There isn’t an option here for young teachers to look for housing somewhere near our school.

“We are surrounded by farm buildings, countryside…and the house from Downton Abbey.”

The Clere School, in Hampshire, is a small rural comprehensive with a famous neighbour - the Jacobean country house Highclere Castle used in the popular TV drama series. While this might make the area an appealing venue for tourists, it is much more difficult to attract new teachers.

The urgent need for England’s school system to find and keep more teaching staff is now well established, with Tes analysis suggesting that 47,000 more secondary school teachers will be needed by 2024. But it presents a particular challenge for rural and isolated schools.

The Clere School’s headteacher, Benjamin Bond, sees attracting young teachers into more remote locations as a major problem. “You cannot offer the same social experiences and links as schools in urban centres,” he says. “Recruiting staff is difficult for schools in rural areas, there is no doubt about it.

“There is very little concept of being able to recruit NQTs. We have managed to recruit one here but she is an exception to the rule. One of our challenges we have is the cost of rural accommodation and the lack of housing near our school.

“The governors and I have considered providing accommodation to new teachers as a solution to this. At my previous school in Wiltshire, we did offer boarding accommodation to teachers to live in as a benefit in kind. They were expected to fulfil some boarding house duties as part of this but it was a way of getting around the lack of somewhere for teachers to live if they are coming into a rural school.”

But the problem goes beyond a simple lack of affordable housing in rural idylls. Bond says there needs to be more understanding among policymakers about the challenges of delivering education to remote areas, in a system that he believes to be modelled around solutions that work better in urban settings - from teacher training and recruitment to school improvement.

It is a concern that is shared widely. The Church of England, which runs 2,000 rural schools - some with fewer than 200 pupils - has held a summit to find ways of ensuring they remain viable. Problems highlighted by the church include crumbling 19th-century buildings with large bills for heating and difficulties in recruiting teachers to work in the countryside.

It has warned that a commitment to keeping such schools open alone is not enough. These schools need to be viable, but so do the communities they serve. The church has called for a cross-government strategy to keep rural communities alive in order for remote schools to survive.

One expert says the problems facing rural and remote schools are more complex than simply being in the middle of nowhere. Professor Tanya Ovenden-Hope, of Plymouth Marjon University, describes what many remote schools face as “educational isolation”, something that is not only geographic but which can also be professional, social and economic. She says it means schools having “less access to the resources they need to achieve the performance expected of them”.

“That includes being able to recruit and retain teachers but also access to other schools for support and professional development, support from universities, local stable employment, or access to funded educational initiatives,” she adds.

‘Who can you have a moan to?’

Ovenden-Hope believes that remote schools in both affluent and deprived areas can face challenges attracting and keeping young teachers.

“Newly qualified teacher turnover is high in rural schools, isolation from social opportunities and access to affordable housing is a real challenge to retaining early career teachers,” she says.

“It is difficult if you have geographical isolation, poor transport links, limited employment prospects for partners and long commutes from affluent areas. What is there to attract you as a new teacher in a new career?

“If you are going into a small school, where you might be one of four teaching staff, one of whom is the headteacher, responsible for your performance, if you are the only newly qualified teacher, who can you talk to about the job? Who can you have a moan to?”

And the difficulties don’t end there. Anne Swift, a headteacher at a tiny countryside school in the North of England says teachers can also be put off applying by the lack of certainty and funding at smaller schools.

The Department for Education defines small schools as having up to 200 pupils. But Swift’s school, Goathland Primary in the North York Moors, is 10 times smaller than this with just over 20 children from ages 4 to 11, split across two classes.

“It takes a special type of person to want to work in or lead a small school,” she says.

“One of the issues is funding. The bulk of school funding is based on pupil numbers and it is difficult to have the appropriate numbers of staff and then added to that is the level of pay you can afford.

“The longer a member of staff works at a school the more expensive they become and if you are recruiting a leader, the school might not be able to match the salary that a deputy is on at a larger school.”

Swift has gone from working in one of North Yorkshire’s largest primaries in Scarborough, which had 800 pupils, to a school with 40 times fewer pupils. And while the beauty of her current working environment is beyond doubt - Goathland village was the rural setting for Heartbeat, the long-running TV drama series - that doesn’t mean it isn’t tough. Goathland Primary has the equivalent of two and a half teachers, including its head.

“In some ways it is the same job because you have the same responsibilities as a head but you have fewer people to share it with and a major teaching commitment,” says Swift. “You get to know the children and the families better but at the same time you worry that the children are not getting the opportunities that would be available at a larger school.”

Better together

Goathland is part of a wider region that has long experienced difficulties in recruiting teachers from outside the area and often struggles to fill vacancies from a limited pool. But there are hopes that the problem could be addressed with the North Yorkshire Coast named as one of the government’s new education Opportunity Areas (see box 2).

Of course, once rural and remote schools do recruit staff, the next challenge is to keep them. DfE research in 2016 showed that the turnover for new teachers is higher in rural schools.

But Ovenden-Hope suggests rural schools working together in multi-academy trusts might hold the answer.

“I have been working with MATs in Cornwall who have been recruiting to the MATs, not the school,” she says. “This provides opportunities for progression through the MAT’s schools for teachers and leaders without having to relocate. Another thing MATs have done is provide social opportunities for teachers and leaders to meet to encourage informal communities of practice.

“Social events, such as barbecues and ceilidhs, were used to bring staff together and encourage networking. It appears to have worked in these schools and early career teacher retention has improved.”

The head of the Church of England’s Foundation for Educational Leadership Andy Wolfe also wants rural schools to come together to create networks of support for their staff. He says four rural school conferences the church held this year in Cornwall, Kent, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, as well as a new Peer Support Network with more than 150 rural school members, have helped.

“This has brought leaders together, both physically and virtually - using video technology creatively,” he says. “Leaders are now working together on things like curriculum design, mixed-age teaching and recruitment and retention.”

Teacher Oliver Long is perfectly placed to talk about the different challenges urban and remote schools present having gone from being a school leader in inner-city London to a classroom teacher in Whitby, on the North Yorkshire coast.

“It was often murmured that parents felt that ‘my child is just a number in the machine’ in a large inner-city school,” he says. “The size of the school I am at now, and Whitby in general, makes for a very family feel - though bumping into families at the weekend is a new one for me.”

The biggest benefit he says is the sense of teamwork that comes from a smaller school.

“There is simply no way of the school running effectively unless all staff members are prepared to take on a variety of roles often at very short notice. This builds a very positive camaraderie and a togetherness that acts as a wonderful model for pupils.”

Wolfe says small and remote schools need to celebrate this more.

“We do not want to have a sort of ‘metropolitical’ narrative that says wouldn’t it be great if everyone was in a city? Or how can we replicate that?

“Working in a small rural school can be hugely rewarding. If you work in a school with 100 children, you are going to get to know 100 families really well. The impact you can have through teaching and through social action in the community is great.

“Schools anywhere can be at the heart of the communities but small rural schools inherently are their community. It is the place that brings the community together. We need to let more teachers see that.”

John Roberts is a reporter at Tes. He tweets @JohnGRoberts

‘You wear multiple hats’

Oliver Long made the switch from head of school at a large inner-city London school to teaching in Lythe Primary, a small village school on the North Yorkshire coast.

It has meant adjusting to a new life both in and outside school. “While having a small number on roll, in a school surrounded by rolling hills, might look like “the dream” on paper, it also means everyone pulling together to wear multiple hats in any one day,” he says.

“The obvious challenge is teaching mixed year groups - and sometimes key stages - in our case Years 1, 2, 3 and Years 4, 5, 6 clearly places greater emphasis on effective differentiation. This was in contrast to my previous settings where larger, non mixed-year groups could be split into classes of 15 in clearly targeted groups.”

But there are also benefits. “Coming from a four-form entry inner city school to a school with less than 100 on roll means you really do get to know each child in a way that was previously not possible.

“There is much more dialogue between pupils and staff and I have a deep knowledge of each child’s interests both in and out of school which makes planning engaging lessons a lot easier.”

Outside of work there have been pros and cons. “As a family, we are enjoying more time together and I sometimes have to pinch myself when playing football with the kids on the beach on a Thursday night or reading bedtime stories next to the log fire.

“However, people shouldn’t underestimate how important your own interests are to you. Gone are the days when I can head off after work to buy some rare 1980s African disco records or sip ridiculously overpriced beers in a “trendy” railway arch. It’s a quiet life here and curtains close early - making it hard to form new friendships.

“But having said that, the drive through Sandsend each morning sure beats changing for the Jubilee Line at West Ham at 6.30am.”

Getting proactive with recruitment

Schools on the North Yorkshire coast have long had difficulties in recruiting teachers but now with the region named as one of the government’s new education Opportunity Areas help could be at hand.

The Opportunity Area board has hired James Annetts as a dedicated recruitment consultant for schools on the coast for two years.

“In a large urban centre in Yorkshire, somewhere like Bradford or Leeds they can recruit teachers from Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield or Barnsley,” he says. “But we don’t have a large population to draw from. There are only eight secondary schools along the North Yorkshire coast, so where are we going to recruit from? If schools are recruiting teachers who are already working in our schools, then this creates churn in the system.”

Annetts wants to find home grown talent within the area as well as bring in teachers from outside. This involves social media and going directly to dozens of teacher training providers to widen the talent pool to which coastal schools have access. In one case a school leader from the South of England who was looking to relocate has taken up a teaching job.

The general signs are encouraging, and suggest there is a way for such schools to recruit the staff they need. Since Annetts started in April this year, 95 per cent of the 31 vacancies he has dealt with have been filled first time, with a dozen candidates coming from outside of the area.

“We take a very proactive approach,” he says. “I get to know the schools and their recruitment challenges and then work proactively with school leaders as well as the county council’s school improvement partners.”

Anne Swift, head of Goathland Primary, says this work has made a difference in recruiting. “People know what they are getting themselves into and this ensures you get a suitable candidate,” she says “You don’t want to be constantly recruiting because you cannot retain staff.”

‘I love the idea of the smaller school...’

“I’ve been at the school nearly a year and feel that I know most of the students at the school and there is a real sense of community.”

Natalie Weight has swapped working in a town centre for a small rural secondary.

“I used to find the drive to work at the school in the town quite stressful as the traffic was unpredictable and would often make me late to drop off or pick up my children,” she says.

“The drive here is much more predictable, calmer and picturesque setting me up in a much better frame of mind for the school day.”

Weight is the faculty lead for communications at The Clere School in Hampshire. She has been in post less than a year but already feels at home.

“I loved the idea of the smaller school and how easy it is to get to know students that you haven’t even taught yet.”

She also says this extends to the staffroom where colleagues get to know each other more quickly than in large urban schools.

But there are challenges for teachers in a small rural setting, along with difficulties in recruiting.

Many of the pupils live 15 miles away from The Clere School and are reliant on buses to get to home.

“Some buses drop off at just after 8am and those students need to be supervised. There is also the challenge of holding students back after school to discuss their work, for detentions or enrichment opportunities.

“They rely on the buses or a parent to really go out of their way to pick them up later. This means it is a real challenge to offer them the breadth of things that larger schools can.”

Another issue is the difficulty in attracting younger staff.

“Rural schools tend to attract more experienced staff, which costs money. It can be a real struggle to recruit - for some, the distance can be too far especially for those that don’t drive and there is no public bus network. This has especially been an issue with attracting trainees and young teachers embarking on their career so it is very difficult to ‘grow your own’ for the future of the school.”