The Datum Report

Occupation 9232 · Elementary occupations

School midday and crossing patrol occupations

Half of full-time school midday and crossing patrol occupations in the UK earn more than £21,678 a year, and half earn less.

School midday and crossing patrol occupations supervise the activities of school children during break and meal times and assist children to cross roads in the vicinity of schools.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements. Some employers may expect candidates to show previous experience in caring for children. Training is provided Off and on-the-job. A DBS check is mandatory.

What the work involves

• supervises the playground activities of children during meal and break times
• cares for sick children and administers first aid if necessary
• assists young children with feeding, dressing, washing and toiletry activities
• meets children wanting to cross the road and directs them to wait at the kerb
• waits for a safe gap in traffic and walks to the centre of road
• signals approaching traffic to stop by using hand signals and school crossing signs
• directs children to cross the road when safe

Also called

Dinner lady (schools) · Lunchtime supervisor · Midday assistant · School crossing patrol officer

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for school midday and crossing patrol occupations, full-time employees, 2024 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 0 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Exam invigilators · Security guards and related occupations