AIBU to question school swimming changing room supervision and safeguarding?

This! It is just crazy that a mum can’t supervise a few girls as she has not DBS. Honestly, what a society we are in

Nope, I'd be seriously unhappy about this. I think they've fallen into the trap of "women aren't abusers/a risk" and if there was a lone dad in the changing rooms with all the boys whilst they get undressed with no teacher and no dbs, then they'd not consider it. Obviously a dbs is not fail proof, but it's what we've got. If something happened they'd be absolutely ripped apart. Personally, I think a TA or teacher should be used because this is also important for general additional safeguarding which they will be trained in (e.g. a child who has consistent bruising noticed under their clothes or who says something inappropriate when getting changed). It's also a risky point for bullying/commenting on each others bodies, and again I'd want a TA or teacher there to manage anything too, rather than an unchecked random mum. Volunteers are great in schools for helping alongside teachers (reading, trips, activities) but alone in a room with them whilst they're putting swimmers on is not really that place I don't think. Our school use a pool with a "changing village" so it's unisex and the TA and teacher are both around.

Raise it with school as a safeguarding concern.

Definitely need to be DBS checked if on their own with children, that is statutory. At my school, we would never leave this supervisory role to a parent even with a DBS check.

Definitely illegal.

I had to be DBS checked to read with the children! I am shocked they have let a parent that isn’t checked into the changing room alone with them 😳

There’s no harm in asking the school to clarify at all. I used to help at school, however due to the regularity I was asked to be DBS checked. Not sure how this other parent ‘knows’ but the only way to be certain is to ask. That’s absolutely what I would do.
its not fair on the mum in this situation either.

Just to add, when I volunteered with reading in school, before my DBS came through I couldn't even walk down the corridor by myself. I had to wait at the office for a staff member to get me and walk me to the classroom. It's always that strict.

Not nowadays no. To ask random people to volunteer this was acceptable when I was young but hell what happened silently back then and sadly still now.
However just to point out nothing is great, my eldest was in yr3 and couldn’t get changed without help so I was in the boys changing room, this was a different set up in that if the parent was male no matter the sex of the child they had to be in the male room too, so room had girls and boys and Mums and Dads (girls room was all female). There were clear signs no mobile phones / cameras etc were allowed in the changing rooms.

There was a Dad sat down pointing his phone at my naked DC getting changed, I quickly accosted him and he was embarrassed, his 5yr old daughter was solo and struggling getting changed and watching an iPad. I complained to the owner to resolve. He may have been watching a movie who knows, blooming changing rooms. After that I took my DC home wet and wrapped them in a big towel, I didn’t see him for a long time his wife came.

Yeah, that's not OK.

I volunteered loads of times to take the kids swimming. Parent volunteers were strictly helping to walk the kids there and back safely. Once we got there, the parents aren't allowed in the changing rooms - we went to the spectator area. I'm at the swimming pool numerous times a week and that's the same for all schools.

This is so odd!
I’ve helped a few times at school swimming, there’s 1 teacher and a parent helper walks them there and back safely.
Absolutely none of the adults go into the changing room. Any adult where any of the children are changing is a massive safeguarding risk and needs to be reported.
Sometimes some of the girls want help getting their hair back into a pony tail, which I do, when they’re fully dressed and out in the open. Or the odd child who still can’t tie up their laces but for some reason was sent in with laces. That’s the maximum involvement any adult should have….. none should be watching them change.

Blimey! At DC’s primary parents had to be DBS checked to help w changing for swimming.

Then that is absolutely not ok. TBH I wouldn’t want to be inside the changing room with my class girls and I am obviously fully DBS checked, it’s a massive risk for her as much as the children and is so inappropriate- does the male teacher stand inside with the boys too? I really don’t get why they are inside the changing area.

Is it a big communal changing room and she goes inside it , instead of waiting outside? Or are there individual/group cubicles and she is waiting outside? The actual set up matters. As school staff we avoid being present when children are changing, unless something happens or it is required by the individual needs of a child. It would be very odd for an adult(DBS checked or not) to be required to actively supervise changing children .

Are the kids in cubicles, or one big room?

Are you sure she is actually inside the changing room with the children. When I take my class swimming us adults stand at the door outside the changing rooms (it’s like a large private room within the public changing room, one for the boys and one for the girls, only one entrance / exit) and tend to yell in ‘hurry up, stop mucking’ yada yada yada, from the door.

School DSL here, this is unacceptable and would never be allowed in any of the schools I've worked in.

It's for parent volunteers to accompany children on trips or excursions with no DBS checks completed BUT they should be accompanied by a member of school staff at all times. They should never be interacting with children unsupervised, let alone in a scenario where children are changing.

Not only is this placing children at risk, it also puts the parent in a vulnerable position.

I would email the school FAO the DSL and HT (if the HT isn't also DSL) to raise concerns about this and ask them to clarify supervision arrangements for swimming. I would also have a look at what it says about visitors/volunteers in the school safeguarding policy, which should be published on the school website.

If this is true and she was asked to be alone with the children in the changing room, she should have point blank refused.

I would ask the school what the supervision arrangements are, and whether all adults are DBS checked.

@NotMyPiggy You need to ask the school, not rely on the word of another mum.

It's perfectly reasonable to ask whether a volunteer in those circumstances has a current DBS. You may be unaware that some people do have current certificates registered with the Update Service due to current or past employment.

Of course, this means that no girls will be able to go swimming anymore whilst the boys continue to do so if that is not the case - unless the staffing levels make it impossible and therefore all swimming is cancelled for everybody.

A little surprised that a Primary School has zero female staff when it's so unbalanced in favour of women as a sector, but if that's the case, they'll have no choice but to cancel the lessons.

When I've done helped with DD's school swimming lessons, the parents at there to supervise getting on and off the coaches etc but we wait outside whilst the children and teachers go into the changing rooms