Safer Recruitment

All posts involving direct contact with children are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. However, amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975 (2013 & 2020) provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are ‘protected’. These are not subject to disclosure to employers and cannot be taken into account. Guidance and criteria on the filtering of these cautions and convictions can be found on the Ministry of Justice website or see here>.

Please also read our Centre policy : Recruitment of Ex Offenders Policy and Procedures.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a self-disclosure form (Teaching / Non-Teaching) to provide details of all unspent convictions and those that would not be filtered or protected, prior to the date of the interview. You may be asked for further information about your criminal history during the recruitment process. If your application is successful, this self-disclosure information will be checked against information from the Disclosure & Barring Service before your appointment is confirmed.

We ask for 2 referees (one of whom should be your current employer / line manager) and the second a previous, relevant, employer. We accept that this may not be possible sometimes and are happy to discuss an alternative. We ask that character references are avoided.

Please be aware that we will request references prior to interview.

In line with Keeping Children Safe in Education we , as part of the shortlisting process, will
carry out an online search as part of our due diligence on shortlisted candidates. This may help identify any incidents or issues that have happened, and are publicly available online, which we might want to explore with the applicant at interview.

On the day of your interview you will be expected to provide documentation to verify your identity.  Please see the DBS Applicant Valid Identity Documents to check which documents can be used.  These MUST be brought on the day of your interview.

As part of our duty to safeguard pupils, we need to check whether you are barred from working with children, or whether you have convictions that would make you unsuitable to work with children or in the role you’ve applied for. If you are invited to interview you will have to complete the ‘self-declaration form’ so that we can assess whether or not you are eligible for the role and inform our conversations at interview.
Self-declaration form (pre-employment check) - Teaching
Self-declaration form (pre-employment check) - Non-Teaching

On the day of your interview we will carry out checks to ensure that you can legally work in the UK. Proof MUST be brought on the day of your interview.

On the day of interview you will be asked to provide details of your qualifications which should meet or exceed the level required in the essential criteria. Certificates should be original and copies will be made for the selection panel to verify.

For teaching posts: Along with your degree certificate will be asked to bring evidence of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and Induction certificate – These will be checked against teacher services.

All staff will be checked by our Occupational Health provider (CHOOSE) to ensure that they are fit enough to undertake the post they have applied for.