To decline this invite

[Mrsblobby12]

I was a TA in a 6th form college up until recently, on a fixed term contract.
I worked with year 13 students, I built up a good relationship with them.
I attend church sometimes, it's a large church which has a few branches.
One of the students attends the same church but a different branch, he invited me to attend his church with him one Sunday and to some social events.
He's a nice lad, I like chatting to him but since he's only 18, might be a bit weird. I'm I'm my early 30s.
Don't want to seem rude but think I should give it a miss.

Surely rule 101 of working in a school or college is don’t ‘date’ the students, everyone knows this. Basic safeguarding.

I would have thought there would be some kind of policy about this relating to your recent job.

I used to work in a secondary school which stipulated no personal contact with student until either they or the staff member had be gone from the school for 3 years, including connecting in social media.

This would be considered a massive safeguarding red flag.

I appreciate the fact he’s that bit older makes it seem like more of a grey area but it’s not worth the risk.

Yeah it was naive, I think because he's technically 'left' just apart from the exams now. But definitely won't be going.

What the hell happened to teaching staff? They've all gone completely off the rails.