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POPDANCE SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN POLICY
This describes the policy to be adopted by all Popdance Teachers for safeguarding and protecting children
Responsible Person, Safe Guarding Officer & Overall Owner of Policy – Sue Wybrow – Director and Owner of Popdance
This policy has been adopted and reviewed by Popdance Teachers who agree to abide by all controls within this policy document and will be the safeguarding officer for classes and parties that they are responsible for arranging and delivering.
Purpose
At Popdance we recognise:
• Our statutory duty under Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 to ensure that arrangements are in place for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.
• Our duty under the Children Act 2004, to work together with other organisations and partners in order to achieve this, and
• Our Common Law duty to protect and keep children safe whilst in our care.
We fully acknowledge our responsibilities for child protection and recognise that through contact with children, out teachers may become suspicious of signs that could lead them to consider that a child (an under 18) is at risk and or that harm could have occurred as a result of
something that has happened outside of the time that children have spent with them.
We recognise that for children: high self-esteem, confidence, risk awareness and good lines of communication help to reduce risks and will aim to provide this environment in the classes we run.
Aim
Our aim is to provide a safe, secure and consistent environment for the children we have responsibility for whilst they are in our care regardless of age, ethnicity/religion, disability, gender/sexuality; one in which they feel supported, valued, respected and listened to.
We will achieve this aim by:
1. Establishing a safe environment in which children can have fun, learn, develop and be listened to.
2. Adopting safe recruitment practices to check the suitability & competence of all our teachers.
3. Having in place procedures for the identification and reporting of cases where harm or risk of harm to a child is suspected. In particular we will ensure that cases are reported to the Director of Popdance and the owner of the establishment where classes are being held. Reporting in the first instance will be by telephone and this will be followed up in writing or by email
4. Monitoring and evaluating our safeguarding practices and procedures.
Roles and Responsibilities
Popdance Teachers are self employed partners or freelancers. By accepting and signing a booking confirmation with us they agree to adhere to the standards expected by Popdance® Ltd. They recognise that they have a legal duty to safeguard children during their classes and agree to discharge this duty fully in accordance with this policy.
Partners and Licencees all have access to an operations manual, code of conduct and License Agreement Form that they agree to uphold the contents of all documents. Teachers who fail to uphold this agreement will revoke their Popdance® Teacher License and will no longer be able
to run Popdance® classes.
The Popdance® Director, Sue Wybrow is committed to the highest possible standards and will not hesitate to instigate this sanction if necessary
We will:
Establish a safe environment by:
• Ensuring that the buildings & rooms where we operate are secure.
• Undertaking relevant safety checks of the area where we will operate to ensure that before a class begins the risk to children will be managed.
• Ensuring that all Teachers are risk aware and providing information as appropriate to their individual role and responsibilities.
• Ensuring that Teachers should make themselves aware of any specific arrangements in respect of the locations where they are operating, adopting all relevant practices and management systems, as required.
• Developing a culture of openness by which potential suspicions or incidents can be reported without fear.
• Establishing and maintaining an environment where children feel safe, valued, are encouraged to talk and are listened to whilst they are in our classes.
• Not allowing photographic or video images to be taken without prior consent from the child and their parent/guardian and with full information given in terms of the use of that image.
We will:
Adopt Safe Recruitment Practices by:
• Checking the suitability of all Teachers who approach us with the intention of becoming Popdance® Teachers by ensuring that they are DBS checked.
• All Teachers by agreeing to this policy confirm that they will not allow any of their staff, volunteers or other adults to have unsupervised access to children unless they have also undertaken a DBS check.
• Ensuring that a CV is obtained before a Teacher is allowed to work with children and that their identity is checked. Specifically they will be expected to have experience in teaching children dance or fitness before they can become a Teacher.
• Ensuring that Teachers provide a copy of their public liability insurance.
• Providing information to Teachers within the company manual on how they can continue to develop their own awareness and knowledge in respect of safeguarding. Actively encouraging them to undertake their own additional training.
• By working closely with new Teachers and including this as a topic within the induction process, in particular to ensure that they are aware of how to report any concerns that they may have and their responsibility to act and work in the confidence, seeking support and guidance from the director of Popdance® and/or the establishment where they are working depending on the specific circumstances.
• All Teachers by agreeing to this policy confirm that they will not allow any of their staff, volunteers or other adults to have unsupervised access to children unless they have also undertaken a DBS check.
• By providing information and updates as procedural changes occur or new methods of safe guarding are adopted.
• Having a complaints procedure in place whereby any complaints relating to a Teacher can be reported in confidence. Specifically this will be by contacting Popdance® directly.
• Communicating our safeguarding procedures clearly to parents so that they are aware of the precautions we have in place and why they are there.
We will:
Raise Awareness of Children in our care by:
• Ensuring that they know who they can approach if they are worried or concerned.
• By reminding them at the start of classes what they can or can not do for the purposes of safe guarding.
We will:
Support particularly vulnerable children in our classes by:
• Speaking to their designated carer before a class begins so that we can be aware of any sensitivities that they may have.
• By supporting them throughout the class so that they feel included and part of a group.
• Following our own reporting procedures as described above as necessary.
We will:
Monitor & Evaluate our Safeguarding Practices by:
• Reviewing the contents of the policy regularly by the date specified on the 1st page or sooner if circumstances change.
• Working with Teachers to ensure that all classes are operated to the standards expected by Popdance®.
• By Teachers undertaking visual checks of the areas where classes are undertaken before they start to ensure that any obvious hazards are removed.
• Identifying and responding to new/revised guidance issued by government bodies, the Local Safeguarding Children Board and the Local Authority.
Teachers should work with the local authorities with whom they operate to ensure that they are aware of any specific arrangements in place for their area and adopt them as relevant within this policy document
Popdance Ltd
Tel: +44 (0)7957 163786 [email protected] – www.popdance.co.uk
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