Ofsted sector | Recruitment for employers
Recruitment for children’s services. Built around your setting.
Hiring for a children’s home, supported accommodation, SEN provision, school or nursery? Delphi helps you start with the right recruitment brief, considering safeguarding, experience, leadership and the needs of your service.
Define the right role for the people you support.
For children’s service providers, school leaders, proprietors and recruitment teams across England.
Call 0330 133 3002 ↗Find the right recruitment route
Seven service settings. One clearer next step.
The right hire depends on the responsibilities, safeguarding context and operating environment behind the role. Select your setting to start a more relevant conversation.
Residential Home
Recruit for children’s residential homes where relationships, safeguarding, consistent care and registered leadership are central.
SEN Service
Discuss specialist education and care roles where knowledge of additional learning needs, inclusion and individualised support is important.
Independent School
Identify teachers, senior leaders, inclusion specialists or other staff to meet an independent school’s educational and safeguarding requirements.
Private School
For employers who describe their setting as a private school, discuss academic, pastoral, operational or leadership staffing needs.
Supported Accommodation
Find staff and managers for relevant supported accommodation settings where safeguarding, independence and support planning matter.
Local Service
For a local children’s, educational or specialist provision not listed here, explain your service model, hiring priorities and location.
Nurseries / Early Years
Explore recruitment for nursery and early years settings, taking account of qualifications, safeguarding, supervision and age-appropriate provision.
Hiring across multiple settings? You can send one combined enquiry. Private schools are commonly classified as independent schools; the two labels are retained here to help employers find the route that feels familiar.
Prepare a combined hiring briefFrom vacancy to conversation
A clearer route to recruitment support.
Start with the setting. Then define the role and its essential requirements. This gives Delphi a more useful basis for discussing recruitment assistance.
Choose your service setting
Select the children’s home, school, SEN, accommodation, early years or other setting that best matches your organisation.
Outline the vacancy
Share job title, location, essential experience, relevant qualifications, contract type and anticipated hiring timescale.
Discuss suitable support
Delphi can consider the brief, available expertise and appropriate next steps, without promising candidates or placement dates.
Prepare a recruitment enquiry
Tell us what you need. We’ll discuss the right approach.
Choose a setting above and add the essentials of your vacancy. This tool prepares an email that you can edit before sending. You can also use Delphi’s existing website contact form.
Choose a setting above or continue with a general Ofsted-sector enquiry.
Quick employer hiring brief
What role are you looking to fill?
These optional details populate an email in your own email application. Nothing is submitted or stored by this page.
Your email app will open an editable draft. You must send it yourself. The website contact form cannot automatically receive these fields. Please do not share identifiable children’s information or confidential candidate records here.
Safeguarding and recruitment suitability
The right hire must fit the right safeguarding framework.
Recruitment obligations are not identical across children’s homes, supported accommodation, schools and early years provision. Providers should define the appropriate checks, relevant experience and any professional or role-specific qualifications before appointing staff.
For children’s homes, Regulations 32 and 33 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and Schedule 2 address suitability and recruitment. School employers should follow the applicable Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance, while early years providers need to apply the relevant EYFS requirements.
Frequently asked questions
Recruitment questions, clearly answered.
For children’s service providers, school leaders, nursery operators, HR teams and hiring managers.
Which Ofsted-sector hiring category should I choose?
Choose the setting that best reflects your organisation: residential home, SEN service, independent or private school, supported accommodation, local service or nurseries/early years. If you cover several settings, describe them in a combined brief.
Are independent schools and private schools different?
The terms often refer to the same part of the education sector. Both options appear here because employers may use either description. The applicable recruitment duties depend on the specific school’s legal status and requirements.
Can Delphi assist with Registered Managers and Responsible Individuals?
You can enquire about senior care leadership and Responsible Individual requirements. Delphi can assess whether the requested recruitment support is appropriate, subject to the scope and candidate availability.
Can Delphi help with SEN, teaching and early years staff?
Delphi can discuss relevant education and early years staffing needs. Explain the role, setting, required qualifications and any specialist experience. Availability and suitability depend on the individual brief.
Who is responsible for safer recruitment checks?
The hiring organisation must meet the applicable legal and regulatory obligations for its setting. A recruitment consultancy does not remove the employer’s responsibilities for suitable appointments, checks and safeguarding.
Can we recruit for several locations or service types?
Yes. Use a combined enquiry and describe each setting, the roles needed, locations, requirements and anticipated timescales.
How quickly can a vacancy be filled?
That depends on the role, candidate availability, location, checks and hiring process. Delphi cannot guarantee a candidate, appointment or placement timescale.
What information should we include in our hiring brief?
Start with your setting, job title, location, number of positions, essential qualifications and experience, employment type and timing. Avoid sending identifiable children’s information or confidential candidate documents through a general enquiry.
Ready to discuss your next children’s services hire?
Start with your service setting, then share the role and experience you are looking for.
Delphi Care Solutions provides recruitment-related support within an agreed scope. The recruiting provider, school or employer retains responsibility for safer recruitment procedures, safeguarding, required checks, professional suitability and compliance with the rules applicable to its setting. Candidate availability and recruitment outcomes cannot be guaranteed. Looking for work instead? See our privacy policy.
