Any midday supervisors out there?

Kaz101

Hi

Had an interview this week for a midday supervisor job in a school. I've been a legal PA for the last 20 years and misguidely thought it was a job anyone could walk into (apologies to all midday supervisors)! I was asked some questions which I hadnt expected and wondered if anyone could give me some tips for next time on what they are looking for. A couple of the questions were:

What would you do if a child had only a packet of crisps in their lunchbox?
What would you do if a child told you they had a secret to tell you that you must keep? What would you do if you saw a child talking to someone through the gates that the child said was their grandmother?

I know these questions were probably about child protection and answered as best I could but wondered what the "correct" answers were...

Anihilator

Kaz101 wrote: »

Hi

Had an interview this week for a midday supervisor job in a school. I've been a legal PA for the last 20 years and misguidely thought it was a job anyone could walk into (apologies to all midday supervisors)! I was asked some questions which I hadnt expected and wondered if anyone could give me some tips for next time on what they are looking for. A couple of the questions were:

What would you do if a child had only a packet of crisps in their lunchbox?
What would you do if a child told you they had a secret to tell you that you must keep? What would you do if you saw a child talking to someone through the gates that the child said was their grandmother?

I know these questions were probably about child protection and answered as best I could but wondered what the "correct" answers were...

I doubt there are correct and wrong answers to such

1) Is likely to be along the lines of whether its a one off incident or regular.
2) Would entirely depend on the secret
3) Would depend on the circumstances and whether the person was likely to be the grandparent and what happened after etc.

Kaz101

Perhaps they just didnt like me then! I answered same as 1, but also said would offer them a hot dinner that day, 2, also answered as yourself but have since learned you must never tell a child you will keep a secret apparently, 3, again as yourself but said would have told the grandparent we discourage people talking to children through the fence and was told that there was a grandparent whose grandchild attended the school who was legally not allowed any contact ... Oh well, Sainsburys may be my next port of call!

busiscoming2

Hi I am a lunchtime supervisor and can remember being asked similar questions at my interview. I think I answered them all with "well it depends on the circumstances and the child"!
1. Yes would have to offer school dinner regardless, that is after checking the sandwiches hadn't fallen out on route.
2. As Anhililator said it does depend on the secret, but if it is a child protection issue (and not what they have bought mum for her birthday) you can't say you will keep that secret.

3. Obviously you would approach the child and adult and ask the child to say goodbye and encourage them back to play. Always report it to the head teacher or whoever it is need to know.

Its all a learning curve and no two incidents are the same.

Cool_Username

Hi, when I started teacher training one of the first things they told us was if a child asks you if they can tell you something but will you keep it a secret you need to tell them that no, you can't assure them of that - because obviously if the secret is along the lines of "my father beats me black and blue" then you have to pass the information to someone who can take action.

So the answer to that question is most definately along the lines of "you can tell me but I can't promise to keep it a secret."

As for the other ones - give the child a school dinner, inform the head teacher so that the price of the meal can be charged back to the parent, if it happens several times again it's the head teacher's responsibility to deal with - and ask the child to finish their conversation with the "grandparent", explain to the adult the reason for doing so (you can't risk a young child in your care talking to random members of the public for obvious reasons and a grandparent would ultimately understand this when it is explained) and again inform the head teacher who can deal with the matter as they see fit.

Hope that helps!

mikey72

You can never tell a child you will keep a secret if you are in a position of trust.
At best you can tell them that if they tell you you will only pass it on if you need to for their sake, but they must tell you before you can make any promise.

Apolonation

Well I think this is ridiculous. If a child only feels comfortable detailing abuse under the protection of it being a 'secret' then what is wrong with going along under the false pretence that it will be a secret. I mean - has common sense completely gone out of the window here?

Cool_Username

Apolonation wrote: »

Well I think this is ridiculous. If a child only feels comfortable detailing abuse under the protection of it being a 'secret' then what is wrong with going along under the false pretence that it will be a secret. I mean - has common sense completely gone out of the window here?

That is another matter that isn't really worth getting into here - before you take this as a negative let me assure you that I don't disagree with the point you're making - 'better to break a promise to keep it a secret than the child continuing to be abused' - but unfortunately this isn't the answer that the OP's prospective employers are looking for in this case.

mikey72

Apolonation wrote: »

Well I think this is ridiculous. If a child only feels comfortable detailing abuse under the protection of it being a 'secret' then what is wrong with going along under the false pretence that it will be a secret. I mean - has common sense completely gone out of the window here?

Because then the child knows that not only do the abusers lie to them, so do the adults who say they're helping.
That's the problem with lies, once you're found out, no-one believes you again.

Kaz101

Hi

Thanks to you all for your replies. As coolusername stated I wanted to know the replies they are actually looking for ... I think I made a decent stab at them, but as I said before, perhaps they just didnt like me !!

FluffyFiFi

Hi, schools have to follow guidelines regarding child protection. Next time check out if the school has a healthy eating policy which will help you answer the question regarding the packet of crisps - i.e. you could suggest sending a copy of the policy home to the parents. Also, it is always a good idea to say that you would seek advice from a colleague or line manager when a situation arises such as the child talking to someone through the gates. As for the secret, this is standard now that anything disclosed that needs to be dealt with can't be kept a secret and all school employees have to be aware of this.