To think not checking references and a DBS before appointing to a school is pretty awful?

[friarca]

This happened to me and unsure whether to report or not.

It goes against safer recruitment in schools.

So their SCR would have been incomplete- which is a significant fail. That doesn’t mean it is now as you have left. Ofsted are unlikely to take action at this stage but you could write to the CoG or the Safeguarding link governor or the local paper. Depends what your purpose is.

I’ve worked in several failing settings where process around safe recruitment was one of THE first things I had to address. A lot of time has passed sine you were there. Things could be very different now.

I had similar. I recently did supply in a school and at no point in the day did anyone ask to see any ID or my DBS. I did not always have another adult in the room with me and at lunch when I was in the room alone eating, the children had free reign to come in and out so I could have been alone with any of them at any moment (I wasn't, but if I had been I'd have left the room and gone outside into the playground, for my own sake).

OP, I'm also wondering if I should report it. Lovely school, but now I've read your dilemma I'm even more of a mind to say something. I know the chances of someone impersonating supply is slim (mainly because how would they know supply was needed at that school that day?) but what if it happened and I hadn't said anything?

Oops pressed send too soon

Adding..

If you had a genuine concern at the time one could argue you failed in your own duty of care by not reporting at the time. That’s not saying you shouldn’t report now but like others have said. What is your absolute motivation for doing so now? Has there been a change in HT? An inspection? Or did you wake up one day and think ‘I should have…’

I don’t really understand why you would complain now, two years later.

Obviously the school should have checked references and at least applied for your DBS before you started. I assume you gave them references. Did you fill out the DBS form? If not then I’m afraid you are at least partially responsible because you should have queried it - safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility after all.

Im sorry to say this but waiting all this time and then making some big complaint, to the governors or Ofsted or whatever, just looks like you’re being vindictive.

I think OP you really need to let it go. It clearly wasn’t the right school/environment for you so take it as a learning curve.

Surely your application form contained your teacher reference number and previous employment? I appreciate they also needed your DBS, but you couldn't have been just anyone!

Op, in the nicest possible way you need to let this go- you should have raised it at the time. Reporting this two years after the fact will be futile and they'll just think you're a crackpot with too much time on your hands.

The Local Authority can also conduct a Safeguarding Audit (at zero notice, they just turn up at Reception one day) - if anybody else has been employed without recording references, DBS checks or adding to the SCR, they won't have time to cover it up. You'll be able to find the appropriate contact - probably the Director of Education - on the council website and let them know that they have employed people without carrying out the required pre employment checks.

About nine years ago, I started work in a school without the DBS as it took months to come through (think it finally turned up just before the end of the following term), but I was never solely responsible and I already had a slightly different one through previous work. Since then, I've been registered with the Update Service, which has enabled me to start before a new one has been applied for by a new employer/if it's required a slightly different disclosure level/category, but there's a record of that being checked as well, which happened over a month before I started at the last place.

You really need to let this go OP. I think there's more to this story that you're saying. Why would why would anyone resign over this? You'd just get it sorted at the time.

Has it had an Ofsted inspection since this happened? This sort of stuff should be covered by that process.

@JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn

You really need to let this go OP. I think there's more to this story that you're saying. Why would why would anyone resign over this? You'd just get it sorted at the time.

Agree with this.

Obviously situation with the DBS was not good, serious human error that needs investigation.

But your reaction is weird. DBS is an important procedure, but let’s not forget that it is only a v.small part of what safeguarding actually is. DBS only flags up people who get caught. And if you had a conviction it’s unlikely you’d still be in teaching and trying for a HoD job.

I think there’s more that meets the eye here.

@friarca

It was a bit more than “a HR error” *@JurgensCakeBabyJesus*

I could have been anybody. My identity wasn’t checked, I could have been sacked from my last position for inappropriate behaviour around children, I could have sexual abuse convictions, violent convictions, I might not have been who I said I was.

It’s a bit chilling tbh.

Did you interview for the job? How do you know references weren't asked for? Was your former school.in the same area? DBS were taking an age to come back at one point, so if you already had a dbs with your old dchool the risk would have been negligible

@Littlescottiedog

I had similar. I recently did supply in a school and at no point in the day did anyone ask to see any ID or my DBS. I did not always have another adult in the room with me and at lunch when I was in the room alone eating, the children had free reign to come in and out so I could have been alone with any of them at any moment (I wasn't, but if I had been I'd have left the room and gone outside into the playground, for my own sake).

OP, I'm also wondering if I should report it. Lovely school, but now I've read your dilemma I'm even more of a mind to say something. I know the chances of someone impersonating supply is slim (mainly because how would they know supply was needed at that school that day?) but what if it happened and I hadn't said anything?

Are you sure your agency didn't send over your documentation? If you look like your photo and sign in with your name a passport doesn't prove anything more and you'd have your dbs details at the agency.

So I'd ask your agency first, bit if they didn't send any details then obviously it would have to be reported.

Bloody hell I'm only a lunchtime supervisor and I wasn't allowed to work unsupervised with kids until the dbs came back.

Reporting it will, rightly or wrongly, seem like sour grapes. I'm sure you have convinced yourself that it is all for the good of the children, and that you have martyred yourself for their safety, but be sure this is the objective truth before destroying your reputation in an industry where the mangement will all know each other and talk.

Well, quite, which is why I didn’t report it in the first instance.

I’m well aware I didn’t ‘martyr myself’ as I know exactly what schools are like and as much as they might purport to be places of integrity they aren’t, but just the same I’m not really posting about my own behaviour here. I did what I did for my own benefit, I won’t apologise for that.

Then of course a few weeks later lockdown and everything changed.

But I have wondered, sometimes idly, if I should have done something more. With the passage of time meaning the immediate threat to me has passed I don’t know if I should refer this to OFSTED or similar.

I could literally have been anyone. Too right I resigned. I realise you may be a lot younger than I am but don’t you know about the Soham murders?

This statement suggests the reason you resigned was due to what happened with the references and the DBS. Was it?

I’m not on trial at the old Bailey, Butchy.

In any event, the reasons I resigned were tied into this certainly and I decided to move on. I’m really unsure why I’m being grilled about this. Sometimes, jobs are not what you believe them to be and so you leave. It isn’t an offence to resign from a position. It is an offence not to follow safeguarding laws however.

But I have wondered, sometimes idly, if I should have done something more.

Yes, you should have done something more. You should have raised it at the time. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. Everyone.
The school should also have had both a safeguarding and whistleblowing policy, available to all, which you should have read and followed to raise your concerns.

Most schools have their policies on their websites (I may be wrong here, but I think they may need to?). Your first point of call moving forward would be to check their site and see if these are available to you online. The policies will tell you the steps you should have/could take now, and if there is a timeframe etc for raising your concerns.

Was your DBS clean, OP?

What do you mean when you say you resigned for reasons related to this?

I would agree in many professions it's common to offer a job subject to satisfactory checks, including DBS which may well take several weeks to come back. I'm confused here, if the school failed to follow due process at any point then surely they'd have a record of this and either had to self-report or this will be reviewed at some point when they're inspected, and they would have improved their own internal processes by now anyway? So what are you thinking to report, sorry? Or is this what they always do and cover up? I really don't understand.

You’re getting a grilling because you thought “this is not a safe environment, I’m leaving” rather than “this is not a safe environment, I need to do something about it” (and you posted in AIBU, which invites critique of the poster).

Personally yes, I’d report it. It’s not about you, it’s about the person before you or the person after you, or the school getting a reputation that it doesn’t do the checks and so being targeted by the wrong people applying. @Littlescottiedog I’d report it if I were in your shoes, for the same reason - it’s not that they’ve treated you badly, it’s that their systems are flawed.

Yes but Toddling ultimately it wasn’t my wrongdoing. I am happy to accept I should have done something at the time but that’s not really what this is about. It is meaning the thread is turning into kick the poster, not advice and support which is actually what MN is about - even AIBU - not ‘critique the poster’

Yes, the DBS was and is clean.

Speak to your union @friarca and take advice from them. If they suggest it should be reported then it would be good to have their back up and support