Childcare at 7.45am

bylromarha

Person_one wrote: »

Largely because of Ian Huntley, but of course you know that already.

As a school worker who met the children on a daily basis it made sense for him to have be checked. As with all school workers who see the kids day in, day out.

But the ridiculous amount of people who "need" a DBS check now - pointless. But it's considered by many to be good CP practice.

GobbledyGook

Actually come to think of it didn't Huntley know the girls through his girlfriend who worked in their school rather than them being at his school?

Person_one

GobbledyGook wrote: »

Ian Huntley is a different kettle of fish to the one described by bylromarha. A school janitor has unsupervised access to children. The overuse of DBS for people who don't have unsupervised access to children is rife, like bylromarha said.

That's why CRB/DBS was tightened though, and rightly so, it can't be 'case by case'.

My main issue was with this sentence though:

"When did schools get to say that they knew the children better than the parents did?"

As somebody who has suffered at the hands of their parents, I'm sure you appreciate how important it is for schools to be able to protect children from abuse in the home and that means upsetting parents sometimes.

GobbledyGook

Person_one wrote: »

That's why CRB/DBS was tightened though, and rightly so, it can't be 'case by case'.

My main issue was with this sentence though:

"When did schools get to say that they knew the children better than the parents did?"

As somebody who has suffered at the hands of their parents, I'm sure you appreciate how important it is for schools to be able to protect children from abuse in the home and that means upsetting parents sometimes.

It was tightened up because he should never have been in his job.

That 'may' have protected the two girls as it would hopefully have flagged up. However if he knew the girls through his partner it may not have.

It's not infallible and it doesn't excuse the rife overuse of it. All the overuse of DBS does is increase complacency. DBS = fine. No DBS = bad. No-one applies common sense or logic and makes people believe that children are only in danger from the big bad stranger and ignores the fact that they are in more danger from people they know.


As someone who suffered at the hands of their parents I fail to see how it is any business of a school to have ANY say in when a child is old enough to walk to school alone.

If schools kept their noses out of things like that and concentrated on the important stuff - like teachers being given time to talk to children as opposed to giving them another form to fill in - then children would be safer.

rachiibell

Not had a chance to read the whole thread so don't know if this has already been said but I would explain the situation to your children and ask what they think you should do that way you know they're comfortable with the outcome. If they feel ready to walk to school on their own they will tell you but if they suggest getting a babysitter you'll know they're not quite there yet. Good luck and congratulations on your husbands new job!

Seanymph

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

And as for Ian Huntley I thought the scandal was that he DID have a CRB, and passed it - because everything to that date had been suspicion of or arrested for - he had no criminal record that showed up.

And police can't keep on record people who are suspected of things, they have to be found guilty.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3313303.stm

deva

I think only you know your area, how wise your children are and if you have an emergency local contact. Mine is nine and I would let her walk with other friends from the summer as two roads to cross have lollipops but that's for school start time when there's plenty of people we know around.

Try any local nurseries as they often do before and after school care. You've not mentioned after school?

pawsies

Can you not forgo a 15 minute break so you can start 15 mins later?

LannieDuck

That's really unfair. OP is trying to find a solution to cover 15 mins of childcare, she's hardly bemoaning having children in the first place. Talk about reductio ad absurdum.

She's said that she's going to look into a couple of the suggestions from this thread (taxis, talking to the school reception staff). Do you have a different solution to share or did you just want to be sarcastic?

onlyroz

I haven't read all replies but...

As a parent you have the right to request a flexible working arrangement from your employer and they have to give a sound business reason for refusing. How about you put in a formal request to arrive at work 15 minutes later and either take a shorter lunch break or leave work 15 minutes later to make up the time.