13 year old helping out at local primary school

[pippiLS]

AIBU to think that this is something my DD could do. She has finished school for the Summer and the local primary school doesn't finish for another few weeks.

I don't want to put the Head in an awkward position by asking if it is actually considered U. I can't think why it would be really.

Thanks Hulababy - I think I already apologised?

'Kin Hell - how many apologies do I have to issue?

I should have said they are short of volunteers and DD does help - she doesn't make work for anyone. After training she independently cleans out the cages - and then they also spend time with the cats - to socialise them and also to make them more comfortable - stressful for a house cat to end up in a cage with no human interaction.
And these are cats up for rehoming - they aren't feral etc - so not likely to attack!
And although I asked for her - she had to go into the interview on her own ....
she was terrified - and actually I was really nervous for her too....(my baby growing up!)

x posts - wrote message, went away to deal with something, then clicked send

Some folk just don't read the full thread evans don't worry about it.

Thanks, Vito

Obviously under 16s can't provide documents required for a DBS check. I don't think it's unreasonable to want some checks in place though. Plenty of under 16s have criminal records. Actually that's not true. They may have a birth certificate, passport, NI letter, bank account statement ... You need at least one form of photo id and one with current address, 3 in total.

I was thinking they might struggle with some of the documents required at least. Even some adult volunteers do.

Thank you for the responses. To answer a few Qs:

• DD attended the school in Y4 (school is YR-Y4)
• 2 younger brothers attended, one is still there
• I am a Governor at the school
• yes, she is mature and sensible and will require very little supervision
• she is at an Independent School and broke up on Friday
• I do not need childcare

(I think that was all of them)

The idea for this just came in to my head at lunch time and when I mentioned it to DD she was very keen indeed.

She is writing an email to the Head at the moment .

Here's a copy of the email. All comments welcome before she sends it .

Hello Mrs [Head's name],

It's DD here - DS's older sister. I have finished school for the Summer and I was wondering if I could help out at [school name] for a week (maybe more if it goes well).

I could help with the following:

1. Listen to children reading
2. Read to children
3. Admin
4. Forest Schools session(s)
5. Craft activities - painting, colouring, etc.
6. P.E./Music
7. Curriculum subjects - English/Maths/Science
8. I.C.T
9. The Year 4 play - I performed this in my time at the school so will be familiar with lines and songs

10. Errands

I am 13; just finished Year 8, and I could provide you with my recent school report as a reference. I will need little if any supervision, and I'd be happy to do mornings and/or afternoons.

Please let me know if you are interested.

Yours sincerely,

DD

I will need little if any supervision

I would not be happy with that statement as a parent or as a teacher! She's 13 of course she will need supervising when she's with primary school children who are under a duty of care with the school, as much for her own protection as theirs! Imagine if something were to happen and it came out the school left a 13 in charge of primary school children! If it were my child I would be absolutely livid!!!

yes Boomeranggirl, I agree

I think the rest of the letter is fine, just miss out the supervision bit and ( if true) she could just say she is responsible and helpful and a dab hand at pencil sharpening!

Yes, I agree with Boomerang. Whilst I might make a decision to allow a 13 year old to do those activities with my younger child, unsupervised, I'd be livid to find out that the school had done so. At the very least, OP's DD would need to be doing all these things with an adult in the room, supervising. I should think that was obvious.

And she hasn't written that email without supervision, either.

Well, I'll consider me'sen duly reprimanded by the thread police for daring to use colloquialisms and internet shorthand like fess up and LOL then shall I How many lines should I write as punishment?

OP, I should think given that she is a past pupil and you are a governor (drip feeding, tsk tsk!), they would only say no if they had a very concrete reason for doing so. A random unknown 13yo would be a different matter.

Oh come on people, no one's going to leave the 13yo in charge of the class, or even a small group of children unsupervised

OP's DD means she can work under her own steam and won't need chivvying along/reminding, that's all - but I agree that line is unnecessary.

Good luck to her :)

I imagine that the OP's DD was trying to convey the message that she could be relied upon to behave appropriately and complete set tasks without someone having to check up on her, not that she could be left alone to manage a group of children.

Sorry, didn't mean to drip feed. I was half expecting to be told that it was a bad idea/not the done thing, so I didn't think the other details would be relevant.

Just a suggestion if the school doesn't work out - do you have a nearby library?

I believe the summer reading scheme is nationwide and take volunteers from she 14. An older/mature 13 yo may be able to do that.

Line left out and email sent, thanks again for all your help.

And now, what to wear...

I've just asked DD what she would do if she got the 'job' and her friends called and wanted to arrange a day out next week. She said that she would ask the Headteacher if it was OK if she didn't come in on 'X' day. Does that sound reasonable? It does to me but then I'm just her Mum .

evans I was teasing you although a new thread publicly apologising would do it

YANBU. My DD did exactly that at the same age. She didn't need a CRB, all I had to do about insurance was write a letter saying something about how I wouldn't hold the school liable unless it had been negligent, and the class teacher was thrilled to see her - so thrilled she went back at the end of another term.

She took down displays, I think listened to kids read, marshalled the tiny tots for assembly etc etc. It was great for her, and she developed a strong rapport with the class teacher. I can't remember the exact details but I think she did a week at the end of the Xmas term and about three weeks at the end of the summer term. She soaked up ALL the gossip in the staffroom (schools beware!), had a lovely time and was, genuinely, useful.

Just go and ask the head, if your DD is keen to do this. The worst they can say is no.

Totally irrelevant but do they really do the same play every year?

No I think if she commits she needs to go, she can't dump them if she gets a better offer.