Petitioner: Lisa Willis
Status:
Closed
Date Lodged:
21 October 2015
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review and amend national legislation and guidance given to local authorities to ensure that all primary schools are required to provide playground supervision in the twenty-minute period before school starts.
Summary:
15 December 2015: The Committee took evidence from Lisa Willis and Wendy Palmer. The Committee agreed to write to the Scottish Government, COSLA, the Health and Safety Executive in Scotland, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in Scotland, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, the Educational Institute of Scotland, the GMB union and Unison Scotland. Link to Official Report 15 December 2015
23 February 2016: The Committee agreed to close the petition, under Rule 15.7, on the basis that there is a lack of support for mandatory time period for supervision before school and existing supervision requirements are specified in legislation, which the Scottish Government is not minded to amend in the way called for by the petition. Link to Official Report 23 February 2016
Written Submissions:
Legislation requires that local authorities supervise primary school pupils in the playground at break and lunch times, but there is currently no duty to provide formal supervision in the period before school starts when children, some as young as 4 years old, arrive on school transport and are left to their own devices at risk of injury, bullying, wandering off or worse. Because of transport pick-up timetables, children can be left for a period of up to twenty minutes without supervision.
Parents entrust their children into the care of local authorities when they travel on school buses and they are entitled to know that their children will be adequately cared for both on board and on arrival. The provision for safety of pupils ought to be equally important before, during and after school from the minute the child climbs on board the bus, to the minute they are delivered back home.
Some local authorities say they are adequately fulfilling their duty of care to the safety of children by providing a member of staff ‘point of contact’ inside the building. Some say they cannot afford to pay staff for this extra 20 minutes...
- Would you leave your 4 year old alone at the park?
- Are the risks any less before school than at break and lunch time, when local authorities are currently required to provide supervision *?
- Do you feel local authorities are adequately fulfilling their duty of care toward the safety and wellbeing of young children in not providing supervision in the playground at this time of day?
- How many accidents, injuries or tragedies must there be for this risk to be recognised by the Government and the relevant legislation and policies changed?
- What price should be placed on the safety of young children?
- Do you think it's right that a loophole currently exists in policy, that enables schools to avoid this responsibility by having a member of staff ‘point of contact’ on duty inside the building only?
- How can local authorities be complying with Health & Safety guidelines if risk assessments do not deem supervision of young children arriving on school transport to be necessary?
Please sign this petition. Apathy could cost more lives ...
* At a primary school at which 50 or more pupils are in attendance (The Schools (Safety and Supervision of Pupils) (Scotland) Regulations 1990.