Recruitment will likely be something that every school leader will want to focus on, regardless of the partial closure of schools: they will be looking to ensure that their school has the skilled staff needed to get life back up and running as quickly as possible.

I’ve been working on recruitment for the past few years, trying to ensure a motivated teaching staff that fits what we want to achieve. It’s had a big impact: attainment is up, and we have a much healthier dynamic in the school between staff.

It has not been easy but it is definitely something I consider one of the greatest achievements of my career.

Recruitment has always been a challenge for me - not least because recruitment in London is crazy. This has led to some innovative ways of finding new applicants as well as finding people through more traditional channels.

What has helped us to recruit, and to keep those recruits once they arrive, is the support structures we put at the heart of our induction and retention strategies.

This isn’t an empty idea. Every teacher has internal coaching from another member of staff. This means they have a key colleague they can ask to observe their teaching or for support with planning and marking so they can build knowledge, feel supported and know we have a focus on helping their career. And this isn’t just for new teachers. We all engage in this process.

For example, as the headteacher, I have an external and very experienced coach in ex-headteacher and national leader of education Dr Neil Suggett. I find our coaching sessions invaluable in order to move my leadership thinking forward.

This is key. A coaching model should expect all staff to need support, not just those in the early stages of their career. We have a very collegiate approach to working that creates a school environment in which people want to stay and work for many years.

Because of this set-up, all staff are learning all the time, both from each other and from external experts, too.

For example, recently a group of staff has been working on improving displays based on workshops by information designer Oliver Caviglioli and the Inspire Partnership.

We have since shared these learnings with colleagues by outlining what we had learned about ideas such as simplifying colours and streamlining the quantity of information and layout, so all staff now have a better understanding of displays and how they benefit children.

Most recently, in the week before the closures, staff taught themselves to use Google Classroom and set up a virtual school in five days. Staff learning together and from each other ensures that they all feel they are integral members of the team.

The coaching model has worked wonders in attracting new teachers and keeping existing staff, but it did require some major changes.

For example, on my arrival the school had teaching assistants paid as higher-level teaching assistants (on a higher pay rate than NQTs) while several staff held teaching and learning responsibility payments. We also had specialist teachers who were employed as teachers without QTS.

This meant there was little capacity for learning from each other, due to the limitations of lack of cover or relevant skills sharing. To address this, an early change I made was stopping employment of additional teaching assistants. Instead, I resolved that we had to become better at prioritising succession planning, so took the decision that we would employ more teachers in training whom we would help to train so we would be better prepared for the next vacancy.

These teachers in training attend all our CPD, observe their peers while co-teaching in their classrooms and cover classes prior to beginning their formal training. We pay for their training on top of the salary they receive while they train, usually equivalent to the former TA salary we were paying.

We make it clear to new recruits that this approach of teaching and completing a course simultaneously is not easy. However, it is definitely extremely effective with the right support, which is where our coaching model again pays dividends.

What’s more, having these teachers in training also provides us with the capacity that allows for our coaching model because there is a clear need - and benefit - for the early stage teachers, who benefit greatly from more experienced members of staff.

Ideally, the teachers in training would have a year without the full responsibility of a class, but with at least 50 per cent of the teaching timetable (required by the course). I am aiming to have three teachers in every year group in a two-form-entry school, with one being a teacher in training.

This is complex to timetable, but necessary if we truly believe in all teachers continuing to learn and develop.

This sounds great in theory and mostly works well but, of course, there have been times when this model has not always worked out - especially around our open approach to on-the-job training that we cover the costs for. Recently, a student teacher disappeared post-qualification, despite an agreement being in place that she would continue to work for us for a further three years.

This shows that the system is not infallible and is based on professional ethics and trust. While the situation was disappointing, we did have another trainee waiting to start teaching, ready to take up the opportunity.

Despite the challenges, I implore others to follow the model. The chance to join a knowledgeable, open staff community is a huge factor in why recruitment is so successful for us, while we have a ready supply of teachers waiting to take the next step in their career.

The really exciting thing for us is that this system has a knock-on impact on attainment. Because we have a consistent high quality and quantity of staff, it ensures that children are offered the best possible learning opportunities. It enables us to offer more dynamic teaching set-ups that allow all pupils the best chance of success.

For example, in some year groups, teachers in training teach some foundation subjects, freeing up the traditional class teacher to teach catch-up groups.

It should be noted that the quality of teaching provided by our yet-to-qualify staff has been verified by external agencies to be extremely strong, so we have no concerns about this model.

Yes, it can add to workloads, but this can be offset by the increased staffing levels that enable you to reduce the burden in different ways, sharing planning and marking across the full team, for example.

The ways that this can be achieved will vary between settings, but I believe the improvements we have seen in reducing hiring costs, better staff retention and improved test outcomes underlines the impact that a more considered and long-term recruitment strategy can have.

Nicola Forster is the headteacher of North Primary School in Southall, West London, and senior partner of Compass Hub at Challenge Partners. She tweets @NicolaCforster5