A Benfleet secondary school has been forced to appoint a former primary school teacher to its staff as the growing recruitment crisis bites.

While the teacher concerned is fully qualified and extremely able to do the job, Appleton School headteacher Guy Naylor said he received only one application for the vacancy.

He added: "I advertised for the post and I received one application. If I had received a lot of applications the teacher concerned might not even have got an interview."

The news comes just days after Chris Richardson, headteacher at Furtherwick Park School on Canvey, revealed he had visited schools in Holland a week ago in the search for new recruits.

Mr Naylor said: "Usually I would have preferred to appoint someone with more secondary school experience. However I am pleased with the appointment and I am sure our new teacher will do very well."

He said: "This is a problem we are all facing and the new pay rise will not help.

"Teachers are also experiencing very low morale at the moment. They are criticised for not doing a good job and they face very heavy loads of paperwork."

Jerry Glazier, Essex general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "In 30 years I have never known so many vacancies in the January of the school year."

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