Human Resources

An HR department has the same responsibilities it would have within any corporate environment; however, within an educational setting, there are additional compliance requirements.

The HR team is responsible for the recruitment checks and onboarding of all staff to the school. The crucial document is the electronic SCR or Single Central Register. This ensures that all criminal checks, safeguarding training and references are recorded. The electronic record is one that needs to be fully secure as a data breach would have disastrous results with the personal details of staff potentially being shared.

Safeguarding policies should include content on data protection and the use of images. This includes explicit advice on not using student images on staff personal social media sites. Staff activity on social media may well be visible to the public and there is a necessity to ensure social media accounts are safeguarded with the proper security settings.

The HR department must also ensure there are appropriate background checks on all external providers and appropriate supervision when on campus.

Lastly, consider what checks are in place for Parent volunteers/Parent Teacher organisations.

If they are accessing the school site during the day do they sign to acknowledge a code of conduct and your safeguarding expectations?

It may seem cumbersome to insist on this for site visitors but it shows that you take safeguarding seriously.