SCHOOLS in Suffolk have received a boost after a batch of newly qualified headteachers took up jobs - at a time when there is a national shortage.

SCHOOLS in Suffolk have received a boost after a batch of newly qualified headteachers took up jobs - at a time when there is a national shortage.

The new headteachers are set to take up their first posts after receiving their qualification at a ceremony this month.

The Suffolk branch of the National Union of Teacher's (NUT) welcomed the news, saying it had become increasingly difficult to fill some permanent headships in the county.

Chairman Graham White said: “The bottom line is we want a good, permanent, effective head in every school in Suffolk. That is the only way education is going to improve here.”

The regional headteacher boost comes less than a year after Steve Munby, the head of the National College of School Leadership (NCSL), said a demographic bulge meant many heads are now approaching 60.

He had warned at an annual conference that more than half of England's headteachers could retire in the next four years.