Chase High School head: 'We will get enough teachers to cover 300 new pupils'

Chase High School, in Prittlewell Chase, Southend was granted permission to build a three-storey block yesterday, providing an extra 14 classes and 300 extra secondary school places.

To support the expansion up to 15 new teachers will need to be recruited and headteacher Andrew James says he is positive the school will find the staff.

“It is certainly true that headteachers are getting much smaller numbers of applications to adverts they are placing for new teachers than was the case say ten years ago," he said.

“As a profession we are becoming more creative in helping appropriately qualified people to look at teaching as a possibility for them and helping people from industry to gain teaching qualifications.

“We are also talking with sixth form pupils about whether they have considered teaching as a part of their own futures.

“We have been delighted with the quality of our appointments in recent years and we are positive we will be able to find the people we need to help our pupils to move confidently into the world of further study or work.”

Despite his confidence, teacher shortages are a national issue and Chase High School has been struggling to achieve strong outcomes in recent years.

An Ofsted inspection in March last year was critical of the quality of teaching at the school, urging the staff to have higher expectations of what pupils can achieve and recommending they are given focused training to “increase their effectiveness”.

Over the next ten years the Government predicts that secondary school pupil numbers will rise by nearly 20 per cent but more than 10 per cent of teachers left the profession last year. Teacher training applications are also falling.

Southend Council hopes to create an extra 1,150 school places over the next five years by expanding Belfairs Academy, Shoeburyness High School, St Thomas More High School, St Bernard’s High School, Eastwood High School and the Cecil Jones Academy.