prospect

Hi, I'm looking to volunteer at my childrens' school and obviously need to get a DBS check to allow this. I'm just interested in the process one needs to follow (in my case I have come from Australia).

The school initially told me to fill out the usual forms they give to out to families but explained it may take longer to be finalised as they will need to contact Australia.

Today the school informed me I need to get an AFP check myself and bring that in, together with my DBS before they will allow me onsite.

Anyone done this recently and can offer any tips?? Thanks.

Pollyana

https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/se...-police-checks

is the link you need

prospect

Sorry this wasn't clear - I'm very aware of the AFP process, but I am just querying whether I need to do it at all or if others in a similar boat were forced to get an AFP check themselves or whether the school was happy with the standard DBS check process.

mikelincs

I would suspect that the standard check would NOT be enough, people from the UK wanting to work with kids have to have an enhanced police check from the UK, this goes into a lot more detail than the standard one.

spouse of scouse

Hi prospect. If the school has requested the Oz National Police Certificate then you'll need to provide it if you want to work there. I'm actually surprised that they didn't also require an Australia Working with Children clearance, which anyone working with kids in Oz also need.

I know it seems like a like of red tape, but I wouldn't sent my kids to a school that didn't have these systems in place! Good luck with it all, and good on you for offering to volunteer

prospect

Thanks spouse of scouse ... it's all rather more complicated (feel l've been saying this for weeks now on repeat). School got me to the do the normal DBS process but then got an email from the authorities saying I needed to get the AFP check but at the same time I got a fully approved DBS check with my Australian details listed on it. School doesn't want to accept this DBS certificate on face value so are going to follow up, but very much out of their depth. I know a teacher who got a job here and it was all organised by the school -- seems as a volunteer there are different rules. And totally disinterested in my DSCI check (which is SA equivalent of WWCC) and even though I have a police check coming in my container they don't seem interested in that as something may have happened in the meantime, but if that had, I wouldn't be here!!! But in excellent news, our container is on UK soil after a very long and circuitous route.

spouse of scouse

You poor chook, everything seems an uphill battle when you first arrive. Actually, most things ARE an uphill battle when you first arrive

Remind me to tell you the saga we had with BT, I'm still like this whenever I remember!

I can't help with the police certificate tangle, sorry, but I do wish you the best of luck

prospect

I can imagine! I'm starting to think the whole visa process is quite good prep for life in the UK. Banking, sorting out orthodontics and then having to redo all the utilities as the real estate agents got our names wrong - I've been through the wringer!!! Funny thing is my bro-in-law is coming out in a few months and when we tried to warn him about the banks, he just said 'I'll use my mates address'.

Interestingly, I couldn't get thru to Centrelink before we left to tell them we were leaving (was on hold for hours - and it's been that bad for years). Get here and discover they have an international number. Rang and was sorted in less than 2 mins. All of the above was almost worth it for just this pleasure.

Benson55

Sounds like you went through a lot but hope its all sorted out now...