West Country Educational Agency, located next to the Post Office in Canon Square, Melksham, is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
Since 1999, the agency has been providing supply, temporary and permanent teachers and teaching assistants to schools in and around Wiltshire, Swindon, Bath and Somerset.
West Country Educational Agency was established by Annie Benham-Taylor, a primary school teacher, who had previously worked in London and in Holland.
Speaking to Melksham News, Annie said, “I moved to Wiltshire and having young twins was only able to work part-time on supply. At that time only national agencies were here; clearly there was a real need for a locally based agency.
“Today, West Country is the leading supplier of primary school teachers throughout Wiltshire together with Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and surrounding areas. With demand for teachers increasing because of more housing and new schools being built in Salisbury to meet the needs of army families moving to Wiltshire, West Country Educational Agency is always on the look-out for more teachers to join their team.
“I’m really proud that we have grown enormously from when we first started – we had about 30 teachers working for us when we opened, we now have hundreds, from newly qualified teachers to retired Headteachers. We are growing all the time, in the last 18 months we have experienced a 20% increase in demand for teachers,” Our teachers have travelled far and wide for us from supporting the Paralympic swimming team in Dubai to regularly sending teachers to the Falklands which is a real adventure and a beautiful place to work.
To mark their 20th anniversary, West Country Educational Agency is making 20 donations to 20 diverse charities, including the Wiltshire Young Carers, Sarcoidosis UK, the Woodland Trust and parkrun etc.
“We are also supporting a charity in India for homeless children,” said Annie, “and are sponsoring a child in New Delhi – a seven-year old girl called Manvi, helping with her education.”
“We are really thriving and are proud to support all our schools with their teaching needs,” said Annie. “But we always welcome more teachers to support the expanding need. We’d love to talk to teachers relocating to the area, teachers who have had a career break, those looking for occasional days and any newly-qualified teachers who are just completing their training.
“If you are looking for a friendly, professional and supportive teaching agency, contact us on 01225 706726 or email us on staff@westcountryagency.co.uk or for more information, visit: www.westcountryagency.co.uk”
