As a head, I always welcome advice to candidates on how to make their job applications more effective. However, I was taken aback to read Jan Murray’s comment (TES Jobs 1, April 8) that if schools do not offer informal visits for prospective applicants you may need to ask yourself if the schools have something to hide.
To cater for retirements, maternity non-returners and expansion, Surbiton high school advertised 10 posts in The TES last week. Last term, one post that I advertised received more than 80 enquiries. If only half of the prospective applicants for these 10 posts wanted an informal visit (and took up Jan’s suggestion to ask to observe one or two classes), we would not be able to get on with the business of learning.
Anyone interested in applying for a post should instead come to one of our open days. The next ones are on May 5 and June 16 at 2 pm. They will see that there is nothing to hide, and great facilities to support learning and teaching at Surbiton high school.
Jennifer Longhurst
Surbiton high school Kingston upon Thames Surrey
