School bans parents watching sports day without criminal record check

[Jazzy]

Parents have been banned from watching their children compete at sports unless they have been vetted by police.



A school has banned parents from watching their children take part in sports events - unless they pass a criminal records check.



The Isambard Community School in Swindon, Wilts., insists all parents must clear a Criminal Records Bureau check to weed out potential paedophiles.

Neil Park, 54, was furious when he was turned away from watching his son George, 12, play rugby.



The father-of-five said: I was turned away from the school because I had not been CRB checked.



I couldn't believe it. Government guidelines state that parents are allowed to watch games.



But any strangers can be questioned and requested to show the appropriate paperwork, which is fair enough.



George was really upset by it all. What are they going to stop you going to next? Parents' evening? The school play?



Or what if England under 16s are playing at the County Ground , will they ask all fans there to be CRB checked?



The school introduced the new measure at the start of the term to prevent strangers from accessing other parts of the school from the playing fields.



A spokesman said: It is with regret that from now on we will be unable to accommodate parents wishing to spectate at our sports fixtures unless they are in possession of an up-to-date Swindon Council CRB check.



At Isambard we take safeguarding very seriously and because of this we are unable to leave gates open for access to sporting venues at anytime during the school day.

Full article



Hope all the teachers and other staff have to do this too.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Evil Eye]

...are these children running around in the nude (Ancient Olympics style) that they feel they need to prevent people from watching?

America is turning into Nazi Germany.

The Nazis wouldn't have done this... Also this is in the UK.

 

[Sinon]

...are these children running around in the nude (Ancient Olympics style) that they feel they need to prevent people from watching?

The Nazis wouldn't have done this... Also this is in the UK.

To be fair, there are laws against people watching children playing in school playgrounds, and they're not naked there either.



I can see their point with this rule, but it's a pretty weak way to go about enforcing it. A better idea would be to just cancel sports day altogether. That way you're not discriminating - you're pissing everyone off equally.

 

[Evil Eye]

To be fair, there are laws against people watching children playing in school playgrounds, and they're not naked there either.

That just kinda makes two silly laws, doesn't it?

 

[Sinon]

It's supposed to somehow prevent paedophilia. Not entirely sure how, but there ya go. Considering paedophilia is already illegal I'm unsure what adding another law that says it's illegal will do. Kinda like the one which (I believe) states you cannot take photographs of children who aren't related to you.