Guidance
Children on Stage
Licensing, chaperones and council visits — a free guide for dance schools, stage schools and amateur companies.
When children perform, the local authority can visit the venue — sometimes unannounced — to check that your young cast is safe, well cared for and properly supervised backstage. This guide explains what an officer looks for in a school hall or hired theatre: child performance licences and parental consents, approved chaperones and ratios, dressing rooms and welfare, rest breaks and performance hours, daily records, risk assessments and the fire plan. It ends with a printable show-week checklist to pin up backstage.
Inspection & Testing
What your venue’s electrical and mechanical installations legally require — and what the standards simply recommend.
Legislation, Approved Codes of Practice, British Standards and industry guidance all say something slightly different, and it is rarely obvious which documents create a legal duty and which only offer advice. This free guide brings the key references together in one place for theatres, schools, village halls and live event venues — covering fixed wiring and portable appliance testing, suspension and lifting equipment. Every reference is tagged Statutory, Code of Practice or Guidance, so you can see at a glance what you must do and what is best practice.
