From The Metro:
Parents have been banned from adventure playgrounds because a council says only adults with criminal records checks can be allowed near children.
All grown-ups have been excluded from two play areas in Watford, apart from a few council-vetted 'play facilitators' who will help youngsters. A council notice to parents said: 'Due to Ofsted regulations we have a responsibility to ensure that every authorised adult who enters our site is properly vetted and given a Criminal Records Bureau check.'
Thursday 29 October 2009
Brilliant!
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12 comments:
It's unbelievable! What is going on in the UK?
It's not like that here in Southern Spain. Kids running around all over the place with no supervision. Mums helping each other out. Unregistered clubs galore and no trouble whatsover! Are kids allowed to breathe without supervision? No wonder they're rebelling and causing havoc when they get older!
This is an entirely British Disease.
Utter lunacy!
In placing individuals within database chains, the State is simply lending a munificent hand to individuals otherwise stigmatized through absence.
I'm starting to think I should carry my CRB disclosure around with me just in case.
Time for some enterprising businessman to create a private adventure playground, then.
Maybe kick start a movement to get the parks back into private control (after which the levels of graffiti and vandalism will go down as they'll actually give a damn about them being looked after).
It's obvious that it's the children that are at the root of all this stupidity so I think we should just ban children. Altogether.
Iain Dale's pinching my ideas: "Honestly. Why not ban parents from having children, then? Wouldn't that save us all a lot of heartache worrying about paedophiles."
LFAT, MTG, SL, OC, BTS, exactly.
I have spent my fair share of time in playgrounds with my kids, and never worried particularly that they'd be assaulted/kidnapped by paedo's, because I was there keeping my eagle eye on them.
I did however often worry that somebody in 'authority' would question the reason for my presence and/or take me off for fingerprinting. That's how f***ing stupid things have got.
Sue, I was told by an expert (in London) that good playground design in England means ONE entrance/exit with a couple of benches near it so that parents can sit near the exit to make sure their kids don't sneak off.*
In Spain, they go to the other extreme. Paygrounds don't even seem to have a fence round them so it is quite stressful making sure they don't run off.
* As an aside, he also told me that EU rules say a playground has to have TWO entrance/exits, so that if bullies are hanging around one, the little kids can sneak off through the other. Yeah, like bullies can't just split into two groups. In my area they square the circle by having two gates, but one is kept permanently locked. Go figure.
I'd just like to reassure you that I have absolutely no intention of ever infecting a young lass with my demon seed for the purposes of procreation.
Perversion on the other hand..
Mark, when have you ever known Spain to do as its told? The playgrounds here are the whole bloody town. You have to be careful when you're driving because they're skateboarding down the nice smooth hilly streets.
Nobody moans, nobody shouts at the kids, the kids aren't maliciously damaging property, we're all just careful.. they're kids, they need to have fun!
interaction is encouraged, even expected! Infact, it's just how I remember the UK to be. We all kind of take care of each others and the "towns children"...
Optimistic Cynic- if an enterprising businessman creates a private adventure playground, it'll have to be registered with OFSTED, and all the staff will need CRB checks...
This is nonsense, CRB certificates are between the employer/sponsor and the individual concerned. No-one else is allowed, by law, to demand to see it ( or even just plain see it ).
To enforce this the local council would have to demand a new CRB check on all 'clients' wishing to use its ( OUR ) playgrounds and then issue them with a permit to show the parkies ( if such still exist ) and that CRB Certificate would not be valid in the parks of any neighbouring council.
Repeat, CRB certs are private and confidential documents not to be bandied about as Certificares Of Approval to all and sundry.
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