Clayton Hall museum looks like a great new school curriculum resource for the Victorian period. It’s about to be opened for exactly that purpose.

Volunteers with help from Manchester Leisure have been decorating and finding appropriate furniture to show how the hall might have looked during Victorian times.

They’ve even had the kitchen range re-installed so that as soon as you walk in it looks just as you’d expect a Victorian kitchen to look.

They’ve just had their open day for teachers to view before the museum’s grand opening.

All the teachers that came were enthusiastic and some have already booked one or more dates to bring classes.

I suspect it could be fun for more schools to find out about this little gem. To see the progress to date check the Friends of Clayton Park’s where there are some nice photos of people working!

Yet again the Manchester weather spoils the plans of parents.

My eldest daughters last sports day at her primary school was scheduled to be on Monday, 7th July. As sometimes happens in Manchester the heavens opened and a veritable torrent over the weekend and in the morning washed away any chance of the day happening on Monday.

So much for booking the morning to watch it!

Last year the rain had fallen in such a steady way that sports day was completely cancelled. If you remember the pictures of floods from Hull, Sheffield and elsewhere you know we had some rain. Luckily Manchester stayed relatively flood-free. Although like I say, the odd sports day was cancelled!

Anyway today when I’m booked solid with coaching has to be the day they can do sports day. So my wife and youngest daughter have been packed off to enjoy a few hours of people running around, jumping in sacks, skipping and possible egg and spoon races. Apparently the three-legged race has been banned because someone broke their leg doing it last year. Not at my daughters school though.

I love it every year, it’s real fun for the children. And this stuff about not being competitive, don’t make me laugh. Children are competitive and really root for their teams.

So sadly I can’t do sports day this year (although I managed my middle daughter’s sports day in June). So it looks like I have to rely on video…

You may remember the CRB Check saga my wife had about getting her CRB check back before she could start working in schools.

It arrived in the post today. So on the one hand, hurrah! And then on the other I looked at it and it has “NONE RECORDED” against each of the different categories.

Why on earth has it taken such an incredibly long time to get back to us? It’s not even slightly complicated because we’ve lived at the same address for about 15 years.

Can someone explain the purpose behind the document?

Getting A CRB Check If You’re A Bad’un

It seems to me that anyone who’s up to no good, who has no previous history, could easily get a CRB document.

And anyone who has committed an offence can simply change their name, get a false birth certificate and get a CRB too.

CRB Too Complex

Rather than having a CRB document related to a person it relates to a position. So if you work in the voluntary sector you may have to get several CRB certificates.

Then to cap it all you have to get the certificate renewed.

A Single CRB

From a layman’s point of view a single CRB document that informs somebody that you’re ok to work with vulnerable people would work better, because you could move jobs and use the same certificate. Which could be double-checked online and the employer input their own details to confirm the current position of the holder. In addition, if offences happen they can spread round all the employers you worked for very quickly.

CRB Renewal

Employers should be informed immediately a notifiable offence happens.

If they don’t find out until renewal time they may put people in their care at risk for months.

Simply renewing the CRB check is too late a stage to find out.

Why CRB Check?

I don’t mind giving an agency vast amounts of personal data for the CRB check. Other than the fact that it must be leaving you at an extremely high risk of identity theft.

The question I’d ask is, “why have a CRB check?” Because the company employing my wife looked her up on the offenders register the same day they interviewed her and it came back clean. That’s all you need to know isn’t it? In which case a massive CRB checking industry has grown up around a document that really doesn’t do the job it was set-up for.

After all determined offenders, or people prone to offend, still get jobs in school.

I’d be interested to know whether the CRB check has really caught people trying to apply for positions they shouldn’t have.

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Rain! And yet more rain buckets down outside.

Inside it’s lovely.

In the study where I’m sitting the noise of squirrels opening up Christmas presents is now just a dim memory.

I’m thankful I managed to repair the massive hole the previous squirrels had made in the guttering.

Instead of squirrels, we’ve just had the eldest daughter suddenly changing her mind and wanting to do the entrance exam for Bury Grammar. Which she’d said 2 weeks ago she didn’t want to do anymore!

And to make matters worse she tells me at 8:30 this morning, which is the morning of their common entrance examination.

So I phone Bury Grammar and ask, “is it possible to take the examination now, even though we haven’t even registered yet?

“No problem”, I’m told, “send in the registration and we’ll put her down for the supplemental exam.”

Now that is impressive. They must have other children who shilly shally about what they should do and then change their mind at the last minute. So they’ve created an unadvertised exam so those children can take the exam too. Makes sense, otherwise the children lose out, as does the school.

Anyway, back to reality. Manchester rains continue…

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