High house prices turn teachers into commuters (From Oxford Mail)

High house prices turn teachers into commuters (From Oxford Mail)

TEACHERS are commuting in to Oxford schools from as far as Milton Keynes and Birmingham because city homes are too expensive.

They spoke after a report by the Centres for Cities think tank confirmed that Oxford was the least affordable city in the UK to buy a house.

Figures show the cost of housing is higher than every city outside the capital, but wages are lower than towns including Swindon, Milton Keynes and London.

John Hussey, Birmingham resident and headteacher at St Gregory the Great School in East Oxford, said high prices were hitting young people who wanted to enter teaching.

He said: “If you manage to attract and retain good teachers, when they reach the family stage of their lives, they have to move out of the city to find suitable accommodation.”

Mr Hussey, who drives to Oxford from the West Midlands, said new teachers outside London were paid £21,588 in their first year and £30,552 after six years.

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