Pupils help recruit new teachers

Pupils at a Leicester school once named as the worst performing in England are now helping to decide who should teach them.

Students at New College have started to sit in on job interview panels for all new staff.

The policy is part of changes which saw the school come out of special measures in 2006.

Principal Jane Brown said it was important for pupils to have a say in how they were taught.

"Just finding someone who cares was the key message coming from the youngsters," said Ms Brown.

"They're the customers, if you like. They have to have a say, I believe, in who works with them in order to try to make them achieve."

'Right teachers'

One pupil at the school, 15-year-old Charlie Howard, said she thought being involved in recruiting staff was an important role.

"Now we actually get a say and we can choose the right teachers for all the different students in the school."

Two or three pupils are picked each time from a dozen members of the School Forum to take part in the recruitment process, taking it in turns to quiz prospective staff.

New College opened in 1999 after six secondary schools in Leicester were shut.

When the school first opened, truancy rates soared and attainment levels were low.

The school was classed as failing in 2003, when it was put into special measures by Ofsted.

It came out of special measures in 2006, and students achieved the college's best GCSE results that year.