Hi –
I’m new to this forum and I am emailing with the hope that somebody may
be able to answer a query I have regarding a child protection issue.
I work in a
visitor attraction as the Education Officer and we welcome thousands of primary
school children each year. As part of our overall visitor package we have a
movie theater that seats 38 people. When we have school groups booked in with
us their visit consists of the following:
A self guided
tour around the exhibition (with all of our guests who are general members of
the public)
A taught
session in our purpose built education suite – open to the public but can
be booked out in advance for use by primary school groups
A room to
have their lunch in – booked out in advance for the primary school
A visit to
our other site where we have 2 further exhibitions (self guided, open to the
public)
A time slot
to watch our film in the movie theatre.
Just
recently, a couple of teachers have raised a query that the movie theatre has
members of the public in it at the same time as the school. We don’t
actually book this out for sole use by the school because, if the school group
is 20 children plus 3 adults, there is then the capacity for 15 members of the
public to watch the film at the same time and it makes sense for the theatre to
be full for the showing of the film (it only lasts for 10 minutes). All of the
children are accompanied at all times by teachers and parents/leaders. This is
the first time we have had this query raised in over 2 years that we have been
showing the movie.
My query is,
where do we stand in terms of the primary schools using the movie theatre at
the same time as the general public? As I mentioned above, their visit around
the exhibitions are with the general public so not quite sure how this is
different to watching the show in the movie theatre. Do we simply need a
disclaimer on the entrance to the theatre stating that it is used by all guests
visiting our attraction? I just want to ensure we are following correct
guidelines.
Any help with
this would be greatly appreciated!
Shelley
Ruck
GEM Member