The Recruitment Pack is a School Leader Interview Pack and Panel Training Guide in one digital download, for headteachers, trusts and governors appointing senior leaders. It was put together by practising school leaders, covers safer recruitment and was written with Ofsted's renewed inspection framework in mind.
Updated 29 September 2026. The pack has been reviewed against KCSIE 2026, Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 and Ofsted's school inspection toolkit v2.0 (for inspections from 7 September 2026). Section 3 now includes the KCSIE 2026 paragraph on self-declarations, and Section 5 points to the KCSIE 2026 paragraphs on selection and interviews (305 to 310).
What's inside
- Section 1: Purpose of the pack. Who it is for and what a strong appointment process should test
- Section 2: Role-specific adaptation notes. What to weight, the most important evidence and common mistakes to avoid, broken down by headteacher, deputy or assistant headteacher, inclusion and SEND leadership, safeguarding and DSL, and curriculum leadership roles
- Section 3: Interview design principles. Includes a pre-interview compliance checklist and ready-to-use 6-question sets by role
- Section 4: Interview question bank. 12 themed sections covering vision and values, school improvement, safeguarding culture, inclusion and SEND, curriculum and teaching, attendance and behaviour, staff development, governance, stakeholder relationships, operational judgement, handling pressure and change, and equity and belonging
- Section 5: Safer recruitment interview questions
- Section 6: Tasks and assessment activities. 10 structured tasks with timings, candidate instructions and what panels should assess
- Section 7: Scoring rubric. A 1 to 5 scale with decision rules and criterion descriptors
- Sections 8 to 12 and printable templates. The panel training guide, candidate evidence and scoring templates, the final appointment discussion framework, optional training slide outlines and an executive summary
- School Leader Interview Pack and Panel Training Guide slide deck (PowerPoint). A 27-slide editable deck covering the whole pack, ready to brief your panel or run a training session
Format: editable Word, PDF and PowerPoint files. The pack supports your school or trust's HR policy, safer recruitment procedure, legal advice and statutory guidance and does not replace them. Adapt the wording to your own context before use.
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