A headteacher facing a staffing crisis flew to South Africa to recruit teachers because it was cheaper than advertising from Britain.

Peter Barton paid a flying weekend visit to Cape Town and returned with the news he had appointed three new teachers.

The new members of staff will be arriving over the next six weeks, in time for the start of the spring term at The Causeway School in Eastbourne.

Mr Barton has found it difficult to lure to the South East, one of the most expensive regions in the UK.

His decision is similar to those of NHS managers looking for more nurses and medical workers, who often look abroad for staff.

He said the cost of the return flight, between £600 and £700, was cheaper than advertising in this country.

He said: "It is expensive to advertise and we have tried recruiting that way before with no luck.

"It is difficult to recruit teachers to work here partly because of the high cost of living on the South Coast.

"It makes it difficult to attract younger staff, in particular. There is also a shortage of teachers in specialist areas.

"When I had trouble filling the vacancies I decided to look abroad. I flew out on a Thursday, in my own time, interviewed seven applicants and was back at the school again on Monday morning.

"I like to interview people face to face and get an idea of their teaching methods rather than over the phone. That is why I went to see them."

The new staff are experienced and Mr Barton is confident they will quickly settle in. He said he would consider doing the same again.

He said: "The venture has been successful for me and I am now fully staffed."

There is a national shortage of specialist teaching staff in areas such as food technology, one of the posts Mr Barton has filled.

He says getting maths, technology and English teachers can also be difficult.

The Causeway School is a mixed comprehensive with almost 800 pupils between 11 and 16.

Janet Bowen, recruitment strategy manager for East Sussex Education Authority, said many schools turned to recruiting abroad if they could not fill vacancies locally.

She said: "It is the same with almost every other education authority, and especially in the South-East because of the higher cost of living.

"We are traditionally very lucky here because we have two universities on our doorstep who train teachers and we work very closely with them to recruit staff.

"However that does not mean we are complacent and we are actively working hard to help schools which have vacancies."

Mrs Bowen said the authority was also responsible for a graduate training programme and had more than 40 trainees on its courses. It also had an annual recruitment fair.

She said recruitment problems often came at the start of the spring term because there were not as many young graduates coming out of college as at the end of summer.

She said: "That is when schools have to be flexible and find other ways to attract staff."