Watching After School Sports Events
Discussion
I’m hoping for a little help with a problem we’re having with our kids new school.
My twins have started senior school this year and have been selected for a bunch of school teams (football, netball, rugby and the like). We have been told by the school that we are not allowed to watch the matches (which are after the end of the core school day of 3pm) held at the school. We have however been able to attend away matches as it seems no other school in the area has this rule.
We didn’t have this problem at all when they were in primary school either.
Our school claims this is an OFSTED requirement and they would have to escort every parent which is impractical.
Does anyone know if this is correct or is our school wrong/overly cautious or officious?
My twins have started senior school this year and have been selected for a bunch of school teams (football, netball, rugby and the like). We have been told by the school that we are not allowed to watch the matches (which are after the end of the core school day of 3pm) held at the school. We have however been able to attend away matches as it seems no other school in the area has this rule.
We didn’t have this problem at all when they were in primary school either.
Our school claims this is an OFSTED requirement and they would have to escort every parent which is impractical.
Does anyone know if this is correct or is our school wrong/overly cautious or officious?
FWIW I work at an independent secondary and we encourage both sets of parents to attend any games (both during and after the school day).
I'd imagine they are interpreting the safeguarding rules in a very restrictive way, it might be due to lack of access control on areas, or simple things like not enough toilets for parents / pupils / staff (both boy and girl) to use without sharing spaces. We've discussed this as a leadership team before, as if the rules are taken literally - any visitor either needs to be signed in & escorted, or DBS checked then sign in each time they visit. Its impossible to DBS each parent, so its taken that as a parent and access is extremely limited across the campus they are low risk.
I've definitely never come across it being interpreted this way before. Even my sons state school allows parents to attend and half their kids try to escape every time the gates are open.
I'd imagine they are interpreting the safeguarding rules in a very restrictive way, it might be due to lack of access control on areas, or simple things like not enough toilets for parents / pupils / staff (both boy and girl) to use without sharing spaces. We've discussed this as a leadership team before, as if the rules are taken literally - any visitor either needs to be signed in & escorted, or DBS checked then sign in each time they visit. Its impossible to DBS each parent, so its taken that as a parent and access is extremely limited across the campus they are low risk.
I've definitely never come across it being interpreted this way before. Even my sons state school allows parents to attend and half their kids try to escape every time the gates are open.
My kid's school (a Comprehensive, not a private/public school) has gated access that requires you to be buzzed in to get onto school premises, and then you have to sign in at reception to get onto the main campus and be accompanied by a member of staff.
As sports clubs/matches are held after the school day is finished, there is no-one to buzz you in through the gate nor to go in with you, so you can't observe any matches on the netball courts or sportshall.
The football/hockey pitch is a shared school/public area so parents can watch those.
As sports clubs/matches are held after the school day is finished, there is no-one to buzz you in through the gate nor to go in with you, so you can't observe any matches on the netball courts or sportshall.
The football/hockey pitch is a shared school/public area so parents can watch those.
Ok. For any that are interested I spoke to the school safeguarding officer about the new state of affairs (the ban was implemented only a few weeks ago) and the explanation I was given just defied belief.
The facts are;
The school has had no reported incidents in recent memory (read years).
There is no direct mandate for the DofE to ban parents (the guidelines says the headteacher should use their professional judgment in deciding upon a policy.
BUT. A recent inspection highlighted that the school did not have control of visiting parents who wish to watch after school sports matches.
Conclusion. Stop all access effectively banning parents.
The school sympathised but said childrens welfare came first.
I disagreed with their new policy and have asked to speak to the head so they can explain how, in their professional judgment, this is the best decision for children.
The facts are;
The school has had no reported incidents in recent memory (read years).
There is no direct mandate for the DofE to ban parents (the guidelines says the headteacher should use their professional judgment in deciding upon a policy.
BUT. A recent inspection highlighted that the school did not have control of visiting parents who wish to watch after school sports matches.
Conclusion. Stop all access effectively banning parents.
The school sympathised but said childrens welfare came first.
I disagreed with their new policy and have asked to speak to the head so they can explain how, in their professional judgment, this is the best decision for children.
boyse7en said:
My kid's school (a Comprehensive, not a private/public school) has gated access that requires you to be buzzed in to get onto school premises, and then you have to sign in at reception to get onto the main campus and be accompanied by a member of staff.
As sports clubs/matches are held after the school day is finished, there is no-one to buzz you in through the gate nor to go in with you, so you can't observe any matches on the netball courts or sportshall.
The football/hockey pitch is a shared school/public area so parents can watch those.
Same, except that it also includes hockey/football, at our granddaughter's new school. My wife picks her up after hockey and was most dismayed that she couldn't watch. It must be a fairly general thing - our daughter, who is a teacher at another school, was surprised we thought it would be possible.As sports clubs/matches are held after the school day is finished, there is no-one to buzz you in through the gate nor to go in with you, so you can't observe any matches on the netball courts or sportshall.
The football/hockey pitch is a shared school/public area so parents can watch those.
The school (in a rural Cheshire village) has a fence and electric gates that wouldn't embarrass a medium grade prison.
Sn1ckers said:
Ok. For any that are interested I spoke to the school safeguarding officer about the new state of affairs (the ban was implemented only a few weeks ago) and the explanation I was given just defied belief.
The facts are;
The school has had no reported incidents in recent memory (read years).
There is no direct mandate for the DofE to ban parents (the guidelines says the headteacher should use their professional judgment in deciding upon a policy.
BUT. A recent inspection highlighted that the school did not have control of visiting parents who wish to watch after school sports matches.
Conclusion. Stop all access effectively banning parents.
The school sympathised but said childrens welfare came first.
I disagreed with their new policy and have asked to speak to the head so they can explain how, in their professional judgment, this is the best decision for children.
At least you know your kids will be safe! Are you that bothered? If you are why? The facts are;
The school has had no reported incidents in recent memory (read years).
There is no direct mandate for the DofE to ban parents (the guidelines says the headteacher should use their professional judgment in deciding upon a policy.
BUT. A recent inspection highlighted that the school did not have control of visiting parents who wish to watch after school sports matches.
Conclusion. Stop all access effectively banning parents.
The school sympathised but said childrens welfare came first.
I disagreed with their new policy and have asked to speak to the head so they can explain how, in their professional judgment, this is the best decision for children.
My parents didn't watch me play sports, I wouldn't have wanted them there. At this level all you will be missing is a group of children chasing after a ball for 60-90mins
joshcowin said:
At least you know your kids will be safe! Are you that bothered? If you are why?
My parents didn't watch me play sports, I wouldn't have wanted them there. At this level all you will be missing is a group of children chasing after a ball for 60-90mins
My parents didn’t watch me either. That’s part of why I want to be involved in my kids achievements. Each to their own I guess.My parents didn't watch me play sports, I wouldn't have wanted them there. At this level all you will be missing is a group of children chasing after a ball for 60-90mins
Does this ban on parents entering the school premises mean nobody can go to watch school plays or concerts too? (On second thoughts, maybe that's not such a bad thing!)
I agree that children need to be kept safe but maybe it can be taken a bit too far at times.
A bit O/T but amazing how different attitudes used to be.
About 25 years ago I took my mum for a nostalgia trip back to her childhood area. I was into photography then and took plenty of photos. When we came to her old infant school (lunchtime, so kids running around everywhere), we walked in on the spur of the moment, saw the teacher on playground duty, and asked if we could look around as my mum was a former pupil. The teacher was fine with this, so we wandered around the playground for a few minutes and I took some general photos of the school.
Back then, this did not occur to us as anything inappropriate or questionable, but in 2022 imagine a young man with an SLR camera round his neck turning up at a primary school unannounced/uninvited and being cheerfully welcomed to roam around unaccompanied at playtime taking pictures.
I agree that children need to be kept safe but maybe it can be taken a bit too far at times.
A bit O/T but amazing how different attitudes used to be.
About 25 years ago I took my mum for a nostalgia trip back to her childhood area. I was into photography then and took plenty of photos. When we came to her old infant school (lunchtime, so kids running around everywhere), we walked in on the spur of the moment, saw the teacher on playground duty, and asked if we could look around as my mum was a former pupil. The teacher was fine with this, so we wandered around the playground for a few minutes and I took some general photos of the school.
Back then, this did not occur to us as anything inappropriate or questionable, but in 2022 imagine a young man with an SLR camera round his neck turning up at a primary school unannounced/uninvited and being cheerfully welcomed to roam around unaccompanied at playtime taking pictures.
pidsy said:
I work in an independent- our rules are that no parents can watch games during the school day. This is primarily down to:
Safeguarding
The signing in process we have.
Most parents are at work
Weekend fixtures are a welcome all affair.
The issue of “safeguarding” was thrown at me many times in my conversation with the school.Safeguarding
The signing in process we have.
Most parents are at work
Weekend fixtures are a welcome all affair.
I asked how many safeguarding incidents had taken place in the last 5 years. She said she didn’t know/couldn’t remember any. So zero.
Which begs the question of why implement such draconian rules to solve a problem that, in reality, only exists in peoples imagination (in our area at leat).
We’ve never had an issue to my knowledge. The issue is that having unknown people just wandering around wherever they want can be a problem.
Our parents do seem to feel that because they pay so much for their child’s education- it somehow gives them the right to treat the grounds and buildings as their own personal space. That coupled with the fact that anyone could just wander in under the guise of watching the games could lead to a safeguarding issue is too much hassle to warrant.
During the school day - anyone on site that doesn’t have a DBS cert that we have been shown has to be escorted anywhere they go.
Our parents do seem to feel that because they pay so much for their child’s education- it somehow gives them the right to treat the grounds and buildings as their own personal space. That coupled with the fact that anyone could just wander in under the guise of watching the games could lead to a safeguarding issue is too much hassle to warrant.
During the school day - anyone on site that doesn’t have a DBS cert that we have been shown has to be escorted anywhere they go.
Sn1ckers said:
I disagreed with their new policy and have asked to speak to the head so they can explain how, in their professional judgment, this is the best decision for children.
Ask to see the Ofsted report (if is new and not already published) to see what the concern raised was.Ask to see the Schools Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy along with their Risk Assessment of public access to extra curricular activities that covers sports fixtures, and the response to the Ofsted concern,
There may well be reasonable risk factors that cannot easily be mitigated when allowing parents access:
a) no resource to ascertain those visiting are indeed parents and not random members of public
b) no reasonable way of segregating parents (members of public) from vulnerable access areas - e,g. changing rooms/toilet areas
c) no reasonable of safe parking for parents (members of public) and/or no available resource to manage parking
These are all generic examples that I have had to deal with (yes its part of what I do in education) - so may not match your school's circumstances, just given as examples.
Or the Ofsted concern was hyperbole and the school have over-reacted.
There’s no reason to prevent parents attending after school activities. Presumably there’ll be staff on site, so there are no safeguarding issues. There’s also no requirement on the school’s part to provide parents access to welfare facilities, so it’s easy to restrict parents’ access to the areas you want them to have access to.
Ironic really, it would seem the SLT at your kids’ school are behaving exactly like the children they’re so concerned about.
Ironic really, it would seem the SLT at your kids’ school are behaving exactly like the children they’re so concerned about.
Antony Moxey said:
There’s no reason to prevent parents attending after school activities.
Without knowing the school, their policies and their risk assessments it not possible to accurately make such a statement. But you could be correct.Antony Moxey said:
Presumably there’ll be staff on site, so there are no safeguarding issues.
There may be staff on site, but are they available as a safeguarding resource? Without knowing the school, their policies and their risk assessments it not possible to accurately make such a statement. But you could be correct.Antony Moxey said:
There’s also no requirement on the school’s part to provide parents access to welfare facilities,
If it is a publicly available facility there may be a requirement for welfare facilities to be available. Without knowing the school, their policies and their risk assessments it not possible to accurately make such a statement. But you could be correct.Antony Moxey said:
so it’s easy to restrict parents’ access to the areas you want them to have access to.
I won't repeat myself again, but this may or may not be practicable.For avoidance of doubt, I fully support parental and community support of schools and their extra curricular activities, but adequate safeguarding measures relevant to the school's local situation, need to be considered, risk assessed, mitigated against, documented and publicised,
Doing nothing is not a neutral action.
Sn1ckers said:
The issue of “safeguarding” was thrown at me many times in my conversation with the school.
I asked how many safeguarding incidents had taken place in the last 5 years. She said she didn’t know/couldn’t remember any. So zero.
I strongly doubt it's zero. Any school of any size will have safeguarding incidents (that they will not and indeed should not disclose to you).I asked how many safeguarding incidents had taken place in the last 5 years. She said she didn’t know/couldn’t remember any. So zero.
But even if they haven't. To extrapolate your point: they shouldn't implement any safeguarding measures until they've had an incident? I'm sure you can see the logic fail.
Sn1ckers said:
The issue of “safeguarding” was thrown at me many times in my conversation with the school.
I asked how many safeguarding incidents had taken place in the last 5 years. She said she didn’t know/couldn’t remember any. So zero.
Which begs the question of why implement such draconian rules to solve a problem that, in reality, only exists in peoples imagination (in our area at leat).
1 safeguarding incident would be too many, surely you'd rather have zero issues and tighter rules?! I asked how many safeguarding incidents had taken place in the last 5 years. She said she didn’t know/couldn’t remember any. So zero.
Which begs the question of why implement such draconian rules to solve a problem that, in reality, only exists in peoples imagination (in our area at leat).
Do you think it's a good use of the schools resources and time explaining decisions to you?
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