Playground supervisors: are they checked/trained?

[Nutribullet0]

An incident has happened at my child's school, which could be something, or could be nothing.

Are playground monitors trained in what is appropriate/inappropriate behaviour with children ? Who is responsible for this, the school? Are any qualifications necessary to be a playground supervisor?

Thanks.

Playground supervisors will be DBS (CRB) checked but they are unlikely to have specific qualifications. They will have had "safeguarding" and possibly first aid training.

... unless they are supply staff which is quite possible. DBS is best you can hope for with supply staff.

School behaviour policy will set out expected behaviour. Do you want to say what happened?

DBS
Safeguarding
School behaviour policy
Several at our school have had play leader training

All our lunchtime supervisors are the teaching assistants. Myself included. So yes we are more than qualified to handle these situations as they arise.

OP, I'm an SfLA in Scotland and work in classes supporting primary children at teacher's direction. I also supervise at play\lunch time. We all (teachers and SfLAs) receive training about managing conflict, or incidents, and support staff are first aid trained.

I would add that, with the best will in the world, it is just not possible to see every incident that may cause injury or distress to a child. We do, as a school, deal fairly with incidents that are brought to our attention; working with children, parents and staff to resolve issues. We have outside climbing apparatus and each class has a fixed time to play on it during each week with an SfLA supervising. Even then, in a split second, an injury can occur.

What is the incident you are concerned about, OP?

It seems from the OPs post that it is the lunchtime supervisors behaviour that is the concern not the children's.

The lunchtime supervisors at my dc schools were all parents.
They were crb checked and had to follow the policies and procedures of the school.
occasionally one would be recently trained in first aid, but this isn't essential as there has to be a fully trained certificated first aider in a school anyway, so there is always somebody who meets these requirements.
Quite often my dc would complain about the unfairness of one or two of them, but it was always something small, so I didn't complain.
Can you tell us a bit more about what happened?

It varies greatly from school to school. Some have mandatory training in Behaviour, Safeguarding, Confidentiality etc, others don't.

All lunchtime staff where I work are DBS checked first aid trained, and attend a Safeguarding course. We have regular meetings where we discuss behaviour management and also drum in the message that we all have a duty of care to the children, and have to behave in an appropriate manner and report anyone who doesn't. If you have a concern, it should be raised with the head who can decide whether it is something that is appropriate or not or that needs investigation.

DBS checked and a couple have first aid training. It is a hard role to recruit and retain staff for where I am.

Thank you so much everyone for your replies.

The behaviour in question is with a young supervisor, male, who is taking far too much of an interest in girls in my daughter's primary school, in my opinion. The headmistress is now aware of the situation, but facts are unfolding that his behaviour could be suspicious. nothing seems to have happened per se with my daughter, but it is sending a shudder of terror through me, hence I was asking about checks on staff.

My friend was a playground supervisor. dRB checked, handed papers with policies etc and that was it. No training of any sort.

I think it is very difficult. Suspicions like this could destroy an innocent man's life or it could prevent a tragedy. If the head teacher is aware, leave it to them and stay out of it.

OP anyone employed by the school in a position that would give them access to children would require a DBS check.
I agree with odyssey stay out of it!

Not all lunchtime supervisors are DBS checked. I am a social worker and as part of a child protection investigation I worked on, discovered that a lunchtime supervisor wasn't checked. This didn't appear to be a discrepancy, the school just didn't check these staff. The head teacher will be able to tell you though if you ask.

If they aren't then the school is breaking the law 3kids3

The statutory doc Keeping Children Safe in School says that an enhanced DBS is required for staff who will have unsupervised access to children.

So did you report it, 3kids? The HT in your scenario is responsible for ensuring that staff are appropriately checked.

but a DBS check is utterly useless if they have not been caught yet

• use instinct and ask questions, do not just rely on paperwork

Don't you think that happens too? Interviews and references ?

Absolutely, but there is a case that has hit the news round here : a teacher in his early 30s clocked up offences at 4 schools before being suspended.

Unfortunately no check is going to pick up someone who has not done anything wrong. Can we honestly exclude people just because someone doesn't "trust" them ...
If someone has actually committed an act against a child as in your example there should be no way they can get another job working with children. Were the acts reported or brushed under the carpet!

mrz
No idea - the enquiries are ongoing
www.dailyecho.co.uk/archive/2015/04/03/12870619.Teacher_who_worked_at_several_Hampshire_schools_charged_with_a_catalogue_of_sex_offences_against_kids/

Yes temporary anonymity: It was part of a (s.47)child protection investigation and so the local authority were aware.

If you are worried OP and don't think the head is taking appropriate action you need to ring children's services and report your concerns. They will take information from you over the phone and decide whether it should be followed up.

The assessment teams are very good at asking the right questions to make a decision, so you needn't worry about someone innocent being destroyed! Any decision made be based on evidence.