More than £2m will be given to Essex schools to help them entice new teachers into the county.

The new cash is part of a new Government funding pot, worth £44m, and Essex has scooped the lion's share.

The county has been allocated £2,120,000, compared with £411,000 for Cambridgeshire, £1,066,000 for Suffolk and £1,203,000 for Norfolk.

The funding will be available from April, and will be used to pay for a range of new schemes between 2002 and 2003.

Headteachers will decide how the money will be spent, and it means some schools might get as much as £44,000 to spend.

Ideas on how the money could be spent includes housing subsidies for teachers, childcare support, travel costs, recruitment campaigns or bigger salaries.

School standards minister Stephen Timms said: "This package will help many heads in high-cost areas tackle the tough challenge of recruiting and retaining the very best teachers for their schools.

"Heads are in the driving seat here. They are best placed, in partnership with local authorities, to target money where it will be put to most effective use."

Most of the cash is expected to go to secondary schools and areas in Essex with particular recruitment problems. Essex County Council's learning services team will be able to put 20 per cent of the money into primary schools.

Published Friday December 28, 2001