One of the things I love about my job - on top of the wonderful pupils, fantastic staff, lovely parent community and so on - is that I live only 15 minutes away.

This is good for saving money on fuel but, more importantly, it means I feel truly connected to our local community and want us to be a part of its success, and for the children we work with to become integral members of its future success too.

The local connection

There are many other staff who live locally as well and they feel the same.

They work here not simply because it is a convenience but because they are emotionally connected to the community and have stayed here, in good times and bad, because they care deeply about the children.

In addition, these are the people going to local shops, pubs, restaurants, parks and primary school gates, and are well known to parents.

They are our ambassadors and advocates, our champions and spin doctors. Inadvertently, they are magic.

Appeal to local residents

It would be great if all our teaching staff were locals but of course that is not straightforward - 35.5 per cent of the adult population have no qualifications at all and only 15.4 per cent have reached a level 4 or above.

However, what we have done, and is certainly achievable, is to directly appeal to local residents for associate staff roles: teaching assistants, pastoral leaders, technicians, cover supervisors, invigilators and business administrators.

Encouraging applications

We do this in numerous ways.

For example, when we advertise a role, we put it on our weekly emailed newsletter to parents and local residents, we post it on social media, such as Instagram and Facebook.

We also send it directly to local community groups and charities that work with residents.

Because of this we have seen many more people applying for associate roles from the local community, including former students.

Open sessions

In addition, we offer open sessions for those who may never have considered working in a school before but may be curious.

They may not have walked through school gates since they were a pupil themselves and may not necessarily have fond memories.

We give them a tour of the school, introduce them to children, and staff who live locally volunteer to speak to them about what it is like to work here.

This pleasantly changes perceptions of what a large unruly secondary is like, and always reassures them.

Often they come to be nosy but they leave with application forms.

Advocates and associates

To help get our message across we also call on staff who have joined through this route.

One of our strong advocates for this is Kerry, who lives locally and is also a parent.

She joined us a couple of years ago as a lunchtime engagement leader, getting the children active during their lunch break.

Last year she became one of our full-time learning coaches, supporting children’s engagement in class.

During this time she gained additional qualifications and has subsequently moved on to be our full-time student counsellor, a critical role.

When speaking to potential new employees she is nothing short of gushing and it can have a massive impact.

Helping children to settle

Without a doubt, staff who look and sound familiar to the children help them settle in far more quickly.

And for parents, knowing that their friend, family member or neighbour works here makes us seem far less distant.

Instead of the headteacher pontificating about the importance of attendance, it is their sister, or someone down the pub that they’ve known for years.

The local staff contribute to incredible school improvement while also changing perceptions about us.

More importantly, our children see people from their own community being successful in school and are surrounded by brilliant role models.

Keziah Featherstone is executive headteacher of Q3 Academy Tipton, a part of The Mercian Trust. She is co-founder and a strategic lead of WomenEd, and a member of the Headteachers’ Roundtable