Safeguarding and pre-employment checks
Hampshire County Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
All school staff and volunteers must complete a series of pre-employment checks to ensure they are suitable to work in educational settings.
Anyone who is to be employed by a Hampshire County Council School will be subject to certain pre-employment checks.
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These include:
- an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
- a Children's Barred List (CBL) check
- two pre-interview references for posts that directly involve working with children (usually the candidate's current employer and previous employer)
- Right to Work
- pre-employment medical screening
- online background search
Online background searches
Further to guidance in Keeping Children Safe in Education, it is now likely that a school will undertake an online background check on you prior to interview. This check will only be undertaken on shortlisted candidates, not all applicants, and is not part of a shortlisting exercise – i.e. shortlisted candidates should still be offered an interview regardless of the outcome of any online checks.
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The purpose of the check is to identify any past or current incidents or issues that might affect your suitability to work with children and undertake the role. Please note this online search will be carried out only on publicly available information and be limited to issues relating to your suitability to work with children and/or in a school environment. Issues that arise will not automatically be a bar to your employment in a school.
Everyone has a right to a private life, but as an applicant for a position in a school you need to be aware of the responsibility of the role. It is important to keep yourself safe and protect your professional reputation online. Many of the trade unions or professional associations have guidance and tips for their members on doing this, for example reviewing your privacy settings and discussing with family and friends your expectations about being tagged in posts on social media.
