FOR the last year at Brighton Hill Community School (BHCS), students have been given the unique opportunity to get involved with the interviewing and appointing of new members of the staff body.

In each instance, four students ask a set of questions in turn to a candidate, who then receives a tour around the school by another student and then has their final interview with the senior leadership team.

Students' feedback is then taken into account when choosing who to appoint.

So far, students have helped new staff gain positions across the curriculum, including in English, PE, modern foreign languages, history and art. Many new teachers joining the #YellowArmy in September will have been interviewed by student panellists.

Personally, I thoroughly enjoy interviewing potential teachers (and not because it removes me from lessons!) because, as someone looking to potentially become a teacher myself, I feel having the lucrative chance to see what teachers experience through the interview process will not only strengthen BHCS's teaching staff as a whole, but also help to give pupils a proper experience of how employment in the 'real world' works and what people are looking for in candidates.

I cannot thank BHCS enough for providing so many students the undeniable benefit of surveying who will be teaching them, and to Mrs Chandler, Mrs Laney and Mrs Levett, who support the student panel during interviews and without whom this would not be possible.

By Charlie Bowden