School trips and volunteers

[AngelsWithSilverWings]

I'm really interested to know how your school manages school trips. At our school you can only volunteer if you have a CRB check carried out by the school. You only get one of those if you commit to working one morning or afternoon per week as a classroom helper.

Added to this the school won't allow you to help on your own child's trips!

So this morning there are desperate pleas for crb checked volunteers for a trip later this week.

Are all schools like this?

Parents don't go on school trips at our primary school, and they aren't allowed to help out in their own child's class.

I heard that the rule about not having your own child in your group (on trips) was because if there was an emergency your natural instinct would be to prioritise your own child rather than the group as a whole.

We have a DBS check (or CRB check) and can go on trips with our dc's class - why on earth would you volunteer to take another class! Our dc can be in our group too - unless they or you specifically don't want that to happen for some reason.

Bookie, why is that? With the new rules the individual is responsible for their own check (ie no work for the school) and if it's for a volunteering role there's no charge, so I don't know why they school would want to restrict who is checked.

I also don't really get the thing where schools (including ours) say you don't need to be checked if you won't be on your own with children. In the case of a parent volunteer or, say, drama specialist, this may well be the case in normal circumstances, but anyone who has manipulated their way into a school for sinister purposes, once in, would easily find away to be on their own with a child if they wanted to. IMO everyone should be checked, especially as it's now so easy and free for volunteers. It used to be time consuming and take a long time for the reports to come back but that's no longer the case.

DBS checks for regular volunteers, not for parents who help on trips - but then those parents won't be left alone with any dc on trips. Your school sounds quite rigid! Plus we get to go on school trips with our dc's class and group.

Exactly the same as CocktailQueen.

Frontier - so are these new checks free and transferable? Mine is a CRB check that the school had to pay for - which is why the school had to limit them and make them conditional on doing a session a week as a classroom helper.

My friend would love to volunteer but she can't commit to the regular sessions as she has a younger child at home.

The school never had to pay if you were volunteering. I'm a volunteer coach at a sports club, my CRB check never cost them. My CRB check for school did because I'm an employee there.

Yes, as I understand it the DBS checks are transferable, which wasn't the case with CRB. That said, any check is only good on the day it was done, so a prudent school may insist on a new up to date one. They do have to check ID

Thank you - I've looked up the new DBS checks and sent a link to my friend. She is going to see the school secretary later today.

Our school said it cost £60 and that's why they insisted on the weekly commitment!

But then this is also a school that doesn't give free fruit to the infants or free milk to under 5's and offers no explanation as to why that is!

Angels- take the loo breaks and the sunscreen thing up with th governors- they are both bonkers.

DBS is supposed to be transferable ,but the reality is some places want you to do it again - my DS has had 2 done in the last year for 2 different grammar schools ,although the local primary were happy to use them when he went there for a week . He has had to pay on both occasions .

I should do really ( I'm particularly concerned about the sunscreen rules) but our school is very good at just swatting away criticism and you just get a bit put off complaining.

DD only has another year before going into the Juniors which has a different head teacher and much more relaxed rules about both these issues.

No DBS checks for trip helpers - but we are discouraged from taking them to the toilet / being alone. I go with DD's class but not her group - mainly because she has a 1-1 TA, although our teacher never puts parents with their children. Sometimes it's because if your child is messing around both parent and teacher can feel awkward telling them off in they are in the parent's group. Far easier if you have clear delineation.

I've also helped on other class trips if they are short of parents.

Well my friend went in to ask about getting a check done so that she can volunteer for trips next year and was knocked back when she told them that she couldn't commit to a weekly session in a classroom.

Meanwhile the school trip has been cancelled. Such a shame.

Dd's school don't use parents on trips they use their own TA's instead. As there are more than thirty TA's there are always enough to cover even foundation stage trips.
Parent volunteers carry out particular roles in school not necessarily in their own child's class.

That sounds crazy, Angels. I bet if they let people help on their own child's class trips they would have tons more volunteers. DD's school has nowhere near thirty TAs. Pretty much all school trips are covered by parents, and they have at least two trips a term for each class - DD has actually had five trips out this term. She's been to the Natural History Museum, a local wildlife reserve, the Houses of Parliament, a local art gallery for a print-making workshop and a local church. I've helped on four of those.

We seem very fortunate there are lots of staff and so parent volunteers aren't needed. There are 3 TA's in dd's y6 class (24 children) 12 classes and at least two in each class, then lots more in foundation and even more floating TA's who do specific programmes. It said 37 in the last lot of school statistics but I can't find the current statistics.

regular helpers are checked, occasional helpers aren't, we just have to sign a disclaimer type form.

It really is crazy. This is a school with 120 children in each year group. They would be awash with parent helpers if they relaxed the rules.

We don't have many TAs - reception classes have a full time one each but the other years have part time ones ( usually full time staff but split between different classes throughout the week)

We usually ask for 2 or 3 parental helpers if available, though numbers depend on how many free adult places are available from the venue we are visiting ad how much room there is on the coach. It isn't first come first on trip though - we make a judgement of who to take with us if we have too many volunteers.

We do not ask for checks as parents are never left with children unsupervised, not allowed to accompany children to the toilet, etc. They are simply there as an extra pair of eyes and an extra pair of arms, not as a necessary part of numbers/ratios.

I would imagine a school would struggle to get parental helpers if they will not allow parents to go on trips with their own child's class - not sure you would get very many volunteers at all.

Our school prefers to use the regular in-school helpers for trips as these are CRB checked and are known to the staff and children better and will approach parents directly to ask if they are available. But it doesn't insist on it and will use others if it can't get enough 'regulars' to help.

You can definitely go on your own child's trip, very rare that parents are willing to go on someone else's.

Different teachers seem to have different policies re whether your child can be in your group (or maybe it depends on the individual child). Personally I always request my child is in a different group, I think it is better for her and for me.

I think I get asked quite a lot partly because I tend to be available, but also because I am happy to tell other children off if need be. I also know the road crossing policies etc.
(tbh Some parents are as much use as a chocolate teapot. They hold their own child's hand and chat to them, and seem to pay no attention as to whether the rest of their group is jumping off the kerb into the road.)

I think I get asked quite a lot partly because I tend to be available, but also because I am happy to tell other children off if need be.

Haha, this is me, too. I am pretty good at keeping some of the more challenging children in line without me getting frazzled or them getting upset, and so am popular as a helper as it means they can leave one or two of the slightly wilder ones with me and be confident that they won't do anything embarrassing or dangerous.

Angels, your school does sound more than a little bonkers. The lack of free fruit and milk alone is staggering. Have you asked them why this is?

What a depressing thread. No criticism of any of the posters here, but what a bunch of back covering risk averse smts.