Safeguarding & child protection policy
At Sporting Champs, we take the safeguarding of all children and young people seriously. This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of Sporting Champs including senior managers, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff and students.
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. Safeguarding means:
● Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
● Preventing harm to children’s health or development
● Ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
● Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.
Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.
We believe that children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them. The policy recognises that the welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we take working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies. It is essential in promoting young people’s welfare, all children regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation have an equal right to protection from all types of harm or abuse. Some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues extra safeguards may be needed to keep children who are additionally vulnerable safe from abuse.
Sporting Champs. We all have a shared responsibility and a duty of care to safeguard our community. All members of staff, as well as volunteers and those who visit the school regularly, are all subject to enhanced DBS checks to ensure their suitability for working with children.
At Sporting Champs we will seek to keep children and young people safe by:
● Valuing, listening to and respecting them.
● Appointing a nominated child protection lead for children and young people.
● Adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers.
● To develop and implement an effective online safety policy and related procedures.
● Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers are aware and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently.
At Sporting Champs, staff are trained to know what to do should a safeguarding issue arise. Our volunteers undergo comprehensive safeguarding training so that they, too, are aware of our procedures. Mobile phones are not permitted to be used on site by visitors or volunteers, and staff have all agreed to a comprehensive mobile phone policy and do not use their phones when children are around. The policy and procedures are mandatory for everyone involved in Sporting Champs. Failure to comply with the policy and procedures will be addressed straight away and may even lead to dismissal from the organisation.
Reviewed and updated: March 2023
Review date: August 2024