Chaperoning and Safeguarding

[Biskit]

Thanks for all the replies, as has been said it does seem that the licensing regulations are pretty clear-cut (4 performances in any rolling 6 month period), although in reality this is unlikely to affect most of our local dance schools who only do a couple of performances per year - although incidentally how would this work if a given child was a member of two or more different groups, and the combined number of performances they were in took them over the threshold - how would it be determined which group had responsibility to deal with it, or would it be the individual/their parents? In any case, if the licensing, where appropriate, is dealt with by our hirers then it is no big deal to us.

 

Just so I'm clear though, whether or not a child requires a license (and assuming, if they do, it is properly in place) what is the actual requirement for chaperone licensing? It seems a child can be looked after by their own parents, or their own teacher (does this include dance school teachers?) no problem, otherwise the chaperones must be licensed - so this would suggest the common practise of 'a few of the mums' helping backstage (all known to the kids and each other) is not acceptable?

 

While we're on with the horror stories: a colleague (now retired actually) had an incident in one of our venues about ten years ago. He was a caretaker, so not involved with the show at all, just on duty at the time. It was a kids dance show. In this particular building, there is a staff kitchen/break room just round the corner from two of the dressing rooms. It has a plain glass window in the door, partially obscured by a poster on the inside but not completely. Two of the older girls in the show had found this room unlocked and empty, had decided to use it as their own private dressing room, and were getting changed in there. My colleague, unaware, went to make himself a drink, saw the girls through the window before going in, so didn't even open the door, but made a hasty retreat. The girls later reported that this person had been spying on them changing. One of their parents happened to be a serving police officer working in child protection, so the whole thing got massively inflated, my colleague suspended from work for months, and although he was of course eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, it was a really horrible experience all round. So be careful!

[Hilary Watts]

- although incidentally how would this work if a given child was a member of two or more different groups, and the combined number of performances they were in took them over the threshold - how would it be determined which group had responsibility to deal with it, or would it be the individual/their parents?

 

The wording of the Act is " in the six months preceding the performance he has not taken part in other performances to which [subsection (2) of] this section applies on more than three days" so there is no need to take account of future performances. There is no need for a licence on the fourth day (because performances will not have taken place on more than 3 days previously). The need for a licence therefore only arises on the fifth day on which a performance takes place within any 6 month period and will be the responsibility of the person organising that performance.

 

Just so I'm clear though, whether or not a child requires a license (and assuming, if they do, it is properly in place) what is the actual requirement for chaperone licensing? It seems a child can be looked after by their own parents, or their own teacher (does this include dance school teachers?) no problem, otherwise the chaperones must be licensed - so this would suggest the common practise of 'a few of the mums' helping backstage (all known to the kids and each other) is not acceptable?

According to the legislation where a license is required a child can only be looked after by his/her parents or legal guardians or a registered chaperone ( teachers and other relatives would only be acceptable if they were registered chaperones) although I suspect the practise you mention is fairly widespread.

[sleah]

While we're on with the horror stories: a colleague (now retired actually) had an incident in one of our venues about ten years ago. He was a caretaker, so not involved with the show at all, just on duty at the time. It was a kids dance show. In this particular building, there is a staff kitchen/break room just round the corner from two of the dressing rooms. It has a plain glass window in the door, partially obscured by a poster on the inside but not completely. Two of the older girls in the show had found this room unlocked and empty, had decided to use it as their own private dressing room, and were getting changed in there. My colleague, unaware, went to make himself a drink, saw the girls through the window before going in, so didn't even open the door, but made a hasty retreat. The girls later reported that this person had been spying on them changing. One of their parents happened to be a serving police officer working in child protection, so the whole thing got massively inflated, my colleague suspended from work for months, and although he was of course eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, it was a really horrible experience all round. So be careful!

 

The worse of that story is that he WAS being careful!!

 

What he maybe should have done, is burst in on them, said "Sorry girls! By the way, you shouldn't be in here." and then immediately reported the incident to whoever was in charge using a tone of "Why are you letting girls use a room on their own, unsupervised, to get changed that anyone has access to?".

 

In some circumstances, you can actually be TOO careful. :blink:

[Andrew Edwards]

An important note about teachers is that the must be providing their standard education; 'extra curricular' teachers from the dance school do not count. Private teachers providing standard state education do count (3 to 1 ratio); think child on Hollywood movie getting private tutorship.

 

All performances are considered across multiple organisations for the licence trigger. I have a regular group that only does 2 shows a year (on the same day) and they have just one performer on a licence which then needs a licensed chaperone.

 

You do need to consider future performances as a licence cannot be retrospective. Someone performing in a single performance must apply for a licence between that and the 4 shows they will be in during the following month for example.

 

I recommend that borderline children apply for a licence anyway as last minute adhoc performances could trigger it. A future show could be in jeopardy when that 'suddenly' becomes the trigger event. I presume that children up and down the country are either being refused or going unnoticed by the each group that they are in.

 

By this token, all groups with large casts should have everything ready and in place to get licensed just in case one (or more) of your cast turns up and says that the week before your show they are doing 4 nights in another show!

 

I've seen it happen...