Carey Miller, head teacher of St Mary and St Pancras Primary School in Camden, says that the cost of housing in the borough is forcing teachers to move elsewhere. She is urging the government to act quickly to help other schools in the city hold on to their staff. Ms Miller said that in the period between her school applying for beacon status in March, and discovering its bid had been accepted earlier this month, her deputy head and other key senior management staff had accepted jobs elsewhere.
Beacon status lasts for an initial three years.
The schools get about 32,000 a year to help share their experiences in a range of areas with other schools and teachers. London Ms Miller said her school had been granted beacon status for its expertise in two particular fields - special needs and teacher mentoring. But the staff who had specialised in both of those when the school had submitted its bid were now among those leaving at the end of the summer term. We have appointed new people who do have experience, but we may have to delay things until January. A widely acknowledged problem is that many young teachers working at London schools where housing is expensive live in rented accommodation.