School Lunchtime Supervisor Employment Contract UK

Responsibilities reflected in the contract

• Supervise pupils in dining and play areas.
• Support orderly meals and allergy procedures.
• Encourage safe inclusive play and behaviour.
• Respond within trained first-aid arrangements.
• Record incidents concerns and class handovers.

A realistic working scenario

On a busy school lunchtime the Lunchtime Supervisor runs allocated dining and playground zones, follows lesson or activity plans for supervised play, records attendance and any welfare observations in attendance and progress records, completes handover checks, reports behavioural incidents and safeguarding disclosures for immediate escalation to the practice or department manager and follows Ofsted escalation routes when required.

Outputs to agree

• Supervised dining and playground rotas delivered to the standards in lesson or activity plans.
• Completed attendance and progress records for pupils on duty, with any anomalies flagged.
• Incident and safeguarding reports submitted to the practice or department manager using safeguarding records.
• End-of-shift handover note completed for teachers and support staff.
• Updates to parents or carers on routine meal arrangements when authorised.

Records and evidence

• Attendance and progress records for pupils present during lunchtime duties.
• Safeguarding records for disclosures, welfare concerns and referrals.
• Handover notes for teachers, support staff and the practice or department manager.
• Lesson or activity plans where lunchtime activities follow classroom programmes.
• Incident reports for behavioural events, injuries or damaged property.
• Work records.

Reporting relationship

Typically reports to Senior Manager, Director or Business Owner. Confirm the employer's actual reporting structure in the builder.

Authority and escalation

• The Lunchtime Supervisor must not approve deviations from duty rotas, long-term changes to meal arrangements or formal curriculum changes. Immediate safeguarding disclosures, suspected abuse or serious injuries must be escalated to the practice or department manager and recorded in safeguarding records. Minor first-aid may be administered within training limits; any treatment beyond basic first-aid, damaged property beyond quick fixes, or parental complaints requiring concessions must be passed to the practice or department manager for decision and recorded.
• May allocate routine work and make operational decisions only within documented staffing, financial, contractual and policy limits.

Supervision

• Supervise pupils in dining and play areas.
• Allocate and review assigned work within delegated authority and escalate formal people matters through the Employer's procedures.

Tools and systems

• Learning platforms.
• Assessment records.
• Classroom equipment.

Workplace context

• School, college or other agreed education premises and authorised off-site educational activities.

Training and certification

• Complete employer-required safeguarding training.

Contract priorities

• Protect pupil, parent and learning-support records and report any suspected unauthorised access.
• Maintain accurate attendance and progress records and complete handovers each shift.
• Escalate safeguarding disclosures, serious injuries, repeated behaviour incidents or attendance anomalies to the practice or department manager.
• Use learning platforms, assessment records and classroom equipment only for authorised lunchtime supervision tasks.
• Follow Ofsted escalation and the Employer's education operational controls that apply to lunchtime supervisor work.

Information the employer should prepare

• the pupil ages areas and rota
• the meal allergy and packed-lunch controls
• the playground boundaries and wet-weather plan
• the behaviour first-aid and safeguarding routes
• the term-time hours training and cover process