How Research Can Help Your Application

Imagine this: you’ve found the perfect job and you want to make your application stand out so you can secure the role. But how? Taking the time to research the school (or trust) you're applying to, understanding their ethos and values can help you tailor your application to the school. Below are some of the ways you can research the school so you can make your application stand out and more personal to the school.

Kent-Teach

On Kent-Teach, we have a School Directory (Find a School in Kent) where you can search for schools’ profiles. Here, schools have a page where you can read their description, see pictures uploaded to their page and find useful links and contact details to arrange school visits. This information will also pull through onto the school’s job advert so that, in addition to learning about the role, you can learn about the school and whether this is a place you can see yourself working.

School Website

Every maintained school must publish specific information on their website to comply with School Information Regulations. Schools are also keen to showcase their success, share their curriculums and provide information to parents and what better place to do so than on their website? This is the first thing prospective parents, OFSTED inspectors and future employees see, and while some of the information on there is a requirement, it does have a range of sections that may be useful to job seekers.

Below is a list of information schools have to include on their website:

• Admission arrangements
• Behaviour policy
• Careers programme information
• Charging and remissions policies
• Complaints policy
• Contact details
• Curriculum
• Ethos and values
• Financial information
• Governance information
• Ofsted reports
• Pay gap reporting
• PE and sport premium
• Public sector equality duty
• Pupil premium
• Remote education
• School opening hours
• School uniform
• Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
• Test, exam and assessment results

All of which, particularly the ones in bold, are incredibly useful to help you understand how this school works, what they value and how they deliver their curriculum to their pupils.

This information can be in a range of different sections on the school website, but they will be obviously labelled.

About Us Page

In addition to the list above, many school websites have an ‘About Us’ page (or dropdown menu) which can give a really insightful overview of the school, its history and student and staff numbers and organisation. Within this section, it may also contain details about the school’s vision and values, which are useful to include in your personal statement. If their values are about respect and resilience, weave this in when writing about how you would manage your classroom environment in a way that promotes these values. If you are applying for a role such as a catering manager, how would you encourage your team to exhibit these values? This level of extra effort will not go unnoticed by the school and will show you have really considered how you would fit into the school environment.

Social Media

Increasing numbers of schools have their own social media presence to showcase their offering to pupils, share successes and events, as well as communicate information to parents. Looking up your school online will allow you to see what the school are sharing with their communities and a look into any community presence they may have. This again can be used to support your personal statement, especially if there is a project or event they run that particularly resonates with you.

Social media also allows the community to share their views and comments on the establishment. For this reason, some, but not all, schools may have no other online presence than their school website.  

OFSTED Report

Whether you go directly to OFSTED’s website (Find an Ofsted inspection report) or use the one provided on the school website, these reports help identify the school’s strengths and weaknesses. If you have a particular skill set that links to a point of improvement listed, this could be something to highlight within your application and personal statement.

Police Local Crime Report

Your area | Kent Police

This may seem a little excessive to some; however, safeguarding children in school is vital regardless of your role and being aware of the issues within the local area will support you during the application and interview. It will also help you anticipate the types of questions you might be asked at the interview.

This research will give you more insight into how to tailor your application and personal statement to the school and will stand out from the crowd.