Would a 1.40pm Friday finish stop teachers quitting?

Miss Packer had “mixed emotions” when she quit her job but has since seen marked improvements to her health.

She now runs a small baking business, making chunky cookies and celebration cakes and hosting children’s workshops.

“My anxiety has probably completely faded since leaving school, something I noticed instantly,” she says.

“I definitely sleep like a baby now.”

The annual figures, external, released by the Department for Education on Thursday, cover the academic year 2023-24.

On top of rising vacancy rates, they also reveal the proportion of state-school teachers leaving the sector is at its highest since 2010 – 39,971 (8.8%) left in 2022-23, not including those who died or retired.

In a report in May, external, MPs on the Education Select Committee said teacher recruitment and retention had been a “persistent challenge for over a decade” and “while there have been welcome increases in absolute teacher numbers, these have not kept pace with pupil numbers”.