Reaseheath College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility and good safeguarding practice has to be built into routine procedures and practice. Nowhere is this more important than in the recruitment and vetting of people who have contact with children.

It is vital that organisations which appoint people (including volunteers) to work with children adopt robust recruitment and vetting procedures that minimise the risk of employing people who might abuse children, or are otherwise unsuited to work with them. This includes all local authorities, and educational establishments, as well as agencies that supply staff to the education sector and those that contract with the education sector to provide services.

The College as part of its safer recruitment and selection process, undertakes a DBS check on all staff who will be working with children.  In addition, the College requests:

• A minimum of two written and verified professional references (where appropriate one of the references should be from the most recent employer where the person worked with, or was in contact with children)
• Any previous academic and employment gaps are checked and verified (checking the reasons provided for any identifiable gaps)
• Evidence of relevant qualifications and current memberships of professional bodies (sight of original certificates)
• Evidence of Right to Work within the United Kingdom through checking the authenticity of pre-employment documentation i.e. passport
• Prohibition from teaching check
• Online search – as part of the recruitment process the College will carry out an online search as part of its due diligence. This may help identify any incidents or issues that have happened, and are publicly available online, which the College might want to explore with you either at interview or before a final offer of employment is given.

All offers of employment are subject to the above pre-employment checks.

The College also provides training and updates for all staff in Safeguarding and Prevent (the duty to protect children from the risk of radicalisation).