OFSTED says: there is no requirement for visiting authors to schools to have a CRB check unless they have regular and unsupervised contact with children.
Taken from the full page published in THE WEEK December 2009.
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There is NO single valid certificate or documentation available to authors who travel round the country visiting schools. If there was such a thing I'd have it. But there isn't so I haven't.A CRB form is only valid at the school that arranged for it to be done. Back in 2006 I had a CRB form done at my own kids' local school in York, but when I found that it did not cover me for visiting anywhere else, I didn't renew it.
If your school or council thinks that a CRB check done elsewhere is somehow adequate, it's the legal equivalent of an immigration officer accepting a false passport.
WEBSITES and PHONE NUMBERS
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Authors are classed as visitors to your school and therefore should always be accompanied.We are not teaching staff so we have no authority, no union protection and no professional teaching insurance, and so for our own protection as well as that of the children we do NOT expect to ever be left in sole charge of any number of children.
OFSTED, the CRB and the ISA all stipulate that CRB forms are only necessary for people coming into regular unsupervised contact with children. Clearly this does not apply to authors doing a single visit supervised by a staff member.
Providing an author is not left unaccompanied with children, then OFSTED, the CRB and the ISA will be perfectly happy.
If your school is still concerned, I'm prepared to fill in a "List 99" or any other straightforward form you might require so you can do your own checks. What I cannot do is submit any original documents (e.g. passport) or get a new CRB form for every school I visit.
(Just so you know, OFSTED follow the guidlines laid down by the CRB, and the CRB gather the data on behalf of the ISA. I found this out by phoning these organisations and very helpful they all were too. They do a difficult and important job that requires a lot of tact and delicacy, and I fully support what they have to do.)
I'm truly sorry if you're trying to arrange an event with me, and you find you are being hampered by somebody in an office far away that you probably will never meet, who is insisting on me going through some sort of vetting procedure. Some authors (including Michael Morpurgo and Philip Pullman) object on principle, and I sympathise with them. However I don't object on principle, I object because what is being asked is a/ unnecessary, b/ contrary to government guidelines, c/ almost impossible to comply with. All that is required is that I am accompanied throughout a visit, and so please can we have some common sense over this.
Yes, I've got it, so I'm covered for up to £2,000,000 in case any child has a nasty accident resulting from the dangers that arise when I stand in front of an audience showing off some fun maths.
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