Childrens Chaperones

[kenworthyclan]

I have been asked to stage manage a dance show in a small local theatre involving approx 170 children aged between 3 and 18.( I must be mad) Where can I find information about what ratio of chaperones to children we require?

[steveo]

Contact your local councils - child welfare dept or child education dept. they will give you the advice you need

[paulears]

and wait until you see the info file you have to keep - mine was an inch thick (a4) and had so much stuff in it the file wouldn't close!

Organising the photos of the kids and chaperones, checking the crb's etc took forever! (and this was a helpful council!)

[the kid]

It depends on ages, like 1 adult for ever 10 3-10 year olds then 10-16 1 adult per 15. I'm sure it is split down more though.

[Ynot]

I have been asked to stage manage a dance show in a small local theatre involving approx 170 children aged between 3 and 18.( I must be mad) Where can I find information about what ratio of chaperones to children we require?

Check out the info on our web site - this is for Warwickshire, but most of the details is generic. You will have to contact your local county council.

 

Tony

[landy]

Also check out if the chaperones need licencing / vetting I know my last Panto chaperones had Photo ID

[Jivemaster]

Once you have satisfied your licensing authority and council child protection people you will still have a MAJOR task to keep un-baged, un-cleared PARENTS out of the area. You certainly don't want 170 sets of parents of uncertain provenance among the children.

[Ynot]

Once you have satisfied your licensing authority and council child protection people you will still have a MAJOR task to keep un-baged, un-cleared PARENTS out of the area. You certainly don't want 170 sets of parents of uncertain provenance among the children.

Yep - most certainly!

This is always a thing with dance schools!

I speak with experience in every aspect of the topic - as a venue manager responsible for ensuring the multitudinous dance academies etc have the right info, as tech crew responsible for the teams working with the dahlings, and as a parent myself with two daughters performing in shows recitals & pantos!

 

TD

[MikeR]

Yep - most certainly!

This is always a thing with dance schools!

I speak with experience in every aspect of the topic - as a venue manager responsible for ensuring the multitudinous dance academies etc have the right info, as tech crew responsible for the teams working with the dahlings, and as a parent myself with two daughters performing in shows recitals & pantos!

 

meaning what?

 

If you want adult / kid ratio rules there is one, PM me I'll tell you what it is.

as for ######### about parents backstage that's a management thing. If you have to ask the question then its not the role you're in and you need to hire a person who can fulfil that role.

[Ynot]

Yep - most certainly!

This is always a thing with dance schools!

I speak with experience in every aspect of the topic - as a venue manager responsible for ensuring the multitudinous dance academies etc have the right info, as tech crew responsible for the teams working with the dahlings, and as a parent myself with two daughters performing in shows recitals & pantos!

meaning what?

If you want adult / kid ratio rules there is one, PM me I'll tell you what it is.

as for ######### about parents backstage that's a management thing. If you have to ask the question then its not the role you're in and you need to hire a person who can fulfil that role.

Erm, I'm not sure what your point is here....

If I have to ask WHAT question?

I know the ratio for matrons/children, certainly, but as I said above, I also know that parental presence is a pain in the rear.

So - your point?

TD

[GridGirl]

Once you have satisfied your licensing authority and council child protection people you will still have a MAJOR task to keep un-baged, un-cleared PARENTS out of the area. You certainly don't want 170 sets of parents of uncertain provenance among the children.

 

I have had so many arguments with parents trying to come in through the stage door. I usually manage get rid of them by telling them that we don't allow anyone who is not an official chaperone backstage, as we have no way of proving who they are and that if we let anyone who said they had a child in the show in, then we could well have some sort of incident. When I point out that it's for the safety of their child that we have this rule, they tend to see sense.

[AndrewR]

Last event I was involved in that had this kind of issues (a dance school event!) Not only did we have a person employed by the venue (actually vetted by social services, but not for our event, that was just a lucky coincedence) siging kids in and out, but we also had one of the chaperones with him to identify parents before they could take their little darlings. And a doorman to assist too. We also had security in the auditorium during the performances, not least of all because a man was thrown out a couple of years before for.....lewd conduct shall we say.

Oh and the only people who could film were those with permission from the school, but thats getting off topic.

 

If you have time before the event happens ask the dance school (or whoever) to send a letter expaining the procedure for dropping off kids etc, that should stop most arguments.

 

Oh and good on you for asking other people how they do it, it what this place is for!

Its always a little sad when people get told that if they dont know then they shouldn't. Ok for issues that would be hazzardous, but we all learn somehow, it not magically put into our heads. Not many of us have the luxury of hiring people for every little thing. And all this mania for child protection is relatively new, so people are doing the sensible thing and consulting others within the industry.

/rant over/

sorry.... :P

[Jivemaster]

You have to be carefull about parents because their ability to sire children does NOT automatically give them approved chaperone status. You dont want the approved (and approved ratio of) chaperones swamped by unknown step/parents/carers etc.

[paulears]

As Andrew says, this subject is the cause of much confusion, misinformation, lack of common sense and plain flouting of the rules. Most dance shows are dry hires - with usually some amateur technical help - the dads and brothers, with dresser help, mostly mums and sisters. Now the security/chaperone system is normally left up to the hirer, nice passing on of responsibility by the venue. Legal opinion seems to be that with a production that is so fluid in terms of content, the best people to organise the security/chaperone side is the dance school itself. Now some do, Like Andrew mentions do it properly - parents drop off kids at the stage door, a CRB'd and badged up chaperone then takes over. Other have parent chaos backstage. But - they all pay their money, and the venues keep a low profile - in fact, often avoiding contact as much as they can. How many stage crews have been CRB'd? Have you? So they leave their kids with us - we shout and moan at them, sometimes even grabbing the little darlin's and stopping a cloth landing on them - NO amount of hazard tape, pointing, notices, pre-show talks ever work.

 

I remember this conversation backstage. "Oy, where's your badge?" " I haven't got one" "The you'll have to leave, you could be a pervert" "OK, but it'll be a little dark on stage - I do the lights!"

 

I too have experience of a pervert in the audience, so this isn't exactly uncommon.

 

As a freelancer - I guess I should renew my CRB check when it runs out, but I don't think I'll bother - nobody yet is taking them that seriously.

 

Andrew mentioned video - Stopping people taking pics in the audience if it is for 'dodgy' reasons seems fine, but what about people just wanting their kids. Some people insist that everybody has to give permission or it can't be done while others simply ask if anybody objects, and if they don't it's a blanket yes. Others ban video, then have one made by the school, then flog it! As for the show actually having a chidrens licence - I bet most don't even bother. At our theatre, we don't check.

[Ynot]

As Andrew says, this subject is the cause of much confusion, misinformation, lack of common sense and plain flouting of the rules.

Yup. It didn't help that many venues and organisations weren't made fully aware of the rules & regs a couple of years ago. There were some public meetings in our area, but I don't feel there were nearly as many as there should have been to cover the groups affected, and nowhere near enough advance publicity to those who needed to attend. I found out about one in Warwick after the event, so organised another in our venue to catch some of those who missed out. AFAIK, there are still many am-drams and dance schools who aren't as well versed as they need to be.

Now the security/chaperone system is normally left up to the hirer, nice passing on of responsibility by the venue. Legal opinion seems to be that with a production that is so fluid in terms of content, the best people to organise the security/chaperone side is the dance school itself.

Actually, it's not strictly speaking the venue passing the buck - the responsibility for the CPS lies clearly with the organisers/schools. Venues are only required to act if they're also the organisers. That being said, some venues, like ours, are being as proactive as possible to ensure everyone is up to speed before they come to us, and are trying to build a common base of chaperones/matrons for general use.

How many stage crews have been CRB'd? Have you?

Well, as it happens, yes I have. And I'm working on getting all the crew CRB'd etc, though not all seem to be over-keen on filling in the forms. As they are all volunteers themselves, it's not actually something we can insist on, just something I encourage as far as possible.

 

Tony