Police checked to accompany your child and their class on a school trip?

[Carla]

I was shocked when my sister told me about this. Her ds's (8) school will not allow any parent to accompany their class without first having been police checked. Consequently, they're always short of volunteers.

I explained this to dd2's teacher, who simply said 'Unfortunately, that's the way it's going'. Anyone else heard of this? What do you think?

Police checks are a requirement here if you go into school to help in any capacity. It's easy enough to get it done and the council pays, of course.

police checks do not last for 3 years. they are a valid document from the moment you get one - therefore they are valid at that particular moment or day in time. some organisations may require you to have a police check every 3 years - that is a different thing. the police checks that i have seen usually come with a statement tothe effect that they are only valid for that partic moment in time.

police checks are required around vulnerable groups - like children the elderly and people with special needs - and only when dealing with them alone.

rules with schools may be different than that of volunteers who help out at a youth club or volunteers who organise activities for their communities like trips out for the kids in theholidays - if you are not police checked you cannot be alone with the children or vulnerable group however you can still volunteer as long as you are with another crb checked person.

crb checks do have to be paid for and the cost is usually met by the school or organisation which requires you to have one.

they come in differing forms too. from not very indepth to kinda indepth.
many people do not want to have one as they may not be registered to vote and therefore it may take some time to trace them. they may have other minor convictions that they would not like to share with other people. manypeople are misinformed about what will be checked for in a police check.

In our (independent) school, parent trip helpers are not police checked. However, usually the helpers are the class reps on the fundraising committe and we (the committee members) are insured for which certain written declarations are made.

Thanks for that clarification custy, now I can see why our school does not see them as essential (the first four adults on any day-trip are CRB-checked as they are school employees). You've put my mind at rest.

I have a friend who runs a Brownie pack and she is CRB checked

This is the case at our school, even for parents helping with reading

found this link, which seems relevant 006 here

found the official link here

YUP - I wasn't allowed to accompany DS to a nursery panto (I wasn't sure if he'd like it & didn't want him feeling scared). The class had a 15 min walk to the theatre. I couldn't walk with the rest of the kids but I could take DS separately (5 paces behind?) & meet them there if I booked by own ticket ???!!!! We didn;t bother in the end.

as far as I am aware a police check only lasts 3 months - I started teaching p/t at a 6th form college last sept and had to be rechecked - enhanced - despite having been checked already for my secondary school teaching AND also done quite recently by my diocese as I help on our church creche.Also, certain institutions will make you pay yourself - the diocese paid but the college tried to get me to pay the £35 or whatever it was, but I refused and they agreed to foot the bill themselves.Their policy though is to get staff to pay for their own check which is outrageous IMO.So even if a parent had been checked, strictly speaking the check would be rendered invalid quite soon afterwards. The whole thing is a mess anyway....

sorry to diagree - but they are valid for 3 years, but only fot the event or orgainsation who have requested it - I've been responsible in an organisation for doing them.

Message withdrawn

Used to Police Check volunteers for the charity Home Start for a living (well and other stuff!)

Police checks are dead the moment they're issued. There is no follow up, so you can go right out and offend and no-one would know. Any new group should in theory get a new one, though they don't always.

Sorry me again.

Q RE: Rainbow Leaders etc- Am a Rainbow leader and CRB checked. Assistants are too, unless parents or similar (not leong term they would get done) and someone without a check is NEVER EVER alone with even one child. It just doesn't happen.

i've had a police check because of the time i put in at our nursery (more contact with manager than children) and it didn't cost anything.

Bundle, are you sure it didn't cost anything?

Do you mean it didn't cost you personally anything? Surely your organisation had to pay the £35 for it?

Do any organisations get it done free? I don't think we do, and we're a registered charity.

I think checks are done on different levels with different costs. Paid employment checks do cost, but I think that checks on volunteers are free. Have a look here

"Each Disclosure will show the date on which it was printed, therefore, the older the Disclosure the less reliable it is. However, there will be no expiry date."

www.disclosure.gov.uk/index.asp?fuseaction=applying2

just to clear up the length of time it is valid for. as i said -individual organisations may require you to renew yours every 3 years as standard practice - however the document itself can only be valid on the date of printing - as what you do in the days following can not be recorded can it?

Exactly Custardo.

Although I've always worked on the basis that if someone has been convicted of a really serious crime in the time that has passed between their CRB check and now, they would be in prison.

(Wouldn't they??? - perhaps not!)

I go in to school to listen to group reading and have just filled out the forms. They took about 10 mins (and then another half hour to rummage around to find the relevant 3 pieces of identification). I was not asked to pay a fee. School said they when I get a reply can I let them have a copy for their records. As far as I was aware, anyone going into school or helping on trips has to be checked now.

My husband is a CRB countersignatory. He has to pay to have his staff checked but as I was a volunteer working for nothing mine was free.

I had to have 2 done within a month for 2 different volunteer posts as they are only as good as the day they are done and any organsiation worth its salt wil not rely on an old check.

tigi that's probably true for state schools. In my child's school it is the case that adults cannot be alone with children unless police checked.