to think it's quite concerning how 19 year olds have such easy access of 11 year olds in a school setting?

[Zootopials]

Most schools in this area have a sixth form and there is no separate building. These sixth formers often do 1-1 reading etc with the Year 7s. AIBU to think it's a bit concerning??

[Gallavich]

Rufus it's not an anomaly. A DBS check discloses convictions. Existing government information sharing guidance already ensures that convictions would be shared with the education setting. Just different mechanisms to achieve the same result.

[Aeroflotgirl]

Yabvvvu and precious, I am sure the school puts adequate safeguards in place, so that they are not alone with a child.

[Aeroflotgirl]

After all, they are still children themselves, if under 18, and are there because they are pupils at the school. They are their peers, what a nice thing to do.

[NewNNfor2017]

rufus That's not true though.

An adult who had a (now obsolete) CRB check and has continued to work with the same employer will not have had a DBS check.

So a lot of adults in education and childcare settings will not have had a DBS - just like the sixth formers, their conviction history is known through a different process.

[MuseumOfCurry]

How the fuck do people cope everyday with this level of paranoia?

My view on the matter.

[Nanny0gg]

I think it's a wonderful system and good for both parties.

I do despair of people sometimes. I really do.

[littleme2016]

I think YABU.

I was a sixth former who was a reading buddy and a senior prefect.

The reading buddy was time set aside in a particular classes timetable. The reading buddies came to the classroom and listened to their assigned children read. The teacher and sometimes a classroom assistant was always present. We were never left on our own with the children.

The senior prefect role included canteen and playground supervision at break or lunchtime. Again there was always a teacher and lunchtime supervisors present in the playground, canteen and surrounding areas.

I imagine the set up is similar in many schools.

I volunteered myself because I had an interest in working with children. This experience at school helped me get experience and work outside school after I left. There was nothing sinister in it.

[RufusTheSpartacusReindeer]

Thanks new

To be fair to me i cant remember the bloomin acronyms i just mean that an adult will have had some sort of check before they work with children

Didnt know that galla i thought that if a crime was commited under the age of 17 it was closed and no one would necessarily know about it (happy to be corrected as i was obviously wrong)

[RufusTheSpartacusReindeer]

Sorry new

I do appreciate that they wont have been rechecked after your post

I thought mine had a 'sell by' date but obviously not

[Gallavich]

Depends on the crime. These days any child getting arrested will be passed to the MASH team or similar to be screened, and if a child was convicted of a sexual or violent crime or something like drug dealing it would be shared with the school. Maybe not going back to the 90s but definitely these days.

[RufusTheSpartacusReindeer]

Oh ok

Thank you

[RufusTheSpartacusReindeer]

Sorry galla

Its shared with the school they are in

Would it be shared with their future college?

I assume so

[Gallavich]

Probably, depends though if the college has children or not.

[RufusTheSpartacusReindeer]

Was just musing really

Ds left his school and went to a different 6th form college

He is not doing very well so in theory could start a new 6th form at 18

Derail though so just ignore me

[Blackforestdonuts]

I hate to say it, but statistically, children are most likely to be preyed on at school by older students. Not just the oldest ones.

[minionsrule]

DBS checks are only useful if the person being checked has offended = it doesn't tell anyone what some someone MIGHT do. The age is irrelevant. A TA and ASCC helper at DS's school was being investigated by police because of images on his PC (not sure why the investigation came about) of young boys. He was already working in the school and had passed DBS but because he had not actually offended nothing came up

[NewNNfor2017]

He is not doing very well so in theory could start a new 6th form at 18

If your DS starts a new sixth form once he's over 18, there will be policies that apply - and they may involve reference from previous education establishments or a DBS.

How many 6th formers join a New sixth form after 18 years old though?

[RufusTheSpartacusReindeer]

new

Thats why in my earlier post i said it was probably rare

Just musing

[RufusTheSpartacusReindeer]

Although a friend of mines son did it

Only ever heard of him though, most just take three years not 4

[RufusTheSpartacusReindeer]

But yes they may well have different policies in place for such a situation

[mummytime]

All sixth formers I know who do: peer mentoring, listen to reading or support with Maths have training and are never alone with their mentee.
My DD goes to a sixth form college and they have opportunities to go to local primaries and secondaries to mentor students. It is part of their "enrichment" activities. It's good for this age to be "role models". But they are supervised.

[walchesterweasel]

Our local college has pupils from secondary school who aren't going down the academic road going there for practical courses eg photography , catering
Also on these course are adults in their 20s and 30s.
I think it's not hard to imagine a scenario that would be more unlikely with pupils of similar ages

[wannabestressfree]

Rufus they only got three years of education post 16 I think...

[RufusTheSpartacusReindeer]

wannabe

They get three years of paid education

[Cary2012]

I think you're being unreasonable OP.

I'm a teacher, our school does paired reading with sixth form students and year 7s. Always in the library, where the (police checked) librarian present or a similarly police checked HLTA/TA.

The paired reading works very well. The Yr7s generally prefer reading to a sixth form student, they think it's cool. There is no safeguarding issue at all.

What will you do if your year 7 went round a friend's for tea after school and that friend's older sibling was present and left in charge whilst mum/dad popped out for an hour or two? Would you expect that older sibling to be police checked? Of course not. The point I'm trying to make is that there are risks far greater than in a school. Our sixth form students are not a risk to the younger students, because of the school adhering to safeguarding policy.