School Testimonials

Thetford Academy, Cathy Spillane, Principal

We came to iday last year and we were really impressed by the quality of the candidates we met on

the day and actually employed 3 Maths teachers and an English teacher from iday and they have

been very very successful. We have seen a rise in results already and we are not even at the end of

the academic year.

Greensward Academy, Rob Davis, Assistant Vice Principal & James Ketly, Vice Principal

It is fantastic to see a selection of teachers in such a short space of time and I am very impressed by

the quality of the candidates I have seen today. Traditionally we would use the national paper to

advertise. In this situation you have already done the short listing for us so we are presented with the

most relevant and highly appropriate CVs. The standard of teachers put in front of us today was

excellent and we would want to take on all four but unfortunately we only have vacancies for two. In

terms of agency teachers, these were far greater in terms of quality subject knowledge back ground

stood out to me, the research they done about the school. We definitely got a lot out of the day as

we got to see a range of candidates in quick succession. We saw six teachers and normally this would

take six days so in terms of time management it was beneficial. It was the first time we used iday and

I would absolutely recommend to other schools. Sean has been very effective. We feel our delegate

Sean had worked hard to really listen to what we wanted.

2nd

July 2012 – Maidstone

4th

July 2012 – Heathrow

Crossways Academy, Vereen Ryan, Principal

I think iday is an excellent concept and would certainly recommend it to other schools. Obviously you

want to be ahead of the game when you are planning for recruitment but there does come a time

when you haven’t recruited everybody by the May 31st cut off date and think ‘Oh my gosh what am I

going to do’, and I believe iday is the perfect response to something like that. I think it’s a far more

effective use of time. The quality of candidates is very good - I’ve seen some vibrant, energetic,

engaging people. I certainly think the quality of teachers has been good seeing a mixture of

experienced and newly qualified teacher and I would say hats off to Engage for organising the event

as it’s a really really good idea.

Onslow St Audrey’s Academy, Dave Allen, Principal

I have thoroughly enjoyed the idea. Normally we would advertise in the TES and the Herts online and

have had a mixed response with that. We have risked paying large amounts to advertise in the TES

and sometimes we don’t get a good field. I think any of the teachers I’ve seen today are appointable

but many are superb, I am delighted to say. It is cost effective because I spend a lot of time at school

dealing with ad hoc data from agencies and majority of time I just throw them in the bin. So it’s been

a good day, a useful day.

I would absolutely recommend iday to other schools. I don’t think you can improve iday to be honest.

It was brilliant. Directions were great, preparation was great and material was suburb. Craig has

been brilliant... very professional and I will use iday again and am already interested in November. I’ll

100% tell my staff to use iday over the TES.

The Buckingham School, Angela Wells, Head Teacher

There is a well developed relationship between school and agency and this is critical in understanding and knowing the school’s specific requirements. iday always helps us get the right teachers for the

right jobs. Every school is different and the way iday takes this into consideration to match the candidates is great.

Quality of teachers is high. I have worked with a number of teachers from Engage over the years and

they definitely add value and quality to the school. iday provide quality teachers who go on to develop as teaching professionals. iday is certainly highly recommended. iday is a much better use of

my time. Very focused and a meaning full recruitment event. Finding one teacher and then getting the CRB check and all compliance done is a lengthily process. iday provides a solution to that

automatically.

Oasis Academy Enfield, Paul Hammond, Principal Could have hired them all. It has been a long day but the use of time has been fruitful. I have seen a

good number of high quality candidates. The most important thing is we have got some good quality candidates that came from both Ireland and England. The quality of teachers were definitely

appointable. When I compare the level of teachers here today to that of the TES… 80% would be interviewable candidates that would show up and represent themselves well on paper. Barry the

consultant is very good. He is very flexible. I changed the circumstances on the day and he was able to accommodate that very promptly and he paces me very well. Barry scores very well today.

Sarum Academy, Andy Milford, Assistant Principal iday has been really good. The benefit is that you can get so much done. From a time management

point of view it is incredibly effective for us. So to come in and give one day… knowing you have interviewed eight candidates is hugely beneficial. Over the last few months we have invested a lot of time and money attempting to recruit mathematicians in the conventional way, and to be completely honest, we have probably had more success today than we have had over the entire period, so it has been very time and cost effective. There has been a very high calibre of candidates put in front of us.

iday matched if not exceeded what we would see in a normal recruitment round.

Clacton County High School, Kate Finch, Vice Principal I think the concept of iday is great. The teachers are incredibly lucky to see lots of schools in one day

and to potentially be interviewed several times by several schools all in one day is an amazing opportunity and it is something that was never available to me at that stage of my career. I think the iday is very well put together, incredibly convenient for me as a leader in the school. There has been a good quality of candidates. Sean has been absolutely fantastic. He is a great communicator. I would

recommend iday without question. In terms of time, it is incredibly efficient.

Northfleet Technology College, Chris Norwood, Deputy Head Teacher The benefits of iday are that you get to see a lot of teachers in a quick session which allows you to

see the ones that you really want to speak or talk to and see teach. And this cuts down on time. Here we can short list down to a set you want to see very quickly. So far, and we have been to a number of idays, generally teachers are very good and generally better than if you were to go out through

normal means. The consultant, Moynul works well and is very very professional and gets the teachers we want. He is very friendly and accommodating. We had last minute changes and looks

like he was able to accommodate to that. iday is something I would 100% recommend attending for other schools.

North Oxfordshire Academy, Sara Billins, Principal I found iday a well organised and well structured event and the candidates that have been presented

to me have been of high quality. I think it is a different way of recruiting staff and think it is a very useful way of seeing a number of teaches in one go in a way that does not disrupt a school day. I

have been very impressed with the quality of teachers I have seen today. In terms of the standard of teaching, it is great. Barry has been very good with talking to me very regularly and the pre-work has been very necessary. I would certainly recommend iday to schools recruiting for multiple vacancies.

Next time I would bring someone with me.

Chalfonts Community College, Sue Tanner, Head Teacher

As ever, as I have been involved with idays since the beginning, the iday has been extremely well organised and it’s great to talk to new teachers and it’s good to have a potential choice of people

who I might want to work in my school. I think the ideology of iday is brilliant. Engage have gathered together the people and you are presented with their CVs and references and then you get to see

them. The option to see the candidate in your school is also excellent. So you have the best of both worlds. It is 100% better than interviewing someone over the telephone. My consultant is superb.

He understands my schools and has visited my school several times. I have found some great maths teachers here today that I have my eye on. To say it is excellent would be an understatement.

Ickneild High School, Harpreet & Kamron Ahmed, Head of Maths I have found the iday very exciting. We have seen a variety of teachers for both Maths and History and we have been able to show off our school to them and they have been able to show off their

skills to us. We have seen a number of candidates and majority of them we would definitely want to see again. The standard of candidates has been phenomenal and it’s been difficult to choose

between good and outstanding teachers. I have definitely been impressed.

Normally we put an advert out in the TES and follow procedure from there and obviously that can take quite a while, whereas here we have seen multiple teachers for multiple vacancies all in one day.

So for us it takes away the time consuming element of interviewing because iday pre-screen the candidates for us already. It is a constructive use of time. We have found efficiency in one day. It has been great to see 7/8 good maths teachers come to the desk. It saved us a lot of time. It speeds up

the recruitment process.

Tring School a Specialist Humanities College, Susanna Collings, Head Teacher & Sally Ambrose

Assistant Head Teacher iday has been very impressive. The standards of candidates have been really good and well matched to our school. The contact with the iday team and us has been very valuable. We feel very happy that we have seen people that would work well in our school and we are onto a winner. Being a newbie, I

found it a refreshing way of recruiting. I have never had any experience like this before and it has been very innovative. Liam is a gem and was a huge help today.

Harwich and Dovercount High School

We have short listed a selection of promising teachers and hope to get them down to our school. iday is unique and an exciting experience both for the interviewer and the interviewee. It was a very good

standard of in which we short listed 5 out of 8.

Ormiston Rivers Academy, Alison Owens, Head Teacher

iday today was very good as usual and it’s nice to see great quality candidates and we always find that every time we come up for an iday that iday has the right teacher portfolio and it really makes it worth our while. This is the fifth iday we have been to. It is good that the candidates have obviously been vetted by you prior to attendance. I am really struggling today. I have seen 6 teachers, all of in

which I could appoint, so I’m thinking what teacher I shall bring back as a pose to do I have a candidate. Simon is the best and constantly puts himself out for us; he comes out to the school, he is constantly on the phone and likes to check that we are ok. If we have a need, he fills it very quickly.

Simon has been absolutely terrific.

Swavesey Village College, Andy Daly, Deputy Head Teacher

The iday event run by Engage Education was incredibly useful. We have advertised for Maths and

Physics posts on a number of occasions with no applicants suitable to appoint. The Engage Education

staff were incredibly supportive in arranging and running the iday during which we were able to

interview eight applicants all of whom were very good. Five were appointable and following a visit to

the school and observing them teach we have taken on three staff and could have appointed a fourth

if we had the capacity. It was certainly a very productive way of securing staff in high demand

subjects and the calibre of candidates was generally very high. We will definitely be attending the

next iday if we have vacancies in key areas.

Harefield Academy, Riaan Huyser, Assistant Principal

Our 2 consultants for the day did a brilliant job selecting candidates. I was very excited and after looking at all the details, I was even more excited and could not wait to meet them. Quality wise, top

notch.

Harefield Academy, Emma Ronaghan, Vice Principal Without hesitation I would recommend iday to other schools. It’s worked for us, I’m sure it would

work for you.

The Basildon Academy, Terry Hiscock There seems to be a standard that seems to be applied across the board, it has an extremely efficient

way of interviewing. We have been really impressed with the quality of teachers coming through.

The Harris Academy Merton, Andy Halpin, Principal

The iday events are excellent in the respect you can concentrate all your efforts all into looking at one

particular thing which is recruiting for your school.

Haberdashers’ Aske’s Knights Academy, Andrew Day, Principal I have been very happy with all aspects of the service provided to Knights Academy by Engage. From the brilliant iday event, which enabled me to select some excellent teachers for both the Science and

English departments. All of these have been handled with great efficiency and skill. It has been a great pleasure working with such a professional team, with a consultant assigned to my school, who

has visited, understands our circumstances, and places staff accordingly.

Fearnhill School, Stella Brennan, Deputy Head Teacher It’s the first event of this kind that I have attended, I was most impressed by the high quality

candidates, the professionalism of all staff and how Engage matched the candidates so well to our school’s individual requirements. The event was unique, innovative and was a very good use of time.

I would definitely recommend this as the first method of recruitment to any school. We were confident enough to hire seven staff in one day. Absolutely amazing!

Grey Court School, Ashraf Ali, Assistant Head

Nobody wants to be in a situation where they need to recruit following last minute resignations or

promotions. However, if you find yourself in that situation, as we did, then the best way out is

through Engage and the iday. Superbly organised, an excellent array of good quality teachers in a

dynamic environment; the iday is a unique opportunity to fill key positions. As a senior leader in a

London school I was so relieved to have the Engage team work tirelessly to get the best teachers in

front of our students. I recommend the process and Engage unreservedly.

Ken Stimpson Community School, Amir Walji, Assistant Principal

I think the concept of iday is a brilliant idea. The quality of standards is very high and we have seen

passionate and enthusiastic candidates. Cost wise iday is cheaper. There is no expense to the school

other that getting to the venue. The recruitment process itself is great. We have had such little

interested in maths when putting out an advert that have cost us £3000 whereas here at iday we

have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Out of the five candidates we saw, we are very

interested in 3. I‘d definitely suggest iday to other schools. Location was superb also. Jemma has

been brilliant and when she came down before iday to visit us, she was very warm and inviting and

very clear with her descriptions which made us want to come even more because up to then we were

unsure.