Schools boast record number of new teachers

And the borough is continuing to buck a national trend of teacher shortages which some experts have warned could leave schools facing a four day week.

The Government's chief inspector of schools Mike Tomlinson this week warned that teacher shortages, which he described as the worst he had ever seen, could get even worse in coming months.

Mr Tomlinson attributed part of the problem to young recently qualified teachers becoming disillusioned and leaving the profession within their first three years. Government figures show that last year teacher vacancies almost doubled over the previous year.

But the Government has responded by claiming there are 12,000 more teachers in classrooms than three years ago.

In Bolton, education bosses anticipating the beginning of the new school year, say the town has not been affected by teacher shortages.

Deputy director of education Brian Shaw, said schools across Bolton would begin the new term with no classroom gaps to fill.

He said the borough had managed to attract more Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) to positions in schools than ever before with 70 starting jobs in the town's secondary schools and 40 in primary schools.

Mr Shaw said: "Following a meeting with Bolton's headteachers I am aware that there may be three posts in two schools that are currently unfilled but there will the right number of teachers for the start of the new term.

"We will not be facing the problems that have been warned about nationally such as a four day school week nor will we have to cut subjects because of a lack of staff."

But Mr Shaw said supply teachers would still play a part in the schools and they could even be faced with staff teaching subjects other than their own.

He said: "We will be using supply teachers to fill certain places but we have tackled this by offering supplies longer term contracts which will give students more continuity and help us to look for the right people to fill the places permanently."