School covid volunteers will not be DBS checked

[jomartin281271]

Schools minister told the media this morning that the volunteers they are recruiting to carry out the covid checks at school won't be DBS checked. So they're letting total amateurs who could have an unsavoury history carry out a test that in some rare cases has caused serious injury. Well done government. Another botched job that is doomed to fail.

Are the people at covid testing centres DBS checked? I don't see how it is much different to taking your child to a testing centre
Yes. They require an enhanced DBS check. The process has been speeded up since March to help recruitment, but yes they do.

You do realise that all those parent volunteers who go on school trips, listen to groups reading, helping out around the school aren’t necessarily checked?
That’s because they don’t meet the criteria. It’s a detailed and specific criteria. Anyone carrying out this procedure with regard to testing (whether they’re doing the actual swabbing or not, they have access to children and their data) does meet the criteria. And it’s being overridden.

You only need a dbs check if you have regular, unsupervised access to young or vulnerable people.
Organisations can be fined for carrying out unnecessary DBS checks. You can't just dbs everyone....

I wish them luck tbh when it comes round to trying to swab mine. At 14 he can make the decision for himself regardless of what I consent to.

He doesn’t understand why he cannot do it himself as he’s already done them at home. Same with he puts something up his nose when snot is stuck.

At secondary they could have followed the rest instructions, watched a video and all sat in their classes to do them. Most secondary schools it’s the teachers moving around. And doesn’t morning registration in secondary take about 30 minutes before they start first period.

Does anyone know if students can do them themselves?

Or maybe we don’t know yet

What data do you think the volunteers will have access to when doing the tests?

@MarshaBradyo

Does anyone know if students can do them themselves?

Or maybe we don’t know yet

We don’t know yet. I’m not getting worked up about this. It’s the government. Testing in schools was a part of getting out of lockdown 1 iirc. I’m waiting for the batshit last minute announcement around January 3rd tbh.

For all we know the volunteers could be a lot of ex nhs staff. Just like they did back in March.

You only need a dbs check if you have regular, unsupervised access to young or vulnerable people
That’s only true if it’s not a ‘specified establishment’, and a school is a specified establishment. Also, although Nick Gibb said volunteers, these jobs are already being advertised as paid positions. Anyone being paid, even if they are supervised is ‘not’ excepted from the requirement.

If a kid sees someone from school they assume they are ‘safe’ - it’s not about in school, it’s the assumptions that are made once they have been in a role in school. From parents and the kids - that’s the issue

all sat in their classes to do them. Most secondary schools it’s the teachers moving around.

No, pupils are still in different groups for Maths, French, Economics etc.

And doesn’t morning registration in secondary take about 30 minutes before they start first period

No. There’s no morning registration at many schools, because of the need for staggered timetables.

Oh my god.

Has the world gone mad? You cannot let unchecked volunteers into schools. This isn’t mum helping out in the cake stand? That DBS checks ( I quote) ‘don’t mean anything?

I am simply in shock that any rational adult believes this is a good idea.

I’m stepping away from this thread and I hope those who agree with me do the same. Let the deluded, who don’t have a clue about how schools work (just because you visited on opening day don’t make you an expert!) argue amongst themselves.

I can't understand why parents aren't being given the kits to test the children at home (in the same way NHS workers test themselves at home). The kits are very easy to use.

Ian Huntley would have passed a DBS though as he didn’t have any previous convictions, even though social services and the police had been aware of him in the past. He is a good example of how a DBS isn’t a guarantee you are employing someone safe to be with children.

The DBS checking system came about after the Ian Huntley case, so he certainly didn’t have one. If I remember rightly there were concerns (possibly cautions but my memory on this is sketchy) which if they had been known about would have raised questions about his suitability to work with children but because he had moved about a bit they were never linked up. The DBS system was out in place to prevent it happening again.

If volunteers are supervised there’s no need for a DBS, roles that need DBS checks are relatively limited.

Or when a school takes on a new member of staff many start before the DBS clears as part of the probation period?

Bloody hell! Not in my school!!!

This is secondary we are talking about. They don't tend to attract an army of ready, willing and available parent volunteers.

If parents refused this testing, it would really help

I will be refusing. We are a vulnerable household and will stick with isolating,

If volunteers are supervised there’s no need for a DBS, roles that need DBS checks are relatively limited

I don’t know the legal situation but I volunteered in school and was supervised at all times (I now teach). The school did a DBS on me prior to allowing me to step foot inside.

@AcornAutumn

If parents refused this testing, it would really help.

I am very uncomfortable with random volunteers carrying out a test like this ony children.

The government are a disgrace.

@Piggyinblankets

Or when a school takes on a new member of staff many start before the DBS clears as part of the probation period?

Bloody hell! Not in my school!!!

This is secondary we are talking about. They don't tend to attract an army of ready, willing and available parent volunteers.

It really does happen. I was working in school before my CRB had cleared. I wasn't left unsupervised with students.

If there's a backlog not all positions can wait 8 weeks for someone to start. And of course, unless agency, schools and other places, don't accept the previous CRB. Some positions really do mean immediate start!!

CRB is an old system. We absolutely do not have staff begin without DBS , unless they are under total supervision (including photocopier and toilet visits)

A neighbouring school failed Ofsted for that breach.

How will these volunteers be insured? What happens if a child is abused? Who will be deemed liable? What is one of these volunteers accidentally damages a child in some way whilst carrying out testing? Who will be liable for that?

They will never be alone with children so why would you expect them to be dbs checked?
A lot of people don't want to be dns checked, not because they are nasty individuals, but because it's quite invasive.

I mean to be on our school governors you have to be dbs checked, despite never being around the children . I can understand why our school is struggling to fill the roles.

You only need to look at my GSs nose for it to bleed. I've been called to school to collect him with teacher in a panic at the amount of blood. He's had it cauterised twice but not made much difference.

He had a nose bleed when having a sleep over with me, he didn't even mention it the next morning as he is so used to it. I walked into the bedroom to a scene that looked like something from a horror film, I don't know how a child can have that much blood.

I suppose I'd better be on standby when I get the phone call asking me to get to school fast, I get the call as parents working.

@FiggyPuddingFiend

From my understanding of the rules:

1. If you are paying them - they need a DBS as they are working in a regulated place of work
2. If they are performing the tests on children - they need a DBS as they are carrying out a regulated activity (medical/healthcare)
3. If they are a volunteer in a different role, cleaning the bays, admin, processing results - they need to be supervised by someone with a DBS at all times, which seems pointless as surely the person supervising could just do that...

Your understanding is wrong.

The only miniscule risk would be if a pedo volunteered and found some way to lead the kids away to a private area and do something nasty away from staff supervision. When I was 12 I was sexually abused by a doctor, my mother was in the same room and didn't notice a thing. I didn't even understand what he did but he broke my hymen and I had blood stained knickers when I got home. It is amazing what people can do in plain sight, I'm not suggesting they could do what my GP did, the doctor who looked after my mother when she was expecting me, but a quick grope seems quite possible to me.

@ancientgran

The only miniscule risk would be if a pedo volunteered and found some way to lead the kids away to a private area and do something nasty away from staff supervision. When I was 12 I was sexually abused by a doctor, my mother was in the same room and didn't notice a thing. I didn't even understand what he did but he broke my hymen and I had blood stained knickers when I got home. It is amazing what people can do in plain sight, I'm not suggesting they could do what my GP did, the doctor who looked after my mother when she was expecting me, but a quick grope seems quite possible to me.

I'm sorry about what happened to you. But you were presumably in a more vulnerable position and state of undress for the doctor to do that. These teens encounter adults every day outside school who aren't DBS checked, so in my view the risk of being groped at school is similar to the risk of being groped at the bus stop or the shopping centre. In fact its probably lower due to the number of witnesses and supervision in schools.