Child given money by "Vicar" at school

[TakeALookAtTheseSwatches]

So my 10 year old daughter (year 5) came home from school on Thursday and told us the Vicar (possibly just a trainee, I'm not entirely sure) who was taking their collective worship at school gave her £5 to "get herself an Easter treat" and that it was "just between me and you" I asked her if she told the teacher and she said no. I feel quite uneasy about this, should I say something to the school?

@DugnuttEyeBoogies Pay the DBS or let a primary age kid be raped by a disgusting pervert? Ooh tough choice

It's not an either/or situation - that a simplistic view

Don't forget a DBS certificate proves nothing - only that someone never got caught.

A shame you have to be so condescending.

You seem to have an issue with this topic, why is that?

Have you been DBS checked?

So could you for that matter !

Despite it being the holidays, you should be able to reach the Safeguarding Lead. This should be signposted on the school website or in communications to parents.
You are 100% doing the right thing in contacting... in school we have it drummed into us never to single out children for special treatment, no matter how well intended.
Even if this person is just very misguided and naive around children, they need to be trained and dealt with or they shouldn't be allowed into schools.

We are expressly told never ever to keep secrets with a child or encourage them to do so. This is ringing alarm bells.

I speak from experience of a serious safeguarding case. Diocese safeguarding officer did everything within his power to rubbish the allegations, including interviewing alleged victim with perpetrator present. It happens! Fortunately others protect children.

Maybe you do have that experience but everyone is "innocent until proven guilty".
Peoples' lives have been wrecked and reputations destroyed by false allegations.

"Innocent until proven guilty" seems to escape lots of people in the UK.
That Radio Presenter was sacked last week over 10 year old allegations that the police didn't press charges with.

The Police don't "press charges" the CPS do. (Crown Prosecution Service)
The job of the police is to gather evidence and submit it to the CPS who determine the validity of the allegations. It is they who decide if the evidence will secure a conviction, and if it won't they have to let the accused go.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here?

Lots of people seem to miss "innocent until proven guilty" and lots of people never seem able to shake off allegations once they have been made.

Thank you for being suitably incredulous on the OPs behalf. I was merely offering to help if needed.

She knows their name

Could you clarify whether the person who gave your child money is a man or a woman.

I haven't RTFT so apologies if this has already been mentioned, but I suggest you hold on to the £5 note, preferably in an envelope or a plastic bag, as it might be needed as evidence (fingerprints etc) in a further investigation.

You absolutely need to inform the school because this is a huge safeguarding issue. Even if it is innocent, the school need to be aware. At best, as a person in a position of trust, he should know better.
Welldone to your daughter for telling you.

@LouH1981 OP has already done that.

Agree with most posters - it need to be reported to
safeguarding.
At best, the vicar was misguided, at worse he’s a paedophile- they do lurk in plain sight. I’ve never quite got over DCs’ teacher being convicted (outwardly cool and great teacher, inwardly downloading CSE).

Call police immediately

Oh, I worked with one and I never suspected a thing.

My high school RE teacher was a paedophile (convicted) and its so sad because he was always the nice teacher that I felt safe with. You really just never know!

So true. I chatted to this man regularly in the staff room. He was interesting and funny. There was a group of us who had coffee together at break - not one of us suspected. He never acted suspiciously around the students.
It emerged that he had images of children on his computer. We all felt sick. We kept saying, how did we not know? But we didn't, he gave no clue.

Ugh thats awful tbh, sends shivers down my spine that they live and work among as and we just have no idea. What a disgusting human being. My teacher was caught texting a vulnerable girl in year 8, had been molesting her on school grounds, meeting up in parks etc, and had planned to meet for sex at his home. He was like 60 odd its actually so repulsive I will never understand what goes on in their sick heads 😐

Oh my god. Sick. I've never forgotten this guy, it was utterly vile. I sometimes think about him and kick myself that I had no idea, but I genuinely didn't. My radar for these things is good, and I've reported teachers who have concerned me, but this guy? Nada.

Contact the safeguarding officer for the Diocese, they will be available during the school holidays and should have publicly available contact details

I'm shocked. This is our secret sounds so alarming...

Tell the school immediately, best case scenario is this guy is simply acting unreasonably but he needs to learn about safeguarding and that's beneficial to him in the first place.

Worst case scenario, I don't wanna tell. Really outrageously alarming. Scared to even think about it.

I would think it’s very unlikely to be a vicar and if it is you should 1000pc report.
They received extensive safeguarding training,
as well as training around the psychological impact they may have on others. Ie, vulnerable people seeing them as an authority/ criminals trying to manipulate them etc.
They will absolutely know that giving money to children and asking them to keep secrets is something they should never do - especially if they want to to stay employed!

I know that DBS means they haven’t been caught. That’s not relevant to this. Also, a Pp pointed out that volunteers don’t have to pay - yet you’re banging on about it still.