A total of 25 teachers are being replaced at Bermuda's largest secondary school this summer after a quarter of its staff finished at the end of last semester.

The Ministry of Education confirmed last night that a big recruitment drive had been underway for some time to ensure that all of the vacant posts would be filled by September.

Government said 25 of the 100 staff at the 1,000-pupil school have left for a variety of reasons.

Some have not had their contracts renewed, others are going back to college themselves, some are retiring and some are leaving on health and family grounds.

But last night school principal Kalmar Richards said the school would be back to full strength when the new term started in eight weeks.

Mrs Richards said: "I am confident that all of the posts will be filled. As soon as we were notified, we began the process of filling the positions straight away.'' Education Minister Milton Scott said he was not worried that any position would be outstanding.

And he said the ministry had been to Britain, Canada and the islands on a big recruitment drive in a bid to bring experienced teachers to Bermuda.

He said: "By September, CedarBridge Academy should be back up to full strength.

"They have left for a variety of reasons. It's coincidence.

"Some have gone on to further develop their own training, some have transferred to other schools, some are down to family illnesses, and some are going because their contracts are up.'' Shadow Education Minister Tim Smith said he was concerned about the loss of such a high number of teachers from the school in one go.

But he said he was also concerned that teachers' contracts were being renewed too late in the day, the Government saying ten days' ago that the process was still on-going.

Mr. Smith said: "It's appalling and disgraceful that posts have not been confirmed at this late stage.''