SARAH BONNELL SCHOOL Deanery Road, London E15 4LP
Headteacher: Rae Potter
GUIDANCE FOR CANDIDATES APPLYING FOR POSTS AT THE SCHOOL
Please note: The school will implement a rigorous and robust recruitment process that gathers evidence about candidates’ suitability to work with children as well as their suitability for the post in question and has proactive safeguarding procedures in place.
The following notes have been prepared to help you make your application for a post at this school. We strongly recommend that you read them before you start work on your application.
Before You Start Decide if it is the school where you want to work and if it is a job you want to do. Make sure you are clear what the job entails and what sort of person we are looking for. If you are undecided, telephone the school and ask to speak to the Headteacher or the contact person, who will be pleased to answer your questions. All shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview and given the opportunity to tour the school – visits prior to interview are not part of the selection procedure.
Filling in the Application Form As all Local Authorities produce different application forms for teaching posts, it is always wise to check what information is required for this particular post.
Make a list of all of your skills and experiences and choose those which are relevant for this post.
Check that your qualifications and career details are correct and are in the right order.
Remember that your application may have to be photocopied and circulated to several people, all of whom will have a number of applications to read.
The application form must be completed in FULL. An incomplete application form, or form containing gaps in the information provided, may be returned for completion before it can be considered.
Gaps in employment history, discrepancies/anomalies, or issues arising from references will be investigated and/or taken up at interview.
Statements should be no more than 2 sides of A4 and the font size should be no less than 11.
If you are a disabled person and unable to meet some of the job requirements specifically because of your disability, please address this in your application. If you meet all the other criteria, you will be shortlisted and we will explore jointly with you if there are ways in which the job can be changed to enable you to meet the requirements. References You are asked to name two referees, one of whom should be your present or most recent employer. If you have not been employed before, school, university or college references are the most appropriate. Relatives and friends are precluded as referees. We do not take up references before shortlisting and they play no part in selection for interviews. However, we must be in receipt of references prior to interview.
Photocopied references are not accepted and we do not rely on references/testimonials provided by candidates or open references/testimonials – ie To whom it may concern. We will seek and obtain references directly from the referee in writing. A copy of the person specification and/or job description will be forwarded to them. References are checked against the application form to ensure consistency.
It may be necessary to contact referees via telephone for clarification of any previous experience candidates’ claim is particularly relevant to the post.
Meeting the Selection Criteria We are an Equal Opportunities school and all personnel are selected for posts on the basis of how well they meet the Person Specification for a particular job. It does not matter whether you are an internal or an external candidate – everyone is at the same starting point. It also does not matter if you have previously applied for a post at the school. Each application is considered as a new one with no account being taken of previous applications. Your completed application form will be used to decide whether or not you are called for interview. It is the only information we have about you and no assumption can, or will, be made.
Under the section headed Additional Information you must explain clearly how you think you meet the selection criteria for the job – those candidates whose applications most closely fit the Person Specification will be called for interview. It is therefore important to write a statement tailored to this particular job and not merely list your previous experience. In demonstrating how you meet the criteria, however, you should use examples from your previous working experience. Do not overlook other relevant experience or outside work such as community/voluntary/leisure interests, languages spoken, hobbies and other skills and abilities, which help to show how you meet the criteria.
We are interested in your strengths, not your weaknesses. It is also important to specify your own experiences and not the general work of your department. Remember, the quality of your application determines whether or not you are called for interview.
It is always advisable to keep a copy of what you have written so that you can refer to it as, if you are called for interview, the selection criteria will be used as the basis for the questions.
Sarah Bonnell School has a Recruitment Policy, which is available on request to shortlisted candidates.
What Happens Next If you submit an application for the post you will not hear from us again unless we shortlist you for interview. If you are called for interview but are not appointed to the post, we always offer a de-briefing to help you in the future.
Pre-Appointment Checks Offer of appointment is made conditional to satisfactory completion of the Local Authority pre-appointment checks (and a probationary period for non-teaching staff). A criminal record check via the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) will also be required.