TEACHERS fresh from an 'outstanding' training centre have plugged their subjects amid a shortage in specialist classroom staff.

Schools nationally are currently struggling to find teachers of subjects such as maths and physics, and Oxfordshire Teacher Training is working to rally new recruits in the county.

The training centre, which is rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted, is based at The Cherwell School in Summertown and provides primary and secondary training on a salaried and non-salaried basis.

Its director Patrick Garton said: "There are challenges in recruiting maths and science teachers, but we seek to be a dynamic schools-led and schools-focused organisation and believe we have found some creative and flexible ways of responding.

"The option of a salaried training year is especially attractive with STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.

"We have trained some really exceptional scientists."

Matt Weeks, 22, recently completed his training year with Oxfordshire Teacher Training, which is run by the River Learning Trust. He now teaches maths and PE at Lord Williams’s School in Thame, where he was a pupil.

He said: "I did PE at university but had done maths A-level, and knew I needed to teach it to make me more employable. Pure PE jobs are slim on the ground, but if you can offer a STEM subject you are suddenly in demand."

Usman Nasir from Cowley, another training centre graduate, is now teaching maths at Cheney School in Headington.

The 24-year-old said: "Teaching maths made me much more in demand. It meant I could teach and be back here in Oxford.

"One of the attractions of the course was the fact that the overwhelming majority of people on it get jobs locally afterwards, and you actually train on the job."

In summer Oxfordshire Teacher Training ran an internship with Oxford University science and maths undergraduates, to inspire them to consider teaching.

As part of the government-funded scheme, which will run again next year, six students were paid to teach for four weeks at Oxford secondary schools.

Sarah McHugh, who ran the scheme, said: "The undergrads came out with a really positive experience, and almost all of them felt they would seek to teach as a career at some point.

"It was great for the kids to be in touch with really successful subject specialists - I am sure it was inspirational in some cases."