Blog

We are really pleased to announce that we have signed the Mental Health in Recruitment Awareness to Action Pledge.  

The summer holidays might be here but that doesn’t mean that the learning has to stop. We’ve put together a list of fun places in the Black Country and beyond that you can visit with your little ones during the school holidays. 

We asked our Compliance Administrator, Georgia, to give us (and you) an insight into her day and the role of a compliance administrator in recruitment.

How school leaders can improve their wellbeing and better support their students and staff.

We thought we’d have some light-hearted fun and take a look at 10 Black Country sayings that you might hear in schools and what they mean.

Advice on how to become a headteacher of a school.

10 books that every aspiring and current school leader must read, what they are about and where to find them.

We are thrilled to announce our partnership with The Albion Foundation the charity behind West Bromwich Albion Football Club.

Kash talks about his career journey at Smile Education and looks back at how far he has come.

For a while now, we have been working closely with West Bromwich Albion Foundation to bring sport to children who might not otherwise get the opportunity. Since running our first event in 2019, Smile Soccer Stars has grown into something more than we could have ever imagined - even the pandemic couldn’t stop it! 

Recruitment is a ‘boy’s club’ they say. Well, we are proof that that couldn’t be further from the truth.

An update on the furlough scheme from Smile Education.

Michael, primary recruitment consultant at our sister company, Smile Leadership, and spoken word poet shares his thoughts on the power of poetry in the classroom. 

Help us remember Leasa and raise money for Help Harry Help Others, one of her chosen charities. 

Jessica, one of our lovely supply teachers who like many teachers is having to get used to working from home. Here she shares some tips which have helped her during this time.

Our Graduate Academy is designed to help graduates take their first step on the teaching ladder and offers them a paid opportunity to discover whether teaching is the right career choice for them.

We asked Beth, who joined our Graduate Academy earlier this year to give us a run-through of what life is like in the classroom and what is expected of her - the good, the bad and the ugly. However, you’ll be pleased to know (as we were!) there’s no too much bad, or ugly for that matter! Here’s is what she had to say.

Think there are no similarities between working for Smile Education and being the Qeen (or King) or England. Think again! 

Find out what you'll learn from our Safer Recruitment Training for schools.

It's time to switch-off! However, we know that can be easier said than done so we’ve put together some tips to help you.

We’ve put together some tips to help make sure that your online tutoring sessions are as successful as they can be!

To help you find the right tutor for you and your child, you’ll need to ask each of the tutors you’re considering some questions. We’ve put together some of the questions we think are most important for you to ask below.

As a tutor there are some key questions you should be asking both parents and students to establish what they are looking for from a tutor and how you can help. We’ve provided some examples of key questions for both below.

Priya started her career in recruitment and joined the Smile team just under two months ago but she’s already the very proud winner of our monthly special achievement award.

We asked Louise, our Compliance Team Leader, to give us an insight into life at Smile and what it’s like to work for a company that doesn’t just value results.

We are in a great position to have not one, but two experienced and qualified Tutors who can deliver these skills to those in need. Here Louise, one of our Team Teach Tutors (and our Compliance Team Leader) talks about the Team Teach course, why it’s important, who should do it and what she likes about it.

Safeguarding is something that as a business, we take very seriously. Not only are all of our staff safer recruitment trained, we are also an APSCo Compliance+ accredited agency.

Katy our MD, who is safer recruitment trained, run a training session recently to ensure that our new recruits were up to speed. Here is what they had they learnt during their training, how the impact it has had on their work and why they believe safer recruitment training is important for all those recruiting in the education sector.

We for most parents tutoring is unknown territory making finding the right tutor for your child a difficult and daunting task. Don’t panic or give up just yet though, we’ve put together some tips for you to help you choose the best tutor to suit your child. 

We've put together some tips that teachers can use to help them talk about racism with their students. 

We’ve put together some tips from around the web on how to handle questions about COVID-19 and how to explain the current pandemic and lockdown.

We encourage all of our school and children’s residential staff to add their DBS to the Update Service as soon as it arrives as you only have 30 days after your certificate issue date to register. But why should you register with the Update Service? What are the advantages? Here are the three biggest reasons.

As you’ll know, charity is something that is very important to us as both a company and a team and we refused to let the first lockdown get in the way of that. Of course, that doesn’t mean we broke the rules but instead, we found ways to fundraise while abiding by the social distancing guidelines in place. Conor, our senior compliance administrator, will tell you how.

Everything you need to know about self-isolating from whether you should to how long for.

Our online NQT Q&A was a huge success - thank you to everyone who joined us.

Chelsea, part of our candidate care team, gamed for 24 hours straight to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support

Our panel of education experts share there top tips for NQTs.

We've compiled a list of resources to help you talk to students and pupils of all ages about racism and the Black Lives Matter movement.

As it’s Black History Month, we wanted to do a special spotlight on those from the black community, both past and present, that have influenced and changed education for the better.

Our team, like 10000s of others around the country, has been doing their bit to slow the spread of the coronavirus by working from home. Now seven months in, we all pretty much feel like we’re experts so we thought it was only right we share our top tips with you

Up-skilling is something that we really believe in and we are always looking for new ways to support our team with their personal development. But it’s not all recruitment-based learning. Beth, part of our candidate team, had the chance earlier this year to gain a first aid qualification and became one of our nominated workplace first aiders - more on this (from Beth’s point of view) in a click.

It’s important to us that our team continue learning and developing during their time with us. While we offer lots of training through recruitment networks like the TRN, we also give our team the opportunity to develop their persona skills too. Olivia, our secondary team leader, recently attended a training course and became a mental health first aider so she could better support her team.

We have looked at the most common reasons why parents are frequently turning to Smile Tutors for their online tutoring. 

How Vicky, part of our candidate care team, used her time in lockdown wisely.

We are proud as punch to say that we achieved 100% in our 2020 APSCo Compliance+ audit.

If you missed our COVID and Schools Q&A or just want a refresher you’ll find all the questions and the answers in this blog.

Meet our two new NQT Q&A panellists; Richard Simcox and Louise Sieradzki.

Nasriin joined us a year ago. Learn more about her experience working at Smile. 

Georgia, our lovely compliance administrator, talks about her journey with Smile so far and what it was like starting a new job just as the pandemic hit.

Meet the education experts on our NQT Q&A panel.

Jessica Joan is one of Smile Education's lovely supply teachers and a health and wellness coach for teachers. She shares her tips on managing back-to-school anxiety.

Do you have to wear a face mask in school? Here is the latest information. 

No NQT year is easy but this year might take the crown for being the toughest. Here are our tips for the NQTs of 2020. 

We asked Suneta Bagri and Steve Walters for these tips on handling the pressures of teaching.

New to online tutoring? Don’t worry, we have some great tips and suggestions to help you become the best and most effective tutor you can be. 

Blended learning is a term that has been thrown around a lot lately but what is it and what are the benefits to students and teachers?

So, just what will the new normal in schools when they reopen? We’ve broken down the main guidance from the Department of Education (DfE) for you.

So, you’ve heard about Smile Tutors but you’re not quite sure what one is or if it’s right for you? Don’t worry, here is everything you’ll need to know about tutoring.

Thinking about becoming a Smile Tutor but need a little convincing? Here are all the reasons that we think you should give it a try.

The day has finally arrived it’s World Emoji Day! To celebrate we wanted to do something a bit different. As you may know, emojis represent a wide, complex range of emotions. Emotions that teachers go through everyday…

It might be hard for your students to believe but when you’re not at school, you’re actually just a pretty ordinary person. But spotting a teacher outside of the classroom is much easier than you think.  In this blog we tell you how.

There are lots of advantages to becoming a supply teacher and it can be the perfect job for someone who loves being in the classroom but hates the many other duties that come with a permanent teaching post.

You may have heard all the cons about supply teaching so let us tell you some of the pros.

As it’s Wellbeing Week, we asked Suneta Bagri, former headteacher, current wellbeing coach and founder of the Every Teacher Matters project to gives her advice to school staff on how to start the day off right and give your wellbeing a boost.

No school? No problem? Here we share some fun home science experiments you can enjoy with your children at home.

Smile Education offer a range of training courses, you can read more about them here.

Although the role of a support worker is a rewarding role (just take a look at our day in the life blog to find out more) it can also be challenging and demanding. As with any job, you’ll be expected to interview and asked a series of questions to determine your suitability to the role.

If you aren't familiar with Twitter it might seem like a bit of a minefield but it can be a really great tool for teachers and headteachers alike. Our marketing and social media executive, Kelly, shares her top Twitter tips.

In mental health awareness week Suneta Bagri has kindly shared this blog with us which share some important thoughts on wellbeing for our staff. 

Our MD and founder Katy Rees blogs for NQTS on their job search and how agencies can be used to help especially in these unprecedented times.

We wanted to share this fantastic blog with you as looking after our own wellbeing is more important than ever at this time. Here are some great tips from Suneta Bagri for our staff. 

Its our month! National Smile month that is, here we tell you 100 things that make us smile, our favourite things are much needed in these challenging times.

As its childrens book week this week we thought it was a great opprtunity to share 5 of the team at Smile Educations favourite childrens books with you.

On May 4th we share life lessons you can learn from Star Wars.

One of our Supply Staff shares their experience and tips for being kind to yourself in lockdown. Jess is also a holistic health and nutrition coach.

On national gardening day we share 5 lessons children can learn from gardening, an ideal activity when so many of us are home schooling our children during lockdown.

If you work for us in our schools and are paid via People, did you know you can access a number of free training courses? This blog explains how and what is available.

We wanted to share this fantastic blog with you as home working is quite new for many of us and comes with its own challenges! Here are some great tips from Suneta Bagri for our staff. 

The idea of home schooling your children can be a daunting one but fear not there are lots of fun things to do with them for free. We have put them all together for you in this handy blog.

As Easter is approaching, here are some fun tips for ideas of activities you can do at home. We would love it if you share any pictures of your creations with us.

Our children’s residential recruitment consultant, Jaleesa, gave us the low down on essential qualities and personality traits that she looks for in children’s support workers.

It is a tough and uncertain time for everyone right now. It’s not an easy time for any of us but we have to stay positive. Training the mind is just as important as training the body. So, we asked Suneta Bagri, former headteacher, current wellbeing coach and founder of the Every Teacher Matters project to give us along with all of our lovely school staff some tips and advice on staying positive. 

We asked Louise, our resident wellbeing guru (and Compliance Team Leader) to share her tips on meditation with all of our lovely school staff. Here is what she had to say...

While you can't go to the gym right now, there are plenty of things that you can do at home to keep fit - things that won't cost you a penny and that might turn out to be pretty fun.

Looking to spruce up your LinkedIn profile, we've got some tips for you. 

In light of the recent school closures and government advice on social distancing, it’s apparent that we are all feeling a little out of sorts. Which is why we asked Suneta Bagri, former teacher and headteacher turned Health & Wellbeing Champion in Schools and Founder of the Every Teacher Matters Project to offer some suggestions on things that you can do to improve your mental health and wellbeing. 

Our team have been working from home for the past week now and in that time we have managed to come up with some tips to improve your wellbeing and to stop you from getting cabin fever during the school closures. 

Unless you work in education, it’s unlikely you’ll have any idea of what a cover supervisor is. But it’s likely that you may have been taught by a cover supervisor at some point during your time at school.

When Shaik joined us back in March 2018, he wasn’t familiar with the role either but he has gone on to become one of our most valuable cover supervisors. So, who better than to tell you about being a cover supervisor and what it entails?

We sat down with Andrew, one of our amazing supply teachers and asked him to answer 5 of your most burning questions about supply teaching. Here is what he had to say...

Why do exam invigilation with Smile? This is what our exam invigilators have to say.

How to reach our Staffordshire-based Cannock office by car, train and bus.

During our most recent APSCo Compliance+ audit in October 2019, we are very proud to say that we achieved a score of 99%.

Documents that you'll need to bring to your Smile registration.

Here is a little more info about what you can expect at each stage of your registration with Smile Education.

To make getting here a little easier we’ve put together some handy directions to our Birmingham-based office.

Louise went from dance teacher to cover supervisor with the help of Smile.

Last year, we did something a little out of the box… We organised a football tournament for schools around Birmingham and we're doing the same this year too! 

Valentine’s Day has us feeling all warm and fuzzy and got us thinking about the many reasons why we love working in education recruitment (nothing to do with it being half-term tomorrow, of course). Anyway, these are the 10 reasons that we love working in education recruitment.

It's International Day of Women and Girls in Science and to celebrate we thought we’d take a look at some of our favourite and most influential women in science throughout history.

Tomorrow is Safer Internet Day so, we’ve come up with some ideas to help you celebrate Safer Internet Day in your school or residential setting.