

By building its own ‘bank’ of supply teachers through online portal, The Supply Register, Magna Carta School will be reducing its reliance on recruitment agencies which will enable it offer its supply teachers better pay. It is hoped that this will help aid attraction and retention to maintain the high quality of education which the school currently provides to the local community.

Commenting on the new partnership, James Thorpe, Link Deputy Headteacher, said;

“Here at Magna Carta we are committed to attracting and retaining the best teachers and support staff who want to create the best opportunities for students to succeed. Ultimately, recruiting staff in this way means that teachers get a better deal and this will obviously have a positive effect on the breadth and calibre of talent we engage with.”

"It’s no secret that supply cover has become increasingly expensive in recent years whilst worker pay continues to be cut. We hope that by leading the way in adopting the Supply Register solution in the Staines and Surrey region, ‎our people will feel valued and inspired to remain in education. Meanwhile, the savings we make as a school can be directed towards equipment and resources which will benefit our pupils directly. I urge other local schools to consider the benefits of not only looking closer to home for staff, but also sharing resources. By joining forces and working together we can regain control of our supply pools.”

Baljinder Kuller, Managing Director at The Supply Register, added;

“National Union of Teachers members are continuing to lobby supply teacher agencies in pursuit of the NUT’s campaign for fair pay and pensions for supply teachers while schools are continuously expected to do more with less. Against this backdrop, The Supply Register Solution is an obvious choice for progressive school leaders who want to reward their teachers fairly while saving up to 32% on supply cost. We look forward to working with James and his team after the half term break.”

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Carly Smith
BlueSky PR
T: +44 (0)1582 790 708
E: carly@bluesky-pr.com