Safer Recruitment Statement Policy

Oak View Academy is committed to providing the best possible care and education to its pupils and to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. The School is also committed to providing a supportive working environment to all its members of staff. The School recognises that, in order to achieve these aims, it is of fundamental importance to attract, recruit and retain staff of the highest calibre who share this commitment.

The aims of the School's recruitment policy are as follows:

  • To ensure that the best possible staff are recruited on the basis of their merits, abilities and suitability for the position;
  • To ensure that all job applicants are considered equitably and consistently;
  • To ensure that no job applicant is treated unfairly on any grounds including race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or religious belief, sex or sexual orientation, marital status, disability or age;
  • To ensure compliance with all relevant recommendations and guidance including the recommendations of the Department for Education (DFE) in "Safeguarding Children: Safer
  • Recruitment and Selection in Education Settings" , “Working Together to Safeguard Children” 2013 and ‘Keeping children safe in Education’ (2014) and the code of practice published by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS); recommendations in The Bichard Report 2004.
  • To ensure that the School meets its commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people by carrying out all necessary pre-employment checks. Employees involved in the recruitment and selection of staff are responsible for familiarising themselves with and complying with the provisions of this policy and each recruitment panel will contain one person who is Safer Recruitment trained.

Recruitment & selection procedure

After an advert has been placed, all applicants for employment will be required to complete an application form containing questions about their academic and employment history and their suitability for the role. Incomplete application forms will be returned to the applicant where the deadline for completed application forms has not passed. For roles where literacy is not a prerequisite to successful performance, support to complete an application form will be offered to shortlisted candidates. Curriculum vitae will not be accepted in place of the completed application form.

Applicants will receive a job description and person specification for the role applied for. All applications will be acknowledged by email.

Selection for Interview

A matrix is prepared which details the skills and qualities required. Having considered the application in the light of the skills and the qualifications required, applicants may then be invited to attend a formal interview at which his/her relevant skills and experience will be discussed in more detail. A member of every interview panel will be Safer Recruitment trained. A practical activity will be included appropriate to the post advertised. Examples of such tasks might include teaching a lesson, giving an assembly, preparing documents or working in a team.

If it is decided to make an offer of employment following the formal interview, any such offer will be conditional on the following:

  • The agreement of a mutually acceptable start date and the signing of a contract incorporating North West Academy Trust's standard terms and conditions of employment;
  • The receipt of two satisfactory references (one of which must be from the applicant's most recent employer) which the School considers satisfactory; and
  • The receipt of an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service with which the School is satisfied. If the offer is accepted and the above conditions are satisfied, the applicant will be issued with a contract of employment as confirmation of employment.

The interview

In essence, Safer Recruitment promotes a process designed to probe further into the information provided by a candidate in their application, gain an understanding into their attitudes towards children and safe guarding in schools and to gather evidence surrounding their motives for working with young people. Assessors should avoid where possible hypothetical scenarios and instead seek positive and concrete examples whereby a candidate has demonstrated their knowledge and understanding and skills and attributes in a real context.

When thinking through the interview process, it is important to understand what information you want to gather from each task/question. When asking any interview question it is useful to note the appropriate responses or triggers that you are looking for in an answer. When a question is asked, it is useful for other members of the panel to make notes of their response(s) and record their impressions so that any reflective discussions after interview are accurate.

It is important for the interview process to be fair for all applicants and it is advisable to have a set number of questions to be asked of all candidates. However, supporting questions can be asked if an answer needs to be developed further whereby additional information or detail can be asked for. It is a clear process not a restrictive one.

  • Use a range of open and closed questions allowing the candidate to talk.
  • Avoid loading a question with jargon, asking convoluted questions or leading a candidate with your question or response.
  • Do not accept vague or underdeveloped answers – use supporting questions to probe further.
  • As a rule, a candidate should be asked to relate to their actual experiences as these can generally be verified, by talking to a previous employer for example.
  • When a candidate lacks experience, a hypothetical situation may be used but assessors must be aware that these are not quantifiable
  • If, by asking supporting questions and probing further, assessors become concerned regarding a candidates attitude or motivation towards children it is important to move on and not to continue to explore the issue. The same is true if they give a number of satisfactory responses.

If significant concerns arise regarding the suitability of a candidate to work with children, it is important to seek advice for the LA HR professionals. All information disclosed and discussed is confidential.

The following questions should be used as a guide for the interview process. The order in which the assessors will ask the questions will be determined before interview. The pro forma has been taken from the Safer Recruitment Handbook.

Retention of records

If an applicant is appointed, the School will retain any relevant information provided on their application form (together with any attachments and interview notes) on their personnel file. If the application is unsuccessful, all documentation relating to the application will normally be confidentially destroyed after six months unless the applicant specifically requests the School to keep their details on file.

Queries

If an applicant has any queries on how to complete the application form or any other matter they should contact the School Business Manager.

Written: Easter 2014

Latest review: September 2017

Next review: September 2018