Hi guys,

I'm posting this here because I have no where else to put it and the idea of becoming a chaperone came from this thread anyway

I am desperate for information about working as a Chaperone maybe down in London. So I can work with kids in the entertainment industry in TV/Films. The thing is I currently live in Derbyshire.

I have looked online but a lot of the stuff seems to be aimed at becoming a licensed Chaperone with very little detail about the job itself and what to do after you become one.

It seems like each county has it's own Chaperone application form. I don't know whether to work in London you would have to fill in a different form than in Derbyshire.

I can't even find any employment agencies that would emply Chaperones anyway!

So all in all I don't know the first step Please help me my IDA friends

i wish i could help, i am not there right now. what is the job description of a chaperone? maybe i know it under a different name and can help??

come on people, help this lady!

Maybe you could ask the BBC or ITV..... Im sure they must have them on set of soaps and dramas and stuff with children in?!

It would probably be a good idea to get some experience locally to begin with (apart from anything else, you'd be able to find out if the job is for you), even if it's just on a volunteer basis.

Theatrical productions which use children employ chaparones (the current WE productions of SOM and Joseph both do), so that could be a route into the job.

Just a thought - how about contacting stage schools (e.g. Sylvia Young's and Italia Conti)? At the very least they might be able to give you information on what the job entails.

Try asking on this forum:

http://www.whatsonstage.com/board/index.php?showforum=3

I think there's a "working in theatre" sub-forum.

Is this serious- you sound like you are in the wrong century, achaponhisown might be the right solution!

Chaperone is the word used to describe people who look after children working in theatre/TV/films.

here, it's called a stage mother. lol

it's a good thing to have actually.

I actually do this (hence the username)! In another country, that is. But SimbaY2K+4 already knows this and we've had PM contact about my job already.

I don't know whether or not it's different in the UK, but I basically just started out by figuring out which theatre production companies had shows with kids in them (I wanted to work in theatre and not so much in TV or film, so I wouldn't know about that).
As it turned out they actually needed someone at the biggest company here and that's how I got the job. I did however have a lot of experience working with kids before, since I've also been a primary school teacher.

My advice would be to just contact the production companies behind the current shows with kids involved and ask them whether they can give you some more information. Who knows, maybe you'll be lucky too and it'll get you a job immediately!

Good luck!

We have chaperones for all our productions that involve chaperones. It is amateur theatre so I can't say how different it is in the professional theatre.

Basically we have to have 1 chaperone per 12 children of a single sex. So 10 girls and 1 boy for example would require 2 chaperones (they have to be in different dressing rooms). The chaperone(s) must remain with the children at all times and take them from their dressing room to the stage and back again. This does mean that if we have a scene where only a few of the children are used we need to have enough chaperones so that one can remain in the dressing room with the children that aren't in the scene.

For chaperoning purposes 'children' are those that are under 16 and this includes year 11 pupils if the production is before June (legal requirement to be at school).

Each chaperone is licensed by the council in which they live (could be work, I'm not sure - I know for the kids performing licenses it is where they live rather than where the show is). They need a full CRB check and then this needs to be taken to the council who issue them a chaperone license.

Hope that helps.

Hi, everyone, thanks for the responses they are very helpful.

Thanks to Chaperone too, I wasn't ignoring the PM contact we had, it was just you lived outside the Uk and I was hoping there were others who may do the job inside the UK. If that makes any sense Thanks for your reply too, it was very helpful

I also love how people think I am a 'lady' also the term 'stage mother' suggests that maybe this is not the sort of job a man should go for. It might be seen as a bit dodgy, I am also 24. The odds do not look good.

i wasn't thinking you were a lady necessarily, just that stage mothers are usually the one with their kids on set, not any kind of chaperone in general.

just like male nanny's; people aren't with the times really, but i don't mind either way. you will probably have to have a police check done as well, any job involving children does here anyway.

if you are sincere and check out, you should not be discriminated against imo.

I know one of the "Oliver" chaperones

She was approached by Sir Cameron as her kids have appeared in his musicals already. So I think a lot of it is done by people whose children are already "in the business" and have now grown up a bit. And they live in London as well.

Next time I speak to someone down there I'll try to find out for you

Lol I didn't think you were, Matt. It's ok. I just thought I post the information here as well, because it might also be useful to others.

And as for you being 24 and male, I don't see why that would be an issue. I'm 26 myself and lots of the people I work with are also in their twenties. And they're not all female either. The name "chaperone" sort of implies that one is talking about a lady (of respectable age, I might add), which is why I like our job title, which literally translates to "children's guide", better.

lol thanks Chaperone and for your PM.


Does this mean that the actual Chaperones who will do the Oliver show in London have already been hired? If so thats quite dissapointing because I thought that it might be advertised through a theatre magazine or something.