School with outstanding DRB checks

[LucyLocket0]

Hi
I hope someone can help us. I've been having sleepless nights since discovering 2 days ago that the public school my daughter attends has not carried out all the necessary DRB checks. This has come to light as one of the parents who also teaches there on a part time basis has told me that she is having to badger the school to get her DRB checked but to no avail. She does spend time with the children without the supervision of a DRB checked person.
My DD only started reception this year. She was at the nursery attached to the school last year and both we and she were incredibly happy with the school.
This year, aside from the quality of DD's teacher, it has gone from bad to worse. The director of the school sweeps serious concerns and problems aside with blatant lies. The director has hired a school secretary who gossips, and no money is being spent on new resources. the director, however, has turned up recently with a flashy, albeit 2nd hand, car. We have done a bit of research on the Board of Trustees and found out that they are friends of hers.
My DD's school is a lovely school, amazing, in fact but this woman is driving it into the ground.
Is there anything we can do to get rid of her? She seems to have surrounded herself with allies so that she can continue with impunity.
It really must be a last resort to take my daughter out of this school, she is thriving. It took us a long time to find this school. If my daughter is put into an ordinary school she will be labeled as disruptive and written off. Here they use her energy, enthusiasm and curious nature to benefit her. I need this school not the woman running it. Is there anything we can do?

You need to contact ofsted with your concerns

How long has the director been there?

Some schools are very much about the head, and your DD is thriving in the one under this head, then you may not want change.

The situation you describe is has enough red flags that I'd be looking at other schools.

If there are no DBS checks, there is a problem. Contact Ofsted, as pp advises.

I get the feeling that this maybe a private school. Is it a charitable status or privately owned maybe by the head?
If it s charitable status lack of check I would raise with the bursar (IME) this is the person who actually gets stuff done, failing that the governors.
If the head owns the school you will have to raise it with the head, but don't be surprised if you get a like it or lump it attitude, not gift I know.

You could check their safeguarding policy and follow a complaints procedure as there will be a nominated staff member and governor responsible for this. Ofsted cover Early Years in private schools as well as state so that could be a route. However DBS checks give a false sense of security, they only show up those who have been caught at a particular moment in time. Does your friend perhaps have DBS/CRB from another employment/volunteer role which they have accepted ? If they are reluctant to process (and pay for) new ones and you have a sense that things are tight I'd suspect the school may be struggling financially. You could make a complaint about the head if you have specific examples of lying and dismissing concerns but reality is your life may suddenly become very uncomfortable and you would be likely to go before they are.

Thank you for all the advice.
The Director who is the problem micro manages everything. Complaints go through her, everything has to go through her.
Although it is a private school, it does have Community Interest Status.
I'm trying to do everything BEFORE I go to Ofsted (as they may shut the school) or remove my daughter.
We moved 220 miles to send my daughter to this school, the next nearest school that meets our needs is 80 miles away.
I need to see if I can fix this situation before having to move again or even put her in a school we feel is not going to nurture her educationally.
The rest of the school is lovely, it has such a great atmosphere and DD's teacher is magic (I know of a few parents who have moved their children to this school solely because she is there).
In my head I know Ofstead need contacting but my heart is breaking because everything else is so right and DD is so incredibly happy there.

LIZS: my friend did work at another school previous to this one but has a considerable gap in employment to raise her daughter. The school haven't even asked her for the DBS number so obviously have not carried out the necessary check.
I realise DBS checks are only as good as the day they were issue and only flag convictions but they are at least SOMETHING to help prevent the wrong kind of person getting access to our kids.

In theory they don't actually expire although in practice many employers request a new one every 3-5 years. DBS can be portable but only if you sign up for that (and pay more) at the time. Personally think it is a mistake to rely on one individual teacher to attract and keep you at a school - things change, people retire, get sick , move on - but equally an ambitious head might do the same. If you think she is there for the duration and you have no influence you need to reconsider your options especially as your dd is so young. Is there a Parents' Association you could join and gauge feelings.

LIZS: There are quite a few parents who are unhappy with the current situation. None of the parents have an issue with the quality of teaching, just the opposite, in fact. Many of the parents are bitterly unhappy with the management, or lack thereof, of the school. The Director only became so hands on this year. Last year the school ran just great without her. Many of the parents have been in to see her on an individual basis as she won't see groups of parents. All she does is lie blatantly.
I know what I have to do but my heart is breaking!!!!!
Thank you for your help.

if the school is a private (fee Paying ) school it will either be for profit or have charitable status. (I do not know of a third option). As you mention trustees this suggests that it is a charity. Is the director an employee, or a Trustee? What may have happened in this case is that the Director set up the school originally, got charity status for it, which has significant tax advantages, got friends she trusted as Trustees, friends who woud do as she wanted, which included employing her as Director (and paying a salary). All perfectly legal, and does not have to be in any way unethical.

However the Trustees do have legal obligations, and there should be a chair of the Trustees, with whom, for example OFSTED would communicate if they received a credible warning that child protection was not being observed properly. This could result in a really difficult meeting of the Trustees, but it would not be the first time that a Board of Trustees has had to rein in a chief executive who was actually the founder of the charity!

It is also possible that the school is under financial pressure which is why the Director is being so "hands on" all of a sudden.

Before you decide what route to complain through have a clear in your mind what outcome you want. If you were reassured that relevant checks had been made would that be enough for you to stay or would the apparent nepotism and autonomy of the head still undermine your confidence in the way things are run. I suspect the DBS issue is simply symptomatic of the latter and if head believes herself/himself above the Child Protection guidelines what else is going on. If their safeguarding policy is not self evident you could ring your LA Child Services office for advice as they can spot check.

To me the DRB check seems to be the least of your worries.
What does a DRB say? Simply that they haven't been caught at the time the check goes through.
You might be able to focus on that to push for change as it is something you can prove. But you need to be looking at the other things otherwise they can just say "okay we've done that now, we're fine," which they clearly aren't.

The DBS checks are important but more important are supervisions for all staff each half term where they are explicitly asked if anything has changed that would affect their DBS status.
All new recruits should have one and not be allowed to start work in a school until the check has come back clear... But then 2 months later could commit an offence but it wouldn't be picked up on until their next check 3 years later.