Introduction
The nursery is committed to providing the best possible care and learning to all children and safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
The nursery is also committed to providing a happy and supportive working environment to all its members of staff. The nursery recognises that, in order to achieve these aims, it is of fundamental importance to attract, recruit and retain staff who will share this commitment.
The aims of the nursery recruitment policy are as follows:
– To ensure that the best possible staff are recruited on the basis of their qualifications, experience, abilities and suitability for the position.
– 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 or civil partner status, disability or age.
– To ensure compliance with all relevant recommendations and guidance.
– To ensure that the nursery meets its commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people by carrying out all necessary pre-employment checks.
Recruitment & selection procedure
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. A Curriculum Vita 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. The applicant may then be invited to attend a formal interview at which his/her relevant skills and experience will be discussed in more detail.
If it is decided to make an offer of employment following the formal interview, any such offer will be conditional on the following:
– The receipt of two satisfactory references (one of which must be from the applicant’s most recent employer) which the nursery considers to be satisfactory;
– The receipt of an enhanced disclosure
– Verification of the applicant’s medical fitness
– Checking professional registers (where necessary)
We advise that anyone appointed to a post involving regular contact with children or young people must be medically fit. It is the nursery’s responsibility to be satisfied that employees of the nursery have the appropriate level of physical and mental fitness before an appointment is confirmed.
Verification of identity and address
All applicants who are invited to an Interview will be required to bring the following:
– Passport
– Birth Certificate
– Driving Licence
– A letter from bank, building society or utility bill which shows applicant’s address
The nursery asks for the date of birth of all applicants (and proof of this) Proof of date of birth is necessary so that the nursery may verify the identity of, and check for any unexplained discrepancies in the employment and education history of all applicants.
The nursery does not discriminate against applicants on the grounds of age.
Verification of qualifications
The candidate must bring all relevant certificates (preferably originals to the interview) If certificates are not provided, the nursery manager will contact the awarding body for verification.
References
All offers of employment will be subject to the receipt of a minimum of two references which are considered satisfactory by the nursery manager.
One of the references must be from the applicant’s current or most recent employer.
If the current/most recent employment does/did not involve work with children, then the second referee should be from the employer with whom the applicant most recently worked with children.
Neither referee should be a relative or someone known to the applicant solely as a friend. All referees will be asked whether they believe the applicant is suitable for the job for which they have applied and whether they have any reason to believe that the applicant is unsuitable to work with children. All referees will be sent a copy of the job description and person specification for the role which the applicant has applied for.
If the referee is a current or previous employer, they will also be asked to confirm the following:
– The applicant’s dates of employment, job title/duties, reason for leaving, performance, sickness and disciplinary record.
– Whether the applicant has ever been the subject of disciplinary procedures involving issues related to the safety and welfare of children (including any in which the disciplinary sanction has expired)
– Whether any allegations or concerns have been raised about the applicant that relate to the safety and welfare of children or young people or behaviour towards children or young people.
The nursery will only accept references obtained directly from the referee. The nursery manager will compare all references with any information given on the application form. Any discrepancies or inconsistencies in the information will be taken up with the applicant before any appointment is confirmed.
Criminal records check
For all positions, the nursery requests an enhanced disclosure check:
An enhanced disclosure will contain details of all convictions on record (including those which are defined as “spent” under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) together with details of any cautions, reprimands or warnings held on the Police National Computer.
An enhanced disclosure will also reveal whether an applicant is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults or those considered unsuitable to work with children or vulnerable adults.
An enhanced disclosure may also contain non-conviction information from local police records which a chief police officer thinks may be relevant in connection with the matter in question.
Induction Process
An induction procedure is followed whereby:
– The new member of staff is given written guidelines on appropriate behaviour in the nursery.
– A copy of all nursery policies and procedures.
– A copy of job description.
– A discussion on Child Protection / First Aid
– A discussion on fire / safety procedures.
– Go through risk assessments
– An end of week review for approximately 6 weeks to discuss their work performance and next steps for the following week.
The new member of staff is allocated a mentor to help enforce appropriate behaviour.
The new staff member will be on a three month’s trial after this period if they are employed on a permanent basis then they will be put on courses such as first aid, child protection and food hygiene this would be within a three month time scale.
For the first year of employment the new staff member will have a review every six months on their work performance, which will indicate any training needs required, this will be private and confidential on a one-to-one basis with the manager.
Retention of records
If an applicant is appointed, the nursery will retain any relevant information provided on their application form (together with any attachments) on their personnel file.
If the application is unsuccessful, all documentation relating to the application will normally be confidentially destroyed after six months.
Queries
If an applicant has any queries on how to complete the application form or any other matter they should contact the nursery manager.