The bonkers recruitment process

A strange thing occurred before the Easter holidays. On completion of an excellent, rigorous interview, the successful applicant for our crucial English position withdrew the day after accepting the position – she withdrew by email sent to my PA!

This is a first. After 10 years of headship I have never had a prospective colleague withdraw, have second thoughts or withdraw by email after their acceptance of a job. This has left the school with a number of unanswerable questions, and, after my initial rant, a number of concerns.

Of course, in the long-term it is essential that schools have committed staff who want to work here. Especially as, since the advent of controlled assessments, the English department is the most pressured in my school, full of concerned staff analysing marking data (when they used to eulogise over literary texts)!