Recruitment Guidelines

If you are a disabled person and may not be able to meet some of the job requirements because of your disability, please specify this in your application. If you meet all other criteria, you will be shortlisted and we will discuss with you if there are ways in which the post can be modified to meet your needs.

Red Kite Learning Trust is an equal opportunity employer committed to the elimination of discrimination throughout its employment practices. Selection criteria procedures will be reviewed frequently to ensure that individuals are selected and treated on the basis of their merits and abilities. All information is treated in confidence and personal information submitted as part of the Equal Opportunities questions will not form part of your application; the shortlisting panel do not have access to this information.

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.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide details of all unspent convictions and those that would not be filtered, 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 have a written policy on the recruitment of ex-offenders contained within this document and made available to all Disclosure applicants at the outset of the recruitment process. This policy provides further guidance on the disclosure of convictions and warnings, including reprimands and final warnings – please see further below.

You must not try to influence any current employee or member of a school governing body or Trust Board, to act in your favour as this will disqualify you. If you are related to a current employee, Governor or Trust member, you must indicate this in the relevant section of the application form.

At least one of the references should be your current employer. If you are not currently working with children, but have previously done so, then you must include a referee from the last post where you worked with children. If you have not been in recent paid employment, referees should be appropriately qualified to provide confirmation of your suitability for employment. Referees will normally be contacted before interview where possible so that any issues or concerns they raise can be explored further with the referee, and/or taken up with the candidate at interview.

You should be aware that your referees will be asked if, in relation to you, they are aware of any Child Protection allegations or issues of a similar nature. The Trust will take reasonable steps to verify references received electronically.

Applicants who meet the requirements will normally be short-listed for interview. In addition, you may be asked to undertake tests, written exercises or other tasks deemed appropriate for the role as part of the selection process.

At the interview, the panel will ask questions which are intended to allow you to expand on your application and to demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the post. This is also your opportunity to ask questions relating to the job. You will also be asked for your views on the importance of safeguarding children and provide evidence of your suitability to work with young people through your responses to interview questions. At least one interview panel member will be Safer Recruitment trained.

Administrative, Professional, Technical & Clerical (APT & C) Grades relating to Operational Staff – Progression on the salary scale is by annual increment until the maximum within the grade is reached, subject to at least 6 months service in the grade and a satisfactory performance review and levels of attendance by that date.

Teachers – The terms of the relevant year’s Pay and Conditions Document will apply.

Permission to Work in the UK

Under the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 we must verify identity and in addition we can only consider applications from those eligible to work in the UK in accordance with Government Guidelines, available here.

No offer of employment can be made without verification of proof of identity.

Qualifications

At Interview Evidence of qualifications relevant to the post and proof of Qualified Teacher Status (ifapplicable) will also be required. We can only accept original certificates. If you cannot produce original documents or certified copies, written confirmation of your relevant qualifications must be obtained from the awarding body.

Proof of Identity

At Interview In accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education, we must see proof of your identity and evidence your name, date of birth, address and see some form of photographic identity.

At Appointment In accordance with Safer Recruitment guidelines designed to protect young people, we will check your suitability to work with children. You will need to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure via the Disclosing and Barring Service (DBS), involving completing an electronic application for this purpose and provide original supporting documents. A copy of the DBS Code of Practice is available through this link or available on request.

Medical Clearance

At Appointment - Verification of your medical fitness is required and again you will be asked to complete a form. You will not be able to start work, for insurance purposes, until medical clearance has been received.

Prohibition Checks

In accordance with our statutory responsibilities under the Education Act and outlined in Keeping Children Safe in Education we will carry out a check on any member of staff carrying out ‘teaching work’ to ensure they are not prohibited from teaching work.

Each of the following activities is teaching work:

• Planning and preparing lessons and courses for students
• Delivering* lessons to students;
• Assessing the development, progress and attainment of students; and
• Reporting on the development, progress and attainment of students

*“delivering” includes delivering lessons through distance learning or computer aided techniques.

The activities specified above are not teaching work for the purposes of the Regulations if the person carrying out the activity does so (other than for the purposes of induction) subject to the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher or other person nominated by the Headteacher to provide such direction and supervision.

Overseas Checks

Where candidates have lived or worked abroad in the past 5 years for a period of 3 months or more we will carry out appropriate overseas checks. This will include an EEA check for those appointed to do teaching work that have lived or worked abroad within the EEA.

Conditional Offer of Appointment: Summary of Pre Appointment Checks

An offer of appointment to the successful candidate will be conditional upon:

• verification of the candidate’s identity
• verification of eligibility to work in the UK
• appropriate overseas check, including an EEA check where appropriate
• verification of the candidate’s mental and physical fitness to carry out their role
• the receipt of at least two satisfactory and verified references
• verification of qualifications
• verification of professional status where required e.g. QTS status (unless properly exempted)
• a check of the DfE Barred List
• a satisfactory DBS Enhanced Disclosure, with the certificate seen and verified by the school.

(for Volunteers a written risk assessment in relation to the undertaking of an Enhanced DBS Disclosure)

• a check using the Employer Access Online Service to see if a prohibition order issued by the Secretary of State for Education or GTCE sanction exists against the individual (for posts carrying out ‘teaching work’)
• verification of successful completion of statutory induction period (applies to those who obtained QTS after 7 May 1999) unless the successful candidate is an NQT undertaking their statutory induction (for teaching posts)

General Data Protection Regulations

We take your data protection rights and our legal obligations seriously. Your personal data will be treated in a secure and confidential manner and only as set out in our Recruitment Privacy Notice available on our website or otherwise notified to you in writing. Red Kite Learning Trust will be the data controller of your personal data. We have a Data Protection Officer (DPO) who is responsible for monitoring our compliance with data protection law. You may contact the Trust’s Data Protection Officer securely and confidentially at any time if you have any concerns about the processing of yourpersonal data or any data protection issue.

The DPO's contact details are DPO@rklt.co.uk

You can access more detail regarding the Trust’s Data Protection Policy here

Please note: It is not our practice to inform applicants that they have been unsuccessful in being called for interview. If you do not receive an invitation to interview, we thank you for your interest in the post and our Trust