The London Borough of Hillingdon has a commitment to ‘Making a Difference’ and improving the lives of people in Hillingdon. This commitment is demonstrated not least through its schools, with staff whose skills and energies are directed to helping children as individuals to achieve to their full potential and make an effective contribution to the society in which they live.

We should like to welcome all the newly qualified teachers to Hillingdon. The Education, Youth and Leisure Services Group provides a wide range of lifelong and leisure activities. We are developing new strategies to raise standards in schools and to offer improved opportunities for all people in Hillingdon to learn and develop skills. In particular we are committed to a shared purpose of working together through participative planning and active partnership in order to raise standards in schools.

New teachers are an essential element in achieving that success. I hope that you will make full use of all the support available to you to enable you to develop as a professional and to contribute fully and effectively to the life of your school and its community. I hope too that you will enjoy your first year in teaching and that you will take the opportunity to discover the rich resources of the borough in terms of its environment and many facilities for sport and leisure.

We should also like to take this opportunity to thank all those staff in schools who will be supporting the new teachers during their induction year especially headteachers, induction tutors and mentors.

This handbook has been produced for all of you and represents advice on good practice. It complements the LEA induction programme and the individual programmes taking place in each school. I invite any of you to let me know of ways in which, as an authority, we can provide even better support to new teachers in their induction year.