Onboarding Handbook
Helping you be prepared as you step into the classroom
Welcome to Supply Desk
We are thrilled to have you onboard and look forward to providing you with many opportunities with our partner schools.
Whether it is day-to-day, long-term, fixed-term contracts, tempto-perm or permanent positions you are looking for, Supply Desk is here to support you and this handbook contains information and resources that will help you be as successful as possible when you step into the classroom and start your supply journey with us!
What information will be covered each time you are given an assignment through Supply Desk?
A thorough background about the school and the vacancy, the department/position you will be covering, start times, who’s who, and what to expect.
The name of the contact you will need to report to upon arrival, the name of the safeguarding lead, the route in to school, and parking facilities.
Information about the class that you will be teaching, and where applicable, the subject. We will advise whether work has been set or not.
We will always remind you about our contact policy. Call us at the end of your supply to let us know how it went and whether you’d be keen to go back!
Our mission, our vision, and our core values
Our mission is to match school staffing needs with the best available candidates and work together with teachers, teaching assistants, and schools to raise standards.
Our vision is that we want Supply Desk to be recognised as a highly innovative education-staffing solutions supplier and to be ranked as No.1 in the UK amongst supply agencies for customer service.
Our core values have come from our staff and we are committed to ensuring that they are front and centre when we’re dealing with each other, our clients, and our candidates. We are: Trustworthy, Respectful, Innovative, Creative, and Supportive.
Keeping in touch
There will be occasions where you will need to contact your dedicated consultant at short notice, for example; if there is a chance you might be late for your assignment, if you need to let us know about sickness or to cancel future cover, or you simply need a reminder of who to ask for upon arrival into the school. Make sure you save our contact details into your phoneyou can find your consultant’s phone number in an email or simply visit our website here to find the branch phone number.
Getting paid
All of our teaching and support staff are paid PAYE on a weekly basis. All monies owed will be paid into your account on the Friday, following the week in which the assignment was completed.
To ensure you are paid on time, you must sign in with reception when you arrive at the school. We check with the school that you have arrived safely and we ensure that the school signs your timesheet on a weekly basis.
The majority of our clients authorise our timesheets on an online system, so there is no need to carry timesheets with you. However, you will be expected to fill a weekly online timesheet outlining your work for the week for our payroll department.
REMEMBER!
It is our job to ensure you are getting the most out of your supply experience and that you thoroughly enjoy the school that we place you in. We value your feedback and encourage regular and transparent communication so that we can keep doing what we do best and listening to our candidates!
We will be in regular contact with you throughout your placement and beyond. We may send surveys that will help shape the Professional Development opportunities we can offer to you in the future, to keep your knowledge and skill set relevant and up to date.
Training for you to complete before you even enter the classroom
Safeguarding and Safer Working Practice Training for all adults working with children in an Education setting is a critical part of preparing for the classroom environment. As part of your registration process, you will have completed your online Safeguarding training, however, it is also a mandatory requirement for all school and college staff to read part 1 of the DfE guidelines on Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024 and Guidelines for Safer Working Practice. Before any assignment, make sure that you have refreshed/referred to this guidance in order to monitor your own standards and code of conduct.
If you haven’t already done so, view and complete the online Safer Working Practice Training video on our website, along with the downloadable DfE guidance documents to retain for your reference.
Please also make sure to complete our mandatory Cyber Security Training before you start at a school.
Teaching and Support Resources
Your Recruitment Consultant will support you every step of the way along your supply journey, providing you with information about the classroom you will be teaching/covering and what is expected of you. Due to the nature of supply, a granular level of detail is not always guaranteed, with some cover being organised with very little notice. We highly recommend you make use of additional resources we share with you from time to time and keep an eye on our ongoing blog posts, which will signpost you to current affairs, CPD, and useful hints and tips for working in supply.
Useful websites for resources
You may want to take work with you or require inspiration for activities to set should there be any pupils within the classroom without tasks already in place. There are many platforms online geared towards supporting teachers and their workload and below are some of the more popular sites we highly recommend:
Supply Desk’s library of resources
We regularly share resources, content, hints and tips, and links to free CPD via our social media platforms and the blog section on our website. As well as signposting you towards external resources, we often keep our staff up-to-date with internal Supply Desk news, celebration days, and much more! Our blog posts cover current affairs, relevant topics, and a collection of content that you may find useful at some point in your supply journey.
Supply Desk FAQs/Blog Information
The following blogs are our most frequently visited and likely to be most helpful in the early stages of your supply career:
The role of learning resources in the classroom
The importance of mental health in the classroom
Overseas Teachers: A guide to UK classroom culture SEND: Teacher and Support Handbook
Creating an impressive Teaching CV
Job interview preparation tips
General Interview Tips for all Supply Staff
Securing an interview is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate that you have the right knowledge, skills, and experience required for the role. Preparation is the key to interview success and with that in mind, we have created the blog posts on the previous page which cover both creating your CV and tips around the most commonly asked questions to help you be as prepared as possible. You also need to remember to have a list of questions prepared to ask the school to demonstrate your interest in the position.
Dress Appropriately:
Dress appropriately and be aware of your body language and eye contact as much as possible. If you’re unsure of what to wear, it is always safer to ‘over-dress’ and dress smartly so not in jeans or trainers. Smart trousers or a skirt/dress, smart sensible shoes, and a professional top that is suitable for the workplace will be perfect. Go into the interview or trial day with a positive attitude and represent yourself with confidence and professionalism. Make sure to speak clearly and take your time to not speak too quickly to avoid any miscommunication.
Demonstrate commitment
Showing commitment during your interview or trial day is equally as important to the school as your subject knowledge and experience. If you do not sound committed to the role, you will be unlikely to be offered the position.
Be positive:
It is best to put a positive slant on your communication during an interview. Avoid words such as don’t, didn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t and replace them with phrases such as ‘developing’ or ‘looking forward to building upon my experience further’. Use positive examples to illustrate your potential and experience and ask positive questions about the school and extra-curricular activities to show your enthusiasm and preparedness for the post.
Promote yourself:
It is vital to promote yourself through personal examples of your success and experience. Have some prepared stories ready and explain how you can adapt these methods to suit the school. Think about your unique selling points, your differences, your individuality - why should you be chosen over someone with the same qualifications? It may be your coaching/extra-curricular activities/your experiences that make the difference.
Demonstrate you have done your research
The interviewer is looking for you to demonstrate your background research about their school and that you are able to discuss why the way they work appeals to you. This may be through reviewing Ofsted reports, progress data reports, reviewing their website and social media platforms, and learning about their staff.
Preparing for your interview
Make sure you have reviewed and make reference to: The school’s last Ofsted report, School Progress Data, Schools in the local area, and familiarise yourself with information about the school (Size, location, % of students receiving Free School Meals, % of Students who speak English as an Additional Language...).
Things you should be able to answer, if asked, about the school
What do you think makes a school successful?
What is your initial impression of the school?
What will you contribute to this particular school?
Why do you want to work at this school?
Safeguarding:
Example questions you may be asked
Safeguarding children is a vital part of our work. Can you give me some examples of how you contribute to making a school a safe environment for children?
Tell me about a time when a child or young person behaved in a way that caused you concern. How did you deal with that? Who else did you involve?
Why do you want to work with children? What do you think you have to offer?
Give an example of how children have benefitted from contact with you?
Why did you train to become a teacher/teaching assistant/support staff? What was your inspiration?
How do you ensure you are keeping abreast of legislations and government updates consistently?
Preparing for your supply and creating a good first impression
Planning your journey:
Teachers who are not punctual are less likely to be invited back for future assignments. Check the directions before setting off to a booking. For lastminute bookings and day-to-day supply, schools are quite often happy to accommodate a slightly later start if they are given a realistic estimated time of arrival. If you get lost, contact us as soon as possible, providing it is safe for you to do so.
Bring your own resources:
It is a good idea to have suitable teaching ideas up your sleeve so that you have something to fall back on if required. There are plenty of websites that offer free resources that you can utilise to avoid any lastminute panics and we have included some earlier in this handbook for your reference.
Find out about routines:
The start of the day is a crucial time to make sure you are made aware of daily routines to ensure there are no unexpected disruptions. Pupils will be reassured those routines haven’t changed and that you are in charge.
Arrive in good time:
Where possible, please arrive at the school at least 30 minutes before school starts. There are a few key things that you will need to be familiar with once you arrive at the school, so giving yourself as much time as possible to get settled in is vital. This might include knowing: the school’s behaviour policy, the teacher’s written lesson plans, staff toilets, tea and coffee-making facilities, and where you can prepare resources.
Familiarise yourself:
Get to know the timetable for the day, the school’s classroom layout, class rules for behaviour (including rewards/sanctioning policies), and how children are expected to move around the school.
Ask about the pupils and know your groups:
You should be made aware of any learners with particular needs so that you can organise the use of teaching assistants, adjust any plans and take into account those who would find the change difficult. Also, find out if any children need medication.
Have the names of pupils and relevant groups to hand so that the class can be easily organised. Be firm, fair, and consistent in your use of rewards and sanctions and ensure you actively seek opportunities to use public and private praise for the whole class and individuals.
Marking and handover
Ensuring there is continuity in the classroom - Leaving a small note can make a difference to the returning teacher, who may find the break in continuity unsettling. Leave a note at the end of the day detailing the work done, where you are up to in set work, any incidents, whether books were marked (if applicable - all primary work should be marked appropriately), and if so, where they’ve been put. For secondary teachers, this will mean more handover notes, one at the end of each lesson. Even a brief sign-off saying either that a lesson went smoothly or naming any miscreant pupils, is useful information to a returning teacher. Keep accurate records of any challenging behaviour exhibited by pupils.
At the end of your supply
Make sure to say if you have had a good day - Thank whomever has been looking after you during the day. Some larger schools have a dedicated supply supervisor or a parallel classroom teacher who sits next door and is on hand for your queries. If you have had a good day, tell them! Schools enjoy getting positive feedback - and let them know you’d like to be re-booked. If the school does decide to ask you back to cover specific dates then make sure you communicate this to your Supply Desk consultant as soon as possible to ensure your availability is booked and that all team members are fully aware. This will also avoid any delays in your payments.
Fact finding tips
You should be provided with a supply handbook when you arrive at the school, however in some instances, due to time constraints, this isn’t always possible. If this is the case, below are some suggestions for things you might want to establish:
Contact names within the Senior Management Team
Is a school map available? (including the location of the staffroom, cloakroom, and toilets)
Can you review a copy of the safeguarding and behavioural policies and procedures?
What are the assembly and registration arrangements?
Do you have sufficient information about the class, the lesson, resources, and seating arrangements?
Behaviour Management
Effective behaviour or classroom management is intrinsic to successful learning and is one of the major concerns for schools and supply teachers. As a supply teacher, it may be challenging to walk into a new classroom, full of pupils you have never met before, and to manage successfully the behaviour, and therefore the learning, of those pupils. There is no perfect method for effective teaching and learning - ever teacher has their own particular style, approach, or ‘toolbag’ of skills and techniques that they deploy in the classroom.
The following blogs around behaviour and behaviour management in the classroom may be useful to review:
Supporting positive behaviour in children
The close link between poor vocabulary and behaviour
Top tips for behaviour management in the classroom
Top tips for effective behaviour management
You will find that every school has different behavioural policies. Supply Desk recommend that you familiarise yourself with the policies and procedures of the schools where you have been placed. Please do not assume that all schools have the same behaviour policies, they do not.
If for any reason you cannot familiarise yourself with the school’s individual policies and procedures, Supply Desk recommends you adopt a strategy to encourage good behaviour. 2. Please do not leave your class unattended at any time for any reason.
Difficult children should be dealt with in a calm and firm manner. Please do not point or shout at a child, or have any physical contact with them. 4. If there are any incidents or accidents, however minor you think they are, please ensure that you report them to a member of school staff as well as to your assigned Supply Desk consultant, followed up with a written account.
If you should encounter any extremely disruptive or violent behaviour, whether directed at yourself or another child/adult, please send for a member of staff immediately.
Supply Desk - Safer Working Guidelines
Supply Desk is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff to share this commitment.
Everyone working with children and young people has a responsibility to act professionally and to provide a safe and supportive environment which secures the well-being and best outcomes for the children in their care.
Safeguarding
Everybody working in a school must understand their safeguarding responsibilities. All candidates must read at least part one of Keeping Children Safe in Education (statutory guidance for schools and colleges).
All our candidates are asked to provide evidence of annual safeguarding training through accredited CPD resources. We offer online safeguarding training to those candidates without the relevant training.
Teachers and support staff working through Supply Desk must ensure they - protect children from maltreatment, neglect, or harm and provide a safe environment in which children can learn.
Please refer to Guidance for Safe Working Practice for those working with Children and young people in education by visiting our website
Safe Working Practice
Our candidates understand the following principles:
The welfare of the child is paramount
Their responsibility is to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils
They must use professional judgement to assess whether their actions are warranted, proportionate, safe and applied equitably
They are working in a position of Trust and Authority and should always maintain appropriate professional boundaries
They should adopt high standards of personal conduct in order to maintain public confidence in their ability to safeguard the welfare and best interest of children
They should be aware that breaches of the law and other professional guidelines could result in disciplinary action being taken against them, criminal action, and/or other proceedings including barring by the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) from working in regulated activity, or for acts of serious misconduct prohibition from teaching by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA)
They are responsible for their own actions and behaviour and should avoid any conduct which would lead any reasonable person to question their motivation and intentions
Please refer to Guidance for Safe Working Practice for those working with Children and young people in education by visiting our website
Prevent Awareness Training
All schools, colleges, and childcare providers are subject to a duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 to have ‘due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. This duty, known as the Prevent duty, should be seen as part of schools’, colleges’, and childcare providers’ wider safeguarding obligations.
Prevent deals with all kinds of terrorist threats to the UK. This includes safeguarding children, young people, and adult learners from extremist ideologies and radicalisation.
In order for schools and childcare providers to fulfil the Prevent duty, it is essential that staff are able to identify children who may be vulnerable to radicalisation, and know what to do when they are identified. Protecting children from the risk of radicalisation should be seen as part of schools and childcare providers’ wider safeguarding duties, and is similar in nature to protecting children from other harms (e.g. drugs, gangs, neglect, sexual exploitation), whether these come from within their family or are the product of outside influences.
Prevent Objectives:
Tackle the ideological causes of terrorism
Intervene early to support people susceptible to radicalisation
Enable people who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate
The aim of Prevent is to stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent also extends to the rehabilitation and disengagement of those already involved in terrorism.
Rehabilitation of those already engaged in terrorismproviding support to those already engaged to disengage and rehabilitate
Early Intervention - Using safeguarding principles to provide tailored multi-agency support to those identified as most at risk from radicalisation
Tackle Causes of Radicalisation - Working online and offline to empower communities and individuals
Educate Against Hate ACT Early
GDPR Awareness Training:
The Data Protection Act 2018 is the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implementation. It regulates how and when information relating to individuals may be obtained, used, and disclosed.
Schools hold a vast array of personal data on children, parents and carers, staff and governors, which means there must be appropriate safeguards and procedures in place to ensure it is managed effectively and securely. Please ensure when on an assignment that you familiarise yourself with the school’s data protection policy - every school will be different, so do not assume what was permitted in one school will be permitted in a different school. All schools will have a Data Protection Officer, make sure you know who they are or how they can be contacted.
All school staff including supply staff have a duty to protect and safeguard children and the processing of their data forms part of that.
A personal data breach can be broadly defined as a security incident that has affected the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the personal data. This generally refers to the possibility of affected individuals facing economic or social damage (such a
Data breaches are nea
ur when personal data is left on desks u
ty risk or a personal data breach has taken ction officer.
Steps to minimise risk of data loss:
Treat other people’s data like you would your own.
Perform anonymisation by replacing personal information with non-personal identifiers where personal information is no longer required.
Get in to good habits. Always log out of your computer when you leave the room at work or home. Keep anything that identifies children and others in locked drawers.
Use a shredder or confidential waste bin where data is no longer needed.
Have a clear desk policy
Encrypt removable media USBs (memory sticks), so that if they are lost they cannot be accessed.
Password protect documents, especially before you send them by email and if the data is sensitive.
Before sending an email, double-check that the ‘to’ recipient is correct.
When sending an email to different people externally, use the BCC option not the CC option.
Health and Safety:
Supply Desk have a joint responsibility with the school/ setting to ensure our candidates are safe at work. Candidates must familiarise themselves with the Health and Safety policies and procedures of the setting before the assignment commences, in particular with regard to any specific risk assessments.
Social Media Policy:
During the registration process, you will be issued with a Social Media Policy Document that you must read and ensure you understand. You can also find a wealth of advice and tips in our Safer Working Practice video.
Refer a Friend:
We are committed to exceeding expectations in our support for teaching and support staff. Your feedback is invaluable to us, and we welcome any suggestions for improvement. Additionally, we are pleased to introduce our Refer-a-Friend scheme to you - refer a colleague and you can earn up to £100 if your referral works for us for a minimum of one day! Find out more on our website.
Keeping in touch with Supply Desk:
You can keep in touch with all the latest updates from Supply Desk as well as our informative blogs and news updates via our social media channels which can be accessed by clicking any their respective logos above.