A former pupil has answered an Elgin primary school’s lengthy appeal for a new head teacher.
Moray Council was forced to advertise for the top post at West End three times after failing to attract suitable candidates.
Parents at the school eventually resorted to filming their own heartfelt recruitment video in an attempt to entice staff to join their community.
Now it is been revealed that Stuart McQuaker, who is currently acting head teacher at Burghead Primary School, will take up the job after the summer holiday.
And the former building society manager urged others to consider a career switch into teaching to help ease the classroom recruitment crisis.
Mr McQuaker, who attended West End from P3 to P5, applied for the post after being encouraged to by former head teacher Gordon Barron, who retired after 24 years at the school earlier this year.
Recruiting head teachers for primary schools in the region has been one of the council’s biggest challenges in recent years with nine posts currently vacant.
Mr McQuaker, who is also chairman of the Elgin Eagles basketball team and is an education officer responsible for computing at the council, quit a career as a building society manager for a teaching course at Moray College UHI when he was 26.
Yesterday he encouraged others to do the same.
He said: “I was at my sister-in-law’s graduation and I was listening to all the speeches about how they were going to change the world.
“I realised I wanted to do something meaningful. I know people need mortgages but it’s not the same as developing kids to realise their potential.”
He applauded the parents’s video initiative – though said it had not been what spurred him to apply.
“I had thought about applying before the video went out so it didn’t enter too much into my thoughts really.
“Interestingly I also made one to attract people to Burghead.
“I know the video attracted a lot more applicants and generated a lot more interest in the school so it definitely made a difference.”
Alex Dunbar, chairwoman of the school’s parent council, added: “West End is in a really good place now. I think Stuart’s going to be terrific and good for the future of the school because he’s got so much energy.
“We’re not complacent though because there are still wider problems in attracting and retaining teachers in Moray.”
