Twice a year our Theatre on the Steps in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, mounts productions involving children working with adults on and off stage. In the light of current concerns about adults working with children, we are seeking to develop a policy to help our members. Do any of your members have such a written policy that they might share with us?

Thanks,

Bob Bibby
(Chair)

You should firstly contact your local authority.

All shows whch have kids in them should be licenced I think.

There's loads of rules, someone her might tell you some of them, but it's things like there has to be 1 adult (who's been checked by police) incharge of up to 6 kids.

Not sure the full rules. but contact your council, they deal with this for a start.

There's an absolute mountain of paperwork. Start it all well in advance. Even some teachers and church youth leaders still need to go through all the police checks.

Have you looked at the information on this site from Noda?
Criminal Records Bureau checks - info from Noda

1) A word of caution: the rules change for children younger than 8 years; they rightly become more strict

2) According to my reading of the Noda statement and of the CRB web site, under the relevant legislation, voluntary organisations do not need to go through CRB checks. We have the option of doing so, but we are not compelled. [This does not absolve us from the need to implement good practice!]

3) CRB checks are supposed to replace "Police Checks" - my reading of the previous two posts suggests that they have not done so. Anyone care to clarify?

4) My local authority (Hampshire) does not require anything beyond the legislative framework. Others appear to do so. Anyone care to clarify? If Local Authorities require CRB checks, under what legislation do they have that right? Do they liaise with the CRB on behalf of the [amfram] society? (The CRB will only do checks on behalf of a recognised body. To be recognised, you have to pay a registration fee of ?300. This is the service which NODA intends to provide in future.)

5) I am in danger of starting a rant here about societal paranoia. Two comments on good practice: minimise the opportunity for adults to be alone with children - it should not be too difficult! Maximise the involvement of parents. (We are theatrical societies, not child minders. If parents are concerned, they should be concerned enough to be involved.)

End of rant!

It is very likely you will need to have police checks done, my Granddad needed one to play Father Christmas at a primary school for one afternoon, he wasn't even that close to the children, he's been doing it for years too.

As I work with children in the summer I can say that there are all sorts of complicated and frankly rsather annoying rules that need to be followed. Like not taking children to the toilet on their own, either take another child or another leader, not fun, especially when only one child needs it dispite your pleads and the other leaders are all busy

I played FC at my daughter's school this Christmas. I was told under no circumstances was a child to be allowed to sit on my knee. Fine but what do you do when a father is telling the child "sit on his knee, sit on his knee, while I take your photo". I just went along with it, if dad'd happy, what's it got to do with anyone else!

Yeah, I'd say as long as the parents are happy it should be ok. Though we do have to be careful if we help childre to get changed. Lots of oppertunity for people to accuse us of things we didn't do

We run a set of kids classes at the weekend, and it's been a bleedin' nightmare trying to get them registered and CRB checked. The backlog is ENORMOUS and each teacher has to apply for the checks themselves, we can't do it for them, which of course means endless nagging to get it done. In the meantime, we've asked all the parents/guardians to stick around for at least one session and check that they are happy. It's not ideal but it will have to do until the CRB get themselves sorted....

Bob (and others):

I think spending some time putting together a formal policy for involving young people in your productions will reap rewards. Not only will you be more aware of the potential risks, but you will be clear about how (and who) will help reduce those risks.

Although following the local authority regulations (patchy for over 8s not performing) and the CRB, these should be seen as part of a wholescale review of the situation.

Because each group is different, it is hard to pull together one policy that will fit everyone. There is some guidance on my website (under the Criminal Records Bureau update) and in the Methuen Amateur Theatre Handbook. The National Association of Youth Theatres has been preparing a handbook for a while, but no publication date yet.

I use: Safe to Grow (2nd ed) which is a Baptist Union publication (again link on my website) (which has example documents) and
The Legal Guide for involving Young People as Volunteers (published by the Islington Voluteer Centre) which is a very accessible introduction to the wider aspects.

The Home Office published Safe From Harm: A Code of Practice for Safeguarding The Wlefare of Children in Voluntary Organisations in England and Wales, which might also help.


Ps - CRB checks - yes they replace police (and other) checks - which voluntary organisations could not access. NODA is looking to become a recognised counter signature for applications for checks. Regardless, the view must be to try your utmost to make sure you keep all young people "safe from harm".

Belle Helene,
Who do they have to apply to? As I understand the system [by reading the CRB site], individuals applying for "disclosure" have to do so through a registered body. In your case, are your good citizens applying to the Local Council who act as the registered body with respect to the CRB?
If not, then how does it work?

The issue of finding a registered body is a vexed one. NODA is what is know as a 'closed umbrella'. This means that we will only countersign disclosure application for NODA members. But we are not yet in a position to do this due to the security implications of holding sensitive information on site. We hope to launch our counter-signatory service in May.

However, it is important to stress, as the NODA factsheet makes clear, that amateur societies are not obliged to obtain criminal record disclosures. The obligation only applies to statutory bodies such as schools. Not even the scouts are obliged under the terms of the legislation! If your local authority insists that you must obtain disclosures, ask them what grounds they believe they have for exceeding government legislation.

Just because you do not have to obtain disclosures does not mean you should not take the issue of child protection very seriously. We recommend that societies draw up a child protection policy.

Lord knows, Stuart, that's why I have a Training Director. If I tried to run everything like that myself, I would have several full-time jobs and not earn any money!! I can check with the relevant director though, if you're interested.

Helen,
It's curiousity, rather than a need to know (so don't go out of your way to find out just for me!)

I've been following this discussion (and investigating elsewhere) because I have a local argument on my hands (which I shall be very polite about in a public forum )

Our management committee has drawn up a child protection policy (using the Noda guidelines and applying them to our circumstances), which we will implement ad interim pending ratification by the next AGM (because we feel it is a policy important to all members).
The policy indicates an intention to use CRB Disclosures when the Noda service is available. (We are Noda members.)

As I recall we went through this discussion pre Panto season on the old discussion boards resulting in the CRB checks guidelines from NODA being published on this very website! I remeber being heavily involved in said discussion.

They are still there (see contents page or ask Jane nicely) and they are what our group have been guided by thus far

We have named chaperones for each show. They are responsible for ensuring the children are safe in every sense of the word (not running riot amongst the scenery, keeping out of the wings when not required) etc. There is no legal requirement (yet) for them to be CRB checked. I'm sure there will be but I think they are still bogged down with essential checks.

As it happens two of ours have been cleared with the local authority because they work with children anyway. As mentioned by someone else earlier, get the parents involved. During rehearsals we always have two parents present throughout. Show week we often have three. One remains in the kids dressing room, the other two doing aforementioned safety precautions.

Hope this helps a bit...

Child protection policies seem to be the hot topic at the moment, with both the Charity Commission and Arts Council England formally stating their view that every organisation within their remit should perform checks and follow a written policy.

No word from either how small groups are supposed to fund such a process.

Keith

NODA is now able to offer a counter-signatory service for its members who wish to obtain criminal record disclosures. Further information can be found in our two new factsheets, Child Protection & the Criminal Records Bureau and Criminal Records & Disclosure Code of Practice.

The Charity Commission has asked NODA to draft a Model Child Protection Policy for its members. If any members already have a Child Protection Policy, it would be hugely helpful if you could send a copy to Mark Pemberton at NODA House, 58-60 Lincoln Road, Peterborough PE1 2RZ.