'Build staff housing at schools'

Homes for teachers should be built on school grounds to halt the exodus of experienced staff from London, a leading educationalist said today.

Sir Mike Tomlinson, a former chief inspector of Ofsted, said the state sector should emulate private schools, which have long offered cut-price accommodation to teachers.

Many teachers have left London in order to get on the property ladder and demand for subsidised "key worker" housing outstrips supply.

Sir Mike said the Government's £45billion Building Schools for the Future programme offered a one-off opportunity to incorporate staff accommodation at schools. "We've got to be willing to think outside the box," he added.

The former chairman of the Learning Trust, a not-for-profit body that runs education in Hackney, also warned a widening achievement gap between children in London posed a serious danger to society - and could even trigger riots.

"I think we are a million miles from that," added Sir Mike, "but we have to be careful - we don't want to sleepwalk into this situation."