CRB Check for School Governor

[HopingForTheBest]

Hello,

I have name changed for this.

I am considering to apply for a school governor position in ds's primary school and I am worried about CRB checks due to past SS involvements.

In one of the SS involvement, our child was a toddler and when I was at work he was with his dad and apparently fell at home whilst running and bumped his face on the toy on the floor, so I found her with bruises on the face when I arrived home in the evening and the following day I naively took her to toddler playgroup as I always had done, with a clear conscience, as I did not think we had done anything wrong and the staff did not like the look of bruises in his face and called SS. I was devastated, never expected it. It was my first brush with them. Then we (both myself and ex-h who was in charge of ds when the accident happened at home) had been interviewed, and then after that the case was dropped. They believed us that we did not harm our child although the bruises did not seem to be "consistent" with the fall. I genuinely believe our child had a genuinel fall and got bruised.

The second time was due to domestic violence issue, when unemployed ex-h came home drunk and angry on New Years Eve 4 years ago, and attacked me, I called police. After police coming to our house, SS got involved due to small child in the house and house was rather untidy as well which made them suspect my ability to keep the house in order. After SS involvement, and subsequent SS visit to our house, they made enquiries with various people such as the facilitators of the parenting class that I used to go happily and voluntarily on my own initiative, and with our childminder etc and we were cleared / case was dropped but still, I am sure these past events are firmly registered against my name and will come up in CRB check.

I have divorced ds's dad after the domestic violence incident and we do not live together anymore (but he only moved out few months ago, I could not make him go before that).

I believe I am a really good mum, my child is my world, I work part time but at the same time we have an outstanding childminder when I am at work for school holidays etc. I really want to go for this School Governor post as I really want to be involved in my child's education in the best way that I can. But if these bad records from my past are likely to come up, then I do not want to do it. Even if they come up to verify that I was cleared, still I don?t want them to come up.

Other than these, I do not have any criminal convictions or anything slightly criminal in any way shape or form.

I could not find any telephone helpline etc online or anywhere to ask this question so my only option is to ask mumsnet.
Can anyone please give me some ideas?
Thank you.

The only way to find out is to go ahead and see what the crb turns up. If there is something untoward in the additional notes at the bottom which are comments at the chief police officers discretion (in truth something written by a jobsworth who is covering their own back so they don't get into trouble because they may have covered up something) then you can send in a form explaining the circumstances and they should be able to remove comments.
You get a copy of the crb report as well as any employer etc
Unfortunately there are many people who have comments on their crb forms as a result of someone making up stories about them (often teachers who have done nothing but a child/student has said something stupid and the innocent teacher finds themselves out of a job)

Make sure you give full information on these events in your application form.

A CRB cannot automaticly ban you, it is up to the school to use the information to decide if you are suitable.

If you have fully disclosed and it is how you describe it then it shouldn't have any effect on you getting the position. It's when you don't disclose that problems arise.

Thank you leosdad and inspireddance.

I am intimidated with the prospect of possibly having to explain myself to my child's school / headteacher... about these past incidents... I'd rather be anonymous, the way I am now. I don't know who will have access to these info in the school and / or who will get to know about it, so I will constantly be paranoid about talking to anyone in the school office / teachers / teaching assistants... I know, I am far too sensitive and wimp and embarrassed too.

Perhaps I should just leave things alone as they are, instead of stirring things.

crb should be confidential to the chair of governors as they are separate from the schools administration any breach of this is a disciplinary matter

ps being a governor will not make any difference to your childs education

leosdad, thank you again, I do appreciate your replies.

Does it mean that:

1- CRB results will be revealed to the chair of governors, not to the head teacher?

2- If CRB flags up any negative info about me due to SS involvement, I will have to explain this to chair of governors only? Head teacher will not know about it?

3- What is the role of headteacher in all these? The parent governor info letter came from the head teacher so I was under the impression that the headteacher was the point of contact for appointmet etc. Am I wrong?

4- Who does actually select the parent governor from the lots of candidates? Is it not the headteacher? Is it the chair of governors?

Sorry, lots of questions, maybe simple to answer...but I genuinely do not know anything about all these procedures.

Thanks again.

Do CRB checks have SS involvement on them? I had no idea rhis happened.

I don't know the answers to your first three questions above, but I recently applied to be a governor at DV's school. If there are more people than places then parents vote, for a parent governor role. I was not asked for a CRB check when I applied - had I been successful then I presume I would have been.

The headteacher is just point of contact for applications.
The candidate is proposed and seconded by another parent and sometimes has to put forward reasons why they want to be governor. The candidates are then elected by secret ballot by the parents. The prospective governor then goes through all the administration before actually being appointed including the crb.
The headteacher does not select the governors it is actually the opposite way round in many cases - the governors employ the headteacher
Under the proposed new system you would then get the crb back first to check

Thanks a million...I do appreciate that..

Let me re-word everything, please correct me if I am wrong, so that I can be fully aware of the procedure:

There is only one vacant position. Application deadline is next week but definitely there will be more than one candidate applying. So it will be an election to select one applicant only.

I understand that if I decide to apply, I will fill out the application form with a brief personal statement, and give it to the school and then I will be put through a secret voting...

So far so good.

My problem is to do with CRB disclosure. It may come as me being suitable, then all will be fine.

My question is: if disclosure does not come as clean record due to SS involvement, then what happens? Will I be asked to explain myself to chair of governors? Or will will my application be just dismissed?

Just would like to know the alternative scenarios so that it will not be a scary-unknown procedure for me.

Thank you again...

Depends on what the CRB record shows, if all is as if you say.

The governers could appoint you anyway, as what you've said has no bearing on the post.

Call in you for a more through talk, although if you have declared the SS ahead of time this will not be needed.

If not all is as it appears on here, dismiss you based on unsuitability.

Chances are they will only CRB check you if you are voted in to get the position. The details of the CRB check should only be made available to the govenours not anyone else and certainly not parents.

Don't worry. The SS bit would only be on the additional information bit, which depending on the person doing the checks at the police HQ may not even be completed.

I believe the new guidelines on who needs to be CRB checked suggest that Governors don't need to be checked unless they will have regular unsupervised contact with the children in the school. It is not always required. Based on that assumption, you don't have to submit to one and the school does not have the right to force you - however, they could avoid the problem and just not pick you. There are plenty of writers and speakers who refused to submit to CRB checks in order to do talks in schools. That's how this issue first became highlighted. Moreover, the idea that you might not apply to be a Governor because of this is dreadful and runs counter to the Big Society initiative of the government - the CRB checks are to protect children not become a barrier to people who have been falsely accused and then cleared in the past. The CRB checks should not be a stick to beat people who want to get involved in their community. It is great you want to be involved. Go forward with your head held high.

CRB only checks for criminal records, not SS involvement. You were cleared of everything anyway, so it wont come up on a CRB check.

I would be asking whether there is a need for any CRB check. As Thoughtaboutit says the rules have recently been relaxed and there is no actual legal requirement to have a CRB check if you are a governor.
However if the governing body have a policy of requesting a CRB check then you do not have any choice over it, you have to have one done.
It should certainly not be an issue as and until you have been elected by the parent body as it will be only then that any CRB check will be asked for.

There are many cases when a CRB check is not required but many headteachers will ask for it as they do not understand the differences - even to a point of asking for it for being one of a group of parents walking children to an outside venue as a one off event. Needless to say I could not be bothered doing this (although I have had the CRB check to work with almost the same group of children somewhere outside of school!!)
Go for it if it is something you really want to do. Also getting a clear check will relieve you of the worries about past events.

I believe the new guidelines on who needs to be CRB checked suggest that Governors don't need to be checked unless they will have regular unsupervised contact with the children in the school

This is my understanding as well. If you are not CRB checked you can't work unsupervised with children - but you can still be a governor.

I think this is the law on it:

Disqualifications from Governorship

A governor must be aged 18 or over at the time of their election or appointment.

A person is disqualified from being a governor or associate member if they:

• have failed to attend the governing body meetings for a continuous period of six months, beginning with the date of the first meeting they failed to attend, without the consent of the governing body. This provision does not apply to the headteacher

• have a mental disorder and have been detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
  are bankrupt

• are subject to a disqualification order under the company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 or to an order made under Section 429(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986

• have been removed from the office of charity trustee or trustee for a charity by the Charity Commissioners or High Court on grounds of any misconduct or mismanagement, or under Section 7 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 from being concerned in the management or control of any body

• are included in the list of teachers or workers prohibited or restricted from working with children or young people

• are disqualified from working with children

• are disqualified from being an independent school proprietor, teacher or employee by the Secretary of State

• have been sentenced to 3 months or more in prison (without the option of a fine) in the 5 years before becoming a governor or since becoming a governor

• have at any time received a prison sentence of 2½ years or more in the 20 years before becoming a governor

• have been fined for causing a nuisance or disturbance on school premises during the 5 years prior to or since the appointment or election as a governor

• refuse to an application being made to the Criminal Records Bureau for a criminal records certificate

• has at any time received a prison sentence of 5 years or more.

Hope this helps but I do know someone in a similar situation who managed to find work in a school kitchen. Because it was her ex that was the problem she was OK and her CRB check was clear.