Rebecca Morgan manages to run a successful business while bringing up five children.

She talks to Women's Editor Christen Pears about juggling work and family life.

REBECCA Morgan lives in an old stone house in an idyllic spot by the river in the village of Grinton, where several children's bikes are piled up against the wall. She opens the door and apologises for the state of the stair carpet; the vacuum cleaner has just blown up.

As we head upstairs, we pass the door to the living room and then a child's bedroom, decorated in shades of pink. Opposite is the office from which she runs Principal Teachers, the supply teacher agency she set up three years ago with a grant from the Prince's Trust. The integration of work and family life seems to be the key to her success.

Trained as a primary school teacher, 31-year-old Rebecca had worked in supply for five years before deciding to start her own agency. She realised there was a need for a reliable service that provided high quality teachers to schools in North Yorkshire for reasonable rates.

"I just saw a gap in the market and, with my experience, I thought I was is in the perfect position to fill it," she says.

At the time, she was pregnant with her third child, Kate, making it an even bigger undertaking.

"It was a nerve-wracking time but somehow, we managed to get through. At first, there was just me and two other teachers but the business has grown steadily and we've already tripled our turnover."

Rebecca insists the business' rural location poses no problems, thanks largely to the Internet. In the office, there are pictures of her children on the wall above her desk and every other space seems to be taken up with shelving, groaning under the weight of files and teaching books.

She is still passionate about teaching and tries to spend two or three days a week in the classroom. She devotes the rest of her time to office work, and is assisted by fellow teacher Andrea Evans.

Rebecca's husband Steve gave up his job and now also works for the agency. Between them, the couple have five children, aged between three and 11, but running their own business gives them the flexibility they need to look after their young family.

Rebecca says: "It was really hard at first, when they were younger. For a while, we didn't start doing any work until they'd gone to bed so we were up until the early hours of the morning. We just had to learn to cope with the sleep deprivation.

"It's much easier now and we split our time between the agency and looking after the kids. We make a good team and there's always one of us there when they go to school or come home, which is really important when you're a parent. It's quite an important feature when you choose your profession."

Principal Teachers now has 100 teachers on its books, as well as nursery nurses and teaching assistants. The business initially focused on North Yorkshire, but is now expanding to include Darlington, Middlesbrough and Stockton.

One of the major benefits the agency offers to schools, explains Rebecca, is local knowledge, which many of the larger agencies lack because they are based further afield.

"We know the area and the schools extremely well so we can build up a rapport and match a teacher to a school. It's a very personalised service and I think headteachers really appreciate that. They know they're going to get a high quality teacher who can walk into a classroom and deliver a lesson."

The agency provides emergency cover as well as supply teachers for longer-term absence. It can usually find a teacher for a school within half an hour and Rebecca is proud that she has never let a school down.

She says: "We have done some advertising but most of our business has come from word of mouth and I think that shows what a good job we're doing. We don't take advantage of the fact schools need to find teachers at short notice. We're actually there to help."