Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy
Last Update Date: 1st February 2024
Adopted by UK Sports Nut Ltd (known as Sports Nut for this purposes of this document)
Next Review Date: 1st February 2025
Safeguarding Policy
Sports Nut believes that a child’s welfare is everyone’s responsibility and looking after children is an obligation we take very seriously.
We also recognise this obligation regarding vulnerable adults in the community. Sports Nut’s procedures stem from the principle that the individual’s welfare is the first consideration and that all people regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual identity, or any disability they might have, have the right to be protected. Sports Nut will support anyone who in good faith reports any concerns that a child or vulnerable adult is either at risk or being abused. Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional or by neglect, and can be from an action or an inaction. Sports Nut acknowledges the duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and is committed to ensuring safeguarding practice reflects statutory responsibilities, government guidance and complies with best practice and Swim England Wavepower Child Protection Policy, as well as The British Triathlon Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.
The policy recognises that the welfare and interests of children are paramount in all circumstances. It aims to ensure that regardless of age, gender, religion or beliefs, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or socio-economic background, all children;
- have a positive and enjoyable experience at Sports Nut, in a safe and child centred environment
- are protected from abuse whilst participating in lessons provided by Sports Nut or outside of the activity.
Sports Nut acknowledges that children can be particularly vulnerable to abuse and we accept the responsibility to take reasonable and appropriate steps to ensure their welfare.
As part of our safeguarding policy Sports Nut will;
- promote and prioritise the safety and wellbeing of children and young people
- ensure all adults working with children for Sports Nut are registered with the DBS Scheme in England and have undergone relevant child protection training. Relevant DBS details such as reference number and date completed are stored centrally and are checked regularly to ensure the details are updated when documents are due for renewal.
- ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities in respect of safeguarding and is provided with appropriate learning opportunities to recognise, identify and respond to signs of abuse, neglect and other safeguarding concerns relating to children and young people through either an online Safeguarding Course or by attending a UK Coaching Safeguarding and Protecting children course.
- ensure appropriate action is taken in the event of incidents/concerns of abuse and support provided to the individual(s) who raise or disclose the concern.
- ensure that confidential, detailed and accurate records of all safeguarding concerns are maintained and securely stored.
- prevent the employment/deployment of unsuitable individuals by completing all suitable checks prior to the start of employment/deployment of all individuals.
- ensure robust safeguarding arrangements and procedures are in operation.
- If an allegation is made against a member of staff or delivery team then effective support will be provided until full investigation has taken place.
As part of our safeguarding policy Sports Nut expects its employees to;
- Collect all children from poolside or meet-up area, complete the register via the tablet provided. This ensures that all children are present and correct at the start of each lesson and that there is a comprehensive head count of all participating children should an emergency arise.
- Follow appropriate procedures in the event of lateness or absence of a participant.
- Work in an open environment where easily visible to others.
- Ensure that if a child needs to leave poolside during their lesson, then their parent is aware and the parent can supervise them if they so wish.
- At the end of the lesson take all children back to poolside or pick-up area to be handed over to the correct parent/carer.
- When speaking with parents ensure that it is the correct parent and that no information regarding other children is discussed. No other children should be named when speaking to parents.
- Ensure that all information received whilst teaching for Sports Nut must be treated as confidential and not shared with other teachers, third parties or anyone else other than their line manager.
- Where possible deliver hands-off teaching, especially whilst teaching in the pool. It is best practice and will keep individuals safe from accusations unless to prevent danger to themselves or others.
- Ensure that should a child need to receive medical attention; this must always be carried out by a responsible First Aider with another adult (preferably parent/carer) present. Any medical treatment must be recorded in the medical incident report file.
- Avoid unaccompanied time with children or vulnerable adults.
- Adhere to the Swim England Wavepower safeguarding children document.
Dealing with allegations against the Sports Nut team;
The procedure for dealing with allegations made against staff will be used where the individual has:
- Behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child
- Possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child; or
- Behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates he or she would pose a risk of harm if he or she works regularly or closely with children
If there is an accusation against a member of the delivery team they would be removed from delivery while a full investigation is completed.
The policy and procedures will be widely promoted and are mandatory for everyone involved in Sports Nut. Failure to comply with the policy and procedures will be addressed without delay and may ultimately result in dismissal/exclusion from the organisation.
The policy will be reviewed every year after development or in the following circumstances:
- changes in legislation and/or government guidance-as required by the Local Safeguarding Children Board, UK Sport and/or Home Country Sports Councils by the Safeguarding Officers regularly monitoring for updates, with automatic alerts established to ensure this is monitored
- as a result of any other significant change or event.
Safeguarding & Protecting Children & Young People
Support Organisations
- Child Line 0800 800 5000
- NSPCC (CPSU) Helpline 24hour helpline 0800 8005 000
- Police 999
- Swim Line 0808 100 4001
Responding to Signs or Suspicions of Abuse
Commitment to working with parents and carers is important when having concerns about a young person’s wellbeing. Therefore, in most situations, it would be important to talk to parents or carers to help clarify any initial concerns. For example, if a person seems withdrawn, there may be a reasonable explanation. He/she may have experienced an upset in the family such as parental separation or divorce or bereavement.
There are circumstances in which a young person might be placed at even greater risk if such concerns were shared (e.g. where a parent or carer may be responsible for the abuse or not able to respond to the situation appropriately). In these situations, or where concerns still exist, any suspicion, allegation or incident of abuse must be reported to the Safeguarding Lead as soon as possible and recorded. Parents should not be contacted if the concern is about sexual abuse. This will be done by social care and/or the police at the appropriate time.
Useful Websites
If there is an emergency ALWAYS dial 999.
Recording and Reporting Allegations
If a child or young person says or indicates that he or she is being abused, or information is obtained which gives concern that a child or a young person is being abused, you should respond immediately and take the allegation seriously.
The Safeguarding Lead may be informed of situations where there is uncertainty about whether or not the allegation constitutes abuse or not and therefore are unclear about what action to take. There may be circumstances where allegations are about poor practice rather than abuse but those responsible should always consult the Safeguarding Lead or gain advice from social care, the police or the NSPCC if there is any doubt. Sometimes it may be one of a series of incidents which when added together cause concern.
The following steps must be taken;
Make a full record of what has been said, heard and/or seen as soon as possible, information should include the following:
- Name of child/young person at risk.
- Age of child/young person at risk and date of birth.
- Home address and telephone number.
- Is the person making the report expressing their own concerns or those of someone else? In the latter case, also include the other person’s details.
- What is the nature of the allegation? Include dates, times and special factors and other relevant information.
- Make a clear distinction between what is fact, opinion or hearsay.
- A description of any visible bruising or other injuries.
- Witnesses to the incidents.
- The child/young person at risk account, if it can be given, of what has happened and how any bruising or injuries have occurred.
- Have the parents/carers been contacted?
- If so, what has been said?
- Has anyone else been consulted? If so record details.
- If it is not the child/young person at risk making the report has the child/young person concerned been spoken to? If so what was said?
- Has anyone been alleged to be the abuser? Record details.
Speaking to the Child;
In speaking to children regarding suspected or alleged abuse, ensure you do the following:
Do:
- allow the child time to speak
- react calmly so as not to frighten the child
- reassure the child and ensure that the allegations will be taken seriously
- take what the child says seriously, recognising the difficulties inherent in interpreting what is said by a child who has a speech impairment and/or differences in language
- keep questions to the absolute minimum to ensure a clear and accurate understanding of what has been said
- reassure the child but do not make promises of confidentiality which might not be feasible in the light of subsequent developments
Do not:
- show any feelings of anger, disgust, and disbelief to the child as they may stop talking for fear of upsetting the person further or feel that the negative feelings are being directed towards them
- interrupt or make suggestions to the child
- ask probing or leading questions
- speculate or make assumptions
- make negative comments about the alleged abuser
- approach the alleged abuser
- make promises to keep secrets
Inform the Safeguarding Lead;
Once the Safeguarding Lead has been informed, it is their responsibility to refer to the social care department by telephone and confirm it in writing within one day. The Safeguarding Lead is to report allegations and/or suspicions of abuse to social care; and if there are issues of poor practice this must be reported to the appropriate organisation or governing body.
Reporting the matter to the police or social care department should not be delayed by attempts to obtain more information. Wherever possible, referrals telephoned to the social care department should be confirmed in writing within 24 hours by the Safeguarding Lead. A record should also be made of the name and designation of the social care member of staff or the police officer to whom the concerns were passed, together with the time and date of the call, in case any follow-up is needed. A copy of this information may be sent to the NGB and Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) as appropriate.
If there is an emergency ALWAYS dial 999
Safeguarding Lead: Mark Tennant safeguarding@sports-nut.co.uk
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is a key issue in safeguarding work. Whilst information should not be shared freely, it must be shared with appropriate agencies to ensure that a child is not left unprotected. Decisions on who needs to be informed should be taken by the Safeguarding Lead after discussion with social care.
- Remember that the Data Protection Act is not a barrier to sharing information
- Be open and honest
- Seek advice
- Share with consent where appropriate
- Consider safety and well-being necessary, proportionate, relevant, accurate, timely and secure
- Keep a record
Sharing Information
- Sharing of information between practitioners and organisations is essential for effective identification, assessment, risk management and service provision. Fears about sharing information cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk of abuse or neglect.
- Personal information held by Sports Nut is subject to a legal duty of confidentiality and will not normally be disclosed without the consent of the individual. However, the right to confidentiality and respect for private and family life (Article 8, Human Rights Act, 1998) is not absolute.
- Sports Nut recognises that information sharing between key organisations is essential to safeguard children at risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation. A key factor in many serious case reviews has been a failure to record information, to share it, to understand the significance of the information shared, and to take appropriate action in relation to known or suspected abuse or neglect.
- Sports Nut will ensure that confidential information is only shared where it is lawful and ethical to do so
Training
- Sports Nut identifies that training and raising awareness of safeguarding issues, policies and procedures is fundamental to the development and maintenance of a safe environment and safer organisation.
- Sports Nut will also ensure that all teachers/coaches are trained to the appropriate standards in safeguarding to maintain and promote safer staff, safer culture and a safer organisation.
- Teachers and coaches will receive training in safeguarding to a level which is commensurate to the level of responsibility of the role that is being performed. This will usually be the NSPCC course ‘Child Protection in Sport and Physical Activity’.
- The Safeguarding Lead will attend the Designated Safeguarding Lead (Level 3) training delivered by High Speed Training and will attend regular updates as recommended.
- Safeguarding training will not be regarded as a ‘once only’ activity, but as on-going development of skills and knowledge of safeguarding. Safeguarding refresher training events will be provided at least every three years and in response to staff turnover within the planned team skills development programme, led by the Operations Director.
Photography Consent Policy Statement
Use of mobile phones and any electronic or photography equipment are not permitted to be used in the changing rooms or in the viewing area of children swimming. If anyone is seen to take images or videos staff will ask for them to be deleted.
Code of conduct
We expect a lot from our employees. Our good name and our success have been achieved by ensuring that all those working with us uphold our standards and high level of customer service. Sports Nut expects employees to behave appropriately, courteously, professionally and responsibly within the following guidelines:
- Ensure that the interests of children, parents and clients remain paramount at all times
- Go beyond the call of duty for our children, parents and clients
- Observe all legal and ethical requirements applicable to the business
- Keep confidential all information gained during the course of employment about Sports Nut or that of customers and other stakeholders
Code of Ethics for Sports Nut
The Sports Nut Code of Ethics establishes and maintains the standards we expect for our team. Staff are accountable for their actions and must keep appropriate records.
The Code of Ethics is written to establish and maintain standards within Sports Nut such as Integrity, Responsibility, Competence and Confidentiality. This Code of Ethics is applicable to all people working for Sports Nut
All staff will;
- respect everyone who works within the Sports Nut team
- treat all participants equally within the context of the activity regardless of gender, ethnic origin, sexuality, religion, disability or political persuasion
- be primarily concerned with the health and wellbeing of the participants and only secondary with the optimisation of their performance
- encourage & develop independence in the individuals to take responsibility of their own actions
- set and maintain clear boundaries between the participant / staff relationship. Never leave yourself in a situation where you are alone with a child and/ or in a situation that could be misinterpreted, not only by the participant, but by outsiders motivated by jealousy, dislike or mistrust and could lead to allegations of sexual misconduct or impropriety
Commitment
Each member of staff will commit to their roles and responsibilities and endeavour to support children and their families throughout their Sports Nut journey.
Confidentiality
The Sports Nut team inevitably gather a great deal of personal information about participants and their families in the course of a working relationship. During the term of your engagement or at any time thereafter, you must not:
- Divulge or communicate to any unauthorised person any information regarding Sports Nut business or that of any client, customer.
- Use for your own purposes or for any purposes other than those of Sports Nut any information regarding Sports Nut business or that of any client, customer
- Cause any unauthorised disclosure, through any failure to exercise due care and attention of any information regarding Sports Nut business or that of any customer.
- You shall not without the prior consent of Sports Nut, either directly or indirectly, make any public statements, posts on social media, detrimental or otherwise, or be involved in or assist in the publication of any article relating to the business affairs of Sports Nut, any officers, Instructors, employees, or third parties in any way associated with Sports Nut, or any information relating to Sports Nut.
Personal Standards
The Sports Nut team must consistently display high personal standards and project a favourable image of their sport and of Sports Nut to participants, guardians, team members and the general public.
Personal appearance is crucial. Staff must wear appropriate Sports Nut uniform at all times. All staff also have an obligation to project an image of health, cleanliness and functional efficiency. Staff should not drink alcohol prior to teaching.
Safety
Teachers have a responsibility to ensure the safety of the participants with whom they work as far as possible within the limits of their control.
- All reasonable steps should be taken to establish a safe working environment.
- The activity being undertaken should be suitable for the age, experience and ability of the participants.
- Participants should have been systematically prepared for the activity being undertaken and made aware of their personal responsibilities in terms of safety.
Issues of competence
- Teachers should regularly seek ways of increasing their professional development and self-awareness.
- Teachers should welcome evaluation of their work by a colleague and be able to account to performers, employers, Governing Bodies for their actions.
Best Practice
- Sports Nut’s procedures stem from the principle that the individual’s welfare is the first consideration and that all people regardless of age gender, ethnicity, sexual identity, or any disability they might have, have the right to be protected. Sports Nut will support anyone who in good faith reports and concerns that a child or vulnerable adult is either at risk or being abused. Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional or by neglect, and can be from an action or inaction.
- Staff are taught good practice for working with children, following guidelines that include minimising physical contact, although physical support or manual communication is occasionally necessary in swimming teaching. Where it is necessary to support a child with a physical disability the parent or carer’s views are sought.
Unacceptable practice by staff;
- Allow or engage in any form of inappropriate touching.
- Make sexually suggestive remarks to a child or young people.
- Reduce a child to tears as a form of control.
- Allow children to use inappropriate language unchallenged.
- Allow allegations made by a child to go unchallenged, unrecorded or not acted upon.
- Leave the pool venue before all participants have been collected or are continuing to be supervised by appropriate Sports Nut staff.
- Abuse your position of power or trust with children or adults.
- Resort to bullying tactics or verbal abuse.
- Cause a participant to lose self-esteem by embarrassing, humiliating or undermining the individual.
- Spend excessive amounts of time with one particpant to the detriment of the group.
- Do things of a personal nature for young people that they can do for themselves.
Teacher Expectations
Based on great practice in teaching, the following are the expectations and standards that Sports Nut has set out for the teachers to follow:
- Set out all the equipment needed, check all registers and lesson plans are in place, and most importantly, be there to welcome the children as they arrive for their lesson.
- Take responsibility for completing your own register via the online Sports Nut hub CRM system access by a tablet.
- Keep sessions to time and have a lesson plan in place to include actions and games linked to that weeks theme.
- Provide a great customer experience for children and parents
- Actively show the children and parents that you are enthusiastic at every lesson and deliver all teaching activities and teaching points with confidence and accuracy.
- Resolve any parent enquires as soon as possible, reporting any parent queries to head office.
- Ensure all progress records are kept up to date within 24 hours
- Work as one team to support and learn from each other, and to deliver great lessons – every week.
- Wear Sports Nut uniform and remember you are a really important role model for children, and for the Sports Nut programme.
Missing Child Prevention
It’s very unlikely a child will go missing from lessons as teachers are in close proximity to them throughout their entire lesson, preventative measures should always be in place to ensure the missing child procedure is never necessary however we have it in place as an emergency.
- Always be aware of each and every child in your lesson.
- Ensure registers are taken and up to date
- Never allow a child to go to the toilet alone
- Once a child has been put into your care do not allow a child to leave unless it is directly into the care of their guardian or someone a guardian has nominated to collect them.
- Ensure parents are aware children must be handed directly to you and that you are unable to release them from your care unless it is directly to them
Missing Child Procedure
In the unlikely event a child does go missing from your care, the following actions should be taken:
- Ensure the other children in the group are taken care of appropriately whilst a search for the child is conducted
- Locate and inform the child’s parents or nominate an appropriate person to do this
- Alert your Sports Nut line manager or one of the Directors
- Organise all responsible available adults by areas to be searched
- Search the area in which the child has gone missing, include changing rooms, toilets, showers, public and private areas and the venues grounds
- Request that all those searching report back to a nominated adult at a specific point
- Make a note of the circumstances in which the child has gone missing, where he/she was last seen
- Prepare a detailed description of the child and their clothing/swimwear including, age, sex, height, hair colour, eye colour
- If the search is unsuccessful, report the concern to the police. This must happen no later than 30 minutes after the child’s disappearance is noted even if the search is not complete
- Follow police guidance if further action is recommended and maintain close contact with the police
- Ensure you inform everybody involved if the child is located