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UK’s most northern school looking for new headteacher

Baltasound Junior High School on the Shetland island of Unst
Baltasound Junior High School on the Shetland island of Unst

The most northerly school in the UK is looking for a new head – who will be only its seventh since the First World War.

Baltasound Junior High School on the Shetland island of Unst is closer to Norway than Edinburgh.

Possibly the best teaching job in Britain comes with a £54,000 salary, relocation package, a school roll of just 76 pupils aged from four to 16, class sizes as small as three, and life on a beautiful island where sightings of the northern lights are common.

And while teachers elsewhere struggle to maintain discipline, the current head, who has been at Baltasound for the past 23 years, says she has never seen a fight there.

Maggie Reyner, who started at Baltasound in 1992, is leaving to be closer to family.

Maggie Reyner
Maggie Reyner

Miss Reyner, who began her teaching career in Glasgow, said: “I feel really quite upset about the thought of leaving Unst. The thought of leaving is actually quite difficult.

“It does get under your skin. One of our English teachers came 35 years ago just to do some supply from Edinburgh and didn’t leave.”

She continued: “It is fantastic, it’s a really good school. It’s so well supported by the community – the school is at the hub of the community.”

Speaking about living on the island, which is home to just 600 people, she said: “It’s a whole different way of life.

“I never lock my car, I never take my keys out of the car. I don’t lock my house. In Unst that’s just the way it is. You’d never think of locking it.

“Everybody works together to support each other.”

She added: “Our children are usually very well behaved.

“I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a fight in the school. They might curse at each other but it’s just not the way the bairns behave.”

However, there are some issues with being at the helm of a school on a small and remote Scottish island.

Miss Reyner said: “Up until recently we had three members of staff in the fire brigade. Two teachers and a janitor.

“They’ve got a beeper and it would go off and all of a sudden they’d rush out the door, off to a fire.”