Magento – How to load a custom .phtml file in left sidebar in page/2columns-left.phtml

I'm fairly new to Magento (1) and was wondering how I can add a small template file (containing Clerk search filters) to the top of the left sidebar within the 2columns-left template for a specific page.
I've got it to show up on the correct page, but it just overlaps with everything.

This is the code:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
    <catalogsearch_result_index>
        <reference name="left">
            <block type="core/template" name="filters" output="toHtml" template="clerk/filters.phtml"/>
        </reference>
    </catalogsearch_result_index>
</layout>

This is not a custom block, nor do I think it is necessary to create one (or is it best I do?), just to show the filters. But how can I render this at the top of the left bar, before any other content and make it not overlap with the rest of the content within the left sidebar?

Many thanks