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The (British) National Association of Head Teachers has agreed that it’s time to err on the side of caution, and supervise the activities of people dressed as Santa who visit their schools.
According to the Telegraph, parents who volunteer to put on the red suit of Father Christmas have been instructed that they may not put the children on their laps, and are not allowed to be left alone with them.
The primary issue is that these volunteers are not (by law) required to pass any criminal record checks, although the principals of the schools would prefer them to have been checked. In the absence of clearance certificates, the principals would rather that the Santas have no physical contact with kids.
A spokesman for the Department for Education said children could still sit on Father Christmas’s knee as long as parents were consulted and were “completely comfortable” with the situation. “Santas in schools should be treated in the same way that other visitors to the school are managed.
While there have been cases of Santas who have groped kids, and it could possibly be a role chosen by paedophiles in order to groom kids for abuse, the abuse is not as common as say, priests or teachers who have interfered with children. Supervision and accountability does seem like the way to go.
How would you feel about your child sitting on Santa’s knee at school?
According to the Telegraph, parents who volunteer to put on the red suit of Father Christmas have been instructed that they may not put the children on their laps, and are not allowed to be left alone with them.
The primary issue is that these volunteers are not (by law) required to pass any criminal record checks, although the principals of the schools would prefer them to have been checked. In the absence of clearance certificates, the principals would rather that the Santas have no physical contact with kids.
A spokesman for the Department for Education said children could still sit on Father Christmas’s knee as long as parents were consulted and were “completely comfortable” with the situation. “Santas in schools should be treated in the same way that other visitors to the school are managed.
While there have been cases of Santas who have groped kids, and it could possibly be a role chosen by paedophiles in order to groom kids for abuse, the abuse is not as common as say, priests or teachers who have interfered with children. Supervision and accountability does seem like the way to go.
How would you feel about your child sitting on Santa’s knee at school?
