CHILD PROTECTION AND SAFEGUARDING POLICY

 

 Jennifer Todd School of Dance

 

 

Policy: Child Protection and Safeguarding

Date Adopted: 10/08/2020

Date of last review: 10/08/2019

To be reviewed next before/on: 10/08/2021

 

 Purpose and Statement:

Children and young people have the right to be safe and happy whilst participating in activities organised by Jennifer Todd School of Dance. The company therefore takes all reasonable precautions to safeguard the welfare of the young people who work and train with us.

 

This child protection policy and associated procedures have been drawn up for the benefit of children and young people under the age of 18, or adults who may be considered vulnerable.  They apply to all the teaching and support staff, voluntary class assistants and artists engaged by the company.

 

In accordance with the provisions of The Children Act 1989, the "welfare of children is paramount".  This means that some of the usual considerations of confidentiality may be superseded by the need to protect children, young people and vulnerable adults (collectively referred to as 'young people' in this document).

 

The person at who has overall responsibility for child protection issues with Jennifer Todd School of Dance is the principal, Jennifer Carr, 07989306660.  They have received training in the protection of young people and is responsible for ensuring that the company's policies and procedures are kept up to date and adhered to by Jennifer Todd School of Dance’s staff.  She is also the person to whom any concerns regarding suspected child abuse should be addressed. The principal is also responsible for health and safety matters within the company. However, it is not their role to decide whether a young person has been abused or not; this is the job of the statutory authorities to whom she has a duty to report possible child abuse. 

 

Review and monitoring of policy:

• Reviewed annually or in instances of legislative change

• Monitoring is part of Management and Supervision

 

The following policy is based on the below principles:

• The welfare of the child is paramount

• All children, whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin religious beliefs and/or sexual identity have the right to protection from abuse

• All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately

• All staff (paid/unpaid) have a responsibility to report concerns to the Designated Person with responsibility for child protection

• Staff/volunteers are not trained to deal with situations of abuse or to decide if abuse has occurred

 

We will aim to safeguard children by:

·       Adopting child protection guidelines through procedures and a code of conduct for staff and volunteers

·       Sharing information about child protection and good practice with children, parents and carers, staff and volunteers

·       Sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving parents and children appropriately

·       Carefully following the procedures for recruitment and selection of staff and volunteers

·       Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through support, supervision and training

·       We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice regularly

 

 

Child Protection:
When recruiting staff and volunteers, the company takes up a minimum of two references and requires an Enhanced Disclosure certificate from the Disclosure and Barring Service. This is a check that reveals whether the prospective member of staff is known to the police in relation to committing offences against children and any other convictions and/or cautions.

 

Every Jennifer Todd School of Dance activity has a teacher or other responsible adult who is in charge and has overall responsibility for the welfare of the participants.

 

Young people will be supervised by adults throughout the session, including during breaks.  However, this only applies from the advertised start of the session and if children arrive early then parents and carers should take steps to ensure they are properly looked after until the session starts. Parents and carers also need to ensure that children are collected promptly at the end of sessions.

 

All activities organised by Jennifer Todd School of Dance are subject to risk assessments both during the planning stage and by monitoring the activity.  Appropriate steps are taken to minimise any risks identified.  

 

Arts activities often involve physical contact between participants and between staff and participants.  Physical contact will only be made when it is necessary in relation to the particular arts activity and with the agreement of the young people involved.

 

We will not use photographic images of young people, for example for publicity purposes, without written permission from the legal guardian.  Even when such permission is given, the young person's full name and address will not be revealed.

 

We keep records about participants so that we know whom to contact in case of an emergency, whether they suffer from any allergies, have a medical condition or a disability/special need and for monitoring purposes.  These records are treated as confidential except where relevant information is given to class teachers/persons in charge.

 

If a participant arrives at a session with a visible injury, this will be noted in the Accident Book. If a participant sustains an injury during a session, this will also be recorded in the company's Accident Book and treatment given if appropriate.  In the event of a serious incident, the parent/carer will be contacted immediately. A telephone (landline or mobile) is always available for staff to use in case of an emergency. 

 

This policy sets out agreed guidelines relating to the following areas:

• Responding to allegations of abuse, including those made against staff and volunteers

• Supervision of organisational activities
   

 

Appropriate Physical Touch:

As Performing Arts practitioners and facilitators, there may be occasions when physical touch between students and staff, and students and other students is appropriate.

Touch Between Students and Staff:
There are three reasons why contact between student/staff could be deemed appropriate.

A) A distressed pupil needs comfort and reassurance which may include physical comfort such as a caring parent would give. Staff should use their discretion in such cases to ensure that what is, and what is seen to be by others present, normal and natural, does not become unnecessary and unjustified contact, particularly with the same pupil over a period of time. Where a member of staff has a particular concern about the need to provide this type of care and reassurance, he/she should seek the advice.

(B) Some staff are likely to come into physical contact with pupils from time to time in the course of their duties. An example is demonstrating a movement or position during class. Staff should be aware of the limits within which such contact should properly take place and of the possibility of such contact being misinterpreted.

(C) There may be occasions where it is necessary for staff to restrain a pupil physically to prevent him/her from inflicting injury to others or self-injury, damaging property, or causing disruption. In such cases only the minimum force necessary may be used and any action taken must be to restrain the pupil. Where an employee has taken action to physically restrain a pupil, he/she should make a written report of the incident & submit it to the DSL, Jennifer Carr immediately.

Touch Between Student and Student:

During the course of Jennifer Todd School of Dance activities students may find physical touch an important part of their learning and development. Such as dramatic scenes, improvisation and chorography. 

Facilitators should be encouraged to keep this to a minimum, and ensure all students involved feel comfortable with any touch involved. Physical contact should be limited to what the facilitator deems necessary and should never be sexual/violent in content. 

If touch between students becomes violent, the DSL must be informed immediately, and a full incident report written.  
 

Supervisory arrangements for the management of Jennifer Todd School of Dance activities and services.

We will aim to protect children from abuse and our team members from false allegations by adopting the following guidelines:

• We will keep a register of all children attending our activities

• We will keep a register of all team members (both paid staff members and volunteers)

• Staff will note their arrival and departure times and the names of others in the building at the time

• We will keep a record of all sessions including monitoring and evaluation records

• Our team members will record any unusual events on the accident/incident form

• Written consent from a parent or guardian will be obtained for every child attending our activities

• Where possible our team members should not be alone with a child, although we recognise that there may be times when this may be necessary or helpful

• Team members should escort children to the toilet but are not expected to be involved with toileting, unless the child has a special need that has been brought to our attention by the parent/guardian

• We recognise that physical touch between adults and children can be healthy and acceptable in public places. However, our team members will be discouraged from this in circumstances where an adult or child are left alone

• All team members should treat all children with dignity and respect in attitude, language and actions

 

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ONLINE CLASSES (COVID 19) – Added to policy 20th March 2020

 

Due to the prevalence of COVID-19 and under guidance from the UK Government Jennifer Todd School of Dance are delivering lessons via an online video conferencing software called Zoom as of Monday 23rdMarch.

 

Jennifer Todd School of Dance safeguarding policies will be followed as normal, with some additional precautions. Terms and conditions and risk assessments have been updated to reflect new conditions.

Zoom is an unaffiliated company, and attendees must agree to their terms and conditions. Online security and GDPR have been assessed and deemed acceptable. 

 

Attendees join through private links sent only to people who have pre-booked sessions. Session leaders add attendees through waiting room feature to ensure only Jennifer Todd School of Dance students have access. 

 

All attendees must use their webcam at all times. 

 

 

All staff to be briefed on additional safeguarding procedure as noted in risk assessment. 

 

At Jennifer Todd School of Dance we have the following policies in place that should be read in conjunction with this section:

• Child Protection and Safeguarding (Online) 2020

 

Support and Training:

We, Jennifer Todd School of Dance are committed to the provision of child protection training for all our team members.

 

The Designated Person(s) will update their/his/her Child Safeguarding Officer training every three years or after legislative change, whichever occurs first.