Policy statement
This policy has been written for Roots and Wings Community Preschool to ensure the safe recruitment of Preschool Team members. It is important to ensure any new team members are recruited in a safe and fair manner, that all team members are suitable to work in Early Years, and that they can fulfil the role of keeping our children safe.
All Management Team members recruiting new team members will undergo safer recruitment training to ensure they understand how to safely recruit. All legislation must be followed when recruiting, this includes the Equality Act 2021. The Recruitment Procedures must be fair and offer equal opportunities to all candidates.
Procedures
At Roots and Wings Community Preschool we will follow these procedures to ensure the safe recruitment of and new team members:
- Any Management Team members involved in the recruitment procedure will undergo safer recruitment training online
- A job description and person specification will be created for the job role before it is advertised
- The job advert will be advertised via official channels, such as the Wiltshire Council page, only
- The advert will include all details of the job role, relevant qualifications and experience, person specification, hours, and the need to have an enhanced DBS check
- Applicants will be shortlisted using the required experience and qualifications, and all chosen applicants will be invited for an interview
- All applicants will be asked to bring two forms of ID and any relevant paperwork (including qualifications and training certificates) to the interview
- The interview will be carried out by at least two delegates for the Preschool, made up of members of the Management Team and/or the Trustee Team
- Interview questions must be pre=prepared and all applicants must be asked the same questions to ensure fairness at the interview
- The applicant must be given the opportunity to ask any questions of their own they may have during the interview
- All persons interviewing should record answers to questions by the applicant, and at least one interviewer must take further minutes of any additional questions the applicant may have asked, including setting answers
- A scoring system is used to grade the applicants: Each interview answer is scored on a scale from 1 (insufficient) to 4 (excellent). The applicants with the highest scores will be invited to the next stage of the interview
- Any successful applicants will be invited into the setting for a ‘stay and play’, which will include the opportunity for applicants to prepare an invitation to learning a small group of children. Other team members will make notes on how the applicant interacts with the children and other team members
- Once all the ‘stay and plays’ are over, the recruitment team (whoever was part of the recruitment process) will need to come together to make a decision on who to employ
- The Management Lead must inform all applicants of whether they have been successful or not
- References for the successful applicant will need to be contacted before they start work
- We also ensure that all Preschool Team members we may hire have been Enhanced DBS checked so that we can check their suitability to work with children. We also inform any new team member that the Management Team has the responsibility to inform DBS if there are any queries or concerns about the suitability of staff
- The new employee will be sent a contract stating all of the legal requirements around the job, including salary and hours
- The applicant will also be sent a health check questionnaire and the results will be taken into account before they start work in the setting. If there are any concerns around the applicants mental or physical health that relate to their ability to fulfil their job role then additional advice may be needed
- The applicant will then undergo an enhanced DBS check or provide an update service number if applicable. This will be done before the new team member starts or is in any unsupervised contact with the children
- If the applicant has lived or worked abroad, then an additional criminal records check will also need to be completed
- Information about each Preschool Team member will be stored securely by the setting whenever they are hired
- From their first day, the new team member will undergo an induction period, in which they will learn all about the Preschool’s policies and procedures. All new team members will go on safeguarding and paediatric first aid training shortly after starting so that the Management Team can ensure they have received recent and effective training
- At the end of their first day with the children in the setting, the new team member will have a meeting with a member of the Management Team to see how they found it and if they need any support
- The new team member will receive frequent meetings and ‘check-ins’ with members of the Management Team to discuss how they are getting on and whether or not any changes need to be made.
- All Preschool Team members are aware that they need to report any concerns that they may have about the new team member to the Management Team
- All Preschool Team members must inform the Management Lead of any changes to their own circumstances, such as where they live, family issues or anything else that may affect their ability to work with children
- Preschool Team members will also have to fill in an annual health check questionnaire to inform the Management Team of any changes to their health which could affect their ability to work with children
- Each team member will have termly 1:1 meetings with the Management Lead to talk about their position in the setting, and discuss strengths and weaknesses. This helps to ensure that all team members are able to voice any concerns that they may have. This will also allow the Management Lead to discuss any potential training needs that may need to be fulfilled by the team member
- All Preschool Team members will be offered the same opportunities to access training and continue to work on their CPD
- All team members will be on the update service for DBS which will allow us to monitor whether or not they are allowed to work with children