Getting started

Joining us

Ahead of your start date, we’ll let you know when to arrive on your first day and who will meet you.

Your first few days

On your first day, we’ll show you around your school, including where you’ll be based, the staff facilities, and who to contact with any questions. Your line manager will work through an induction checklist with you to ensure you have everything you need.

We’ll also:

• Give you your official staff ID and purple lanyard.
• Give you login information to access our computers and any online systems you’ll need to use for your work.
• Ask you to complete some statutory online training.

In your first few days, asking lots of questions and meeting as many of your new colleagues as possible are the most important things.

Your probationary period

You will have a probationary period to ensure everything is going well for you within your role when you start working with us. For support staff, this is usually six months from the date your job starts; for teachers, this is within your Initial Teacher Training (ITT) year.

Right to work

Everyone needs to show documents, such as a passport or visa, when they start work to prove that it’s legal for them to work in the UK. If your right to enter and live in the UK is limited by time, you’ll need to provide evidence to us that you can continue to work. Before you start working with us, we will check your documentation.

More questions?

If you have any further questions or want to clarify anything about your job at Outwood, speak to someone in the HR and business team.

They can help with:

• Employment policies
• Legal queries
• General disciplinary and diversity issues
• Benefits and pay, including bonus and pension schemes and employee discounts

For all payroll queries, e.g. salary payments or tax reclaims, you can contact the payroll team directly.

How we work

Part of a family

When you join Outwood, you become part of our family of schools. Our schools work closely together, sharing what works well and supporting each other to be even better. There are often opportunities to collaborate with colleagues in similar roles at other Outwood schools, whether that’s sharing resources, solving common challenges, or developing new ideas together.

Behind our schools, we have our “Outwood Supports” teams—central support staff who provide expert help in areas like communications, finance, HR, and IT to make sure our schools can focus on what matters most: our students.

This family approach means there’s always someone to reach out to who understands your role and can offer support or guidance.

Key systems

Like most organisations, we use a variety of online tools to help us work. These are some common systems you might see referenced in this handbook:

• Google Workspace is what we use for email, documents, calendars and online meetings.
• Oracle is our finance and HR system.
• Outwood Plus is our employee rewards and benefits platform.
• Outwood Helpdesk is where to go for help with IT systems and student data.

A comprehensive list of the systems we use can be found on our staff intranet.

We try to minimise the number of accounts you need to remember, and use Single Sign-On (SSO) so you can use one account to access most things you’ll need day-to-day.

How you’ll hear from us

Our schools hold a weekly briefing to share updates with staff, lasting no more than 30 minutes.

We’ll let you know about important information via several channels. One is our half-termly email newsletter, which shares good news and updates from across the Outwood family and outlines the focus for the half-term ahead.

How we talk

When you start working for us, especially if you’re new to the education sector, you’ll likely come across unfamiliar terminology. Whether it’s education-specific terms like “SENDCo” (Special Educational Needs and Disability Coordinator), or Outwood-specific phrases like “Praising Stars” (our system for tracking a child’s attainment and progress), there’s quite a lot to learn!

Our glossary of terms includes many of the acronyms and terms you might hear. And remember, if you’re ever unsure what something means, just ask a colleague. We all had to learn these terms at some point too!

Recognition and awards

At Outwood, we like to recognise the fantastic work our people do. You can recognise colleagues’ work or just say “hi” via the e-cards on Outwood Plus.

We also have annual Employee Values Awards, which recognise colleagues who have exemplified one or more of our values through their work. Details of how to nominate a colleague can be found in your school.

Working here

Working schedule

Your hours of work will depend on your job role and the school you work in, so take a read of your contract and speak to your manager. However, we also believe in offering opportunities for our colleagues to work flexibly. While, in putting Students First, we can’t always offer complete flexibility, we welcome part-time or job-share working arrangements. We recognise that giving you these opportunities helps you achieve a healthy work-life balance that’s right for you.

Our flexible working policy outlines our commitment to considering flexible working requests for all our people. It includes an application form to request flexible working. For more information, speak to the HR team.

 Flexible working policy

For staff who have “plus days” within their contract (e.g. term-time, plus 5 days), you may need to work overtime or outside of your normal working hours for things such as meetings, etc. These should be agreed upon with your line manager; please don’t work overtime without letting your manager know beforehand.

Dress for your day

We want you to feel your most productive and creative at work, and we understand that being comfortable with what you’re wearing is a must. However, we also act as role models when working in our schools. Therefore, it is important that we dress as smartly as we expect from our children.

Our complete dress code is in the staff code of conduct.

 Staff code of conduct

In some roles, we also provide you with workwear. This is usually where your role involves work where your clothes are more likely to get messy or protective wear we provide for your safety or protection. If you are provided with workwear or protective wear, it is important that you wear it while at work.

Staff working in PE are also provided with PE workwear or can utilise a budget to provide their own appropriate sportswear.

 Staff PE Kit policy

Your personal information

You can check and update your details on Oracle.

• Personal details
• Address
• Emergency contacts
• Bank details

It’s important we have up-to-date information about you. If anything changes, such as moving home, you must update it on Oracle or with the HR team as soon as possible.

Oracle is also where you can access other information, including your payslips and job details.

Please read our employee privacy statement to learn more about how we use your personal information.

 Employee privacy statement

Your performance

Regular performance conversations are a great way to ensure we’re supporting you in doing your very best. It’s also a way to explore how you can develop for the future. When starting with us, you should set a few simple goals with your manager. These goals will give you clarity about what you should focus on and help you prioritise your time.

Twice a year, you and your manager will have a more formal conversation about your performance and look at your progress against your goals, your personal development and our employee values. We call these conversations “performance management meetings”, which tend to occur around September/October and January/February.

Before you sit down for these chats, you should add a few points to discuss on the performance management form and self-assess where you are up to.

During your performance review, your manager will confirm your current pay and whether you are due to move up your scale over the next 12 months. However, don’t worry about this, your pay progression is not linked to performance management unless concerns have been formally raised with you.

Your development

We recognise the importance of developing our people to ensure they have the right level of knowledge and skills to be able to shine.

The Outwood Institute of Education (OIE) is our training facility. Their whole team is dedicated to learning and development, ensuring we develop the best talent, leadership, and technical skills within our family of schools. We help develop our people in a number of ways, such as specific in-house development courses, external courses, secondments, career moves and further and higher education such as apprenticeships or national professional qualifications.

Find out what courses are available on the OIE professional development website.

After school each week, there are two hours of learning and performance time (L&P). It is usually on a Tuesday in secondary schools and Wednesday in primary schools. During this time, there are professional development opportunities and time for meetings or any data inputting and analysis you need to complete.

In recognition of this time, we disaggregate three INSET days during the year, which are then taken as holiday.

Expenses

While at work, you may occasionally incur expenses that you have not been able to purchase directly through your school. These expenses should be reclaimed via Oracle and have the approval of your finance team before being incurred. We expect you to be careful with your expenses and make all spending decisions in the best interest of our students.

 Expenses policy

Travel and staying away

If you need to book travel and accommodation for company business, you should book it through your finance team.

• You should travel by standard class only, and when you’re travelling in London, you should use the underground when you can.
• If public transport is not available or appropriate, taxis may be used for travel to and from business meetings and functions.

The expenses policy includes full details about expenses when travelling and staying away.

Health and safety

Your safety matters at Outwood, and we are committed to minimising the risk of injury or ill-health to our people. We have a duty—to both you and our children—to ensure that our schools are safe places to work.

Each of our schools has its own health and safety policy containing school-specific information. You can access this on their website or via the school’s business and HR team.

All other health and safety policies are available online.

We also have a number of Outwood Family health and safety policies.

First aid

If you have an accident or feel unwell at work, we have trained first aiders on every school site. Find out your school’s first aiders by asking your school business manager or HR team.

We must keep records of all accidents and first aid treatment on the Medical Tracker system, which all first aiders can access.

Fire evacuation

A dedicated fire warden supports every department or group of departments. Make sure you speak to your manager or team to learn who your team’s fire warden is.

In the event of an evacuation, the fire alarm will sound. You should leave the building immediately, escorting any children you are responsible for, using the nearest fire exit route. Please don’t return to your classroom or office.

For details on where your assembly point is, check your school’s health and safety policy.