You can complete your online application form at any time. This includes your personal details, education and employment history, a personal statement and declarations to comply with safer recruitment regulations.
Once you have completed the online application form this can be used to apply for different jobs.
Your personal statement should then be tailored to each individual job you apply for, whilst keeping a master version for future applications. You will also have the option to include a covering letter with your online application.
To comply with safer recruitment regulations, schools cannot accept applications using a CV. All applications must be made using a completed application form.
You must complete all sections of the form. If a section is not applicable, please state this – do not leave any blank or unfilled sections.
- Personal details
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Enter your name, address and telephone number(s) so that you can be easily contacted.
You must also include your date of birth, your National Insurance (NI) Number, and teacher reference number (if you have this), for pay and pension purposes, should you be successful in being appointed.
For teaching posts you will need to include your Teacher Reference Number - follow this link to find your Teacher Reference Number
- Qualifications, training and statutory induction
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Where a qualification has been asked for, make sure you give all the information required, including levels and grades of any examinations taken. You will be expected to provide documentary evidence if invited for an interview.
Details of degrees/diplomas and any other qualification, including any in progress Provide full details of your degrees/diplomas and any other qualifications, including those that you are currently studying for. Make sure you give all the information required and levels and grades of any examinations taken. If a qualification has been specified, make sure you give all the information required and levels of any examinations taken. You will be expected to provide documentary evidence if invited for an interview.
You must have qualified teacher status (QTS) to take up a teaching post in England and you will need to provide details of statutory induction where applicable too.
- Relevant short courses attended in the past five years
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Please give only brief details of courses that are relevant to the post you are applying for. This may include details of safeguarding training, any special skills training, day release or evening classes, or other relevant skills, e.g. ability to speak other languages.
- Details of current or most recent employment
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State clearly your current or most recent employer’s name and address. Include details of the post held and (if applicable) reason for leaving.
- Current salary range and actual salary
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Please complete as accurately as you can including details of any allowances awarded.
- Previous employment, voluntary work or other activities
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Enter names and addresses of all previous employers, starting with the most recent. You can also include work experience placements, holiday jobs or voluntary work in which you have developed skills relevant to the job you are applying for. It is important that you complete this section in chronological order.
By law, schools must ask all applicants for their full employment history since leaving school. You will be prompted if there are any gaps in your employment history and must account for them in order to apply for a job. If you have had a career break (eg to have children), you should enter this as follows:
May 2022-April 2023 - career break to raise children
- Personal statement in support of your application
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This section is very important. It gives you the opportunity to detail why you feel you are the best person for the job and why you are applying, and is the key information that is used to decide which applicants will be invited to interview.
Use the job description and person specification as a guide, and focus on how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the job requirements, giving specific examples. Also include any voluntary work you have been involved in or any relevant experience outside work. Try to keep this statement to a maximum of 1200 words (2 sides of A4).
Try to make it clear why you want this job at this school, so that the panel can see you have done your research and that your vision aligns with theirs.
Relevant information could include:
Experience
• Teaching practice – details of experience in teaching different ages of children in different settings, e.g. year groups; sizes of schools; and types of schools, such as inner city or village
• Experience of communicating effectively with parents and carers, e.g. parent consultation meetings
• Experience of using a range of ICT applications to enhance learning
• Experience of running school activities, e.g. a lunchtime club, an after-school club or a school trip
Knowledge
• Knowledge of a range of different teaching and learning styles
• Knowledge of statutory requirements such as Equal Opportunities, Health and Safety, and Special Educational Needs
• Understanding of safeguarding, including Child Protection
• Knowledge and understanding of effective assessment for learning and of how to adapt your teaching to meet different needs of pupils with special educational needs, English as an additional language, or most able pupils
• Curriculum knowledge, including your subject specialism and/or a particular interest or strength you wish to highlight in your application
Skills and qualities
• Ability to articulate what constitutes effective teaching and learning, e.g. modelling, marking, differentiated learning, assessment
• Effective communication skills – written and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work as part of a team
• Ability to plan and deliver inspiring lessons
• Organisational and time management skills
• Effective behaviour management skills
• Ability to create a positive learning environment
- References
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Give the names, addresses and email addresses of two people who are willing and able to provide references in support of your application. If you are not currently working with children but have done so in the past, the second referee should be the employer by whom you were most recently employed in work with children.
Please list referees who can comment on your skills and abilities to carry out the duties of the post for which you are applying. One of these must be your current line manager/ last employer. If your employer is/was a school, the referee provided must be the Headteacher. If you are the Headteacher it should be the Chair of Governors/Trustees. Please note that family members, friends and relatives are not acceptable referees.
For ECTs we suggest you ask the headteacher of your most recent placement and your university or college tutor, as they will be able to comment upon your teaching skills.
Referees will be asked about past disciplinary actions or allegations excluding those that were deemed to be unfounded, unsubstantiated or malicious when assessing your application. If you are subsequently made a conditional offer of employment, further information may be sought about health and absences.
It is standard practice for schools to take up references prior to interview.
- Declaration
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We need to know if you have a close relationship with and/or are related to any employee, governor or anyone else connected to the school, in order to ensure a fair selection process.
- Permission to work in the UK
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Please complete this section and ensure that you are able to confirm that you have a legal right to work in the UK. You will also be asked to provide documentary evidence of this prior to commencing work.
To avoid bias, many Hertfordshire schools and settings now operate anonymised shortlisting, where the candidate's personal information is removed from the application form ensuring that the shortlisting is made without knowledge of protected
characteristics. Once shortlisting is complete the two parts of the application form are reunited and included in the pack for the interview panel. For this reason you are asked to avoid referring to protected characteristics in your personal statement where possible.
Jobs in schools are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
The school is required to give you the opportunity to voluntarily declare convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings that are not ‘protected’ as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 and 2020). The school is required to give you the opportunity to voluntarily declare convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings that are not ‘protected’ and you will be provided with a criminal self-declaration form by the school if you are shortlisted for the post.
If you are appointed you will be required to have an up to date Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Certificate. The existence of a criminal background does not automatically mean that you cannot be appointed but it may do so.
Successful applicants will be required to complete a confidential medical questionnaire and may be required to undergo a medical examination before their appointment is confirmed.