SAFEGUARDING POLICY

 

This policy is to be read in conjunction with Clubland Playscheme's  Child Protection Procedure and Basic Safeguarding Training document.

 

1.    AIM OF THIS POLICY

Clubland is fully committed to safeguarding and protecting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk by taking all reasonable steps to protect them from threats, risks and vulnerabilities. All team members will at all times show respect and understanding for the rights, safety and welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk with whom the organisation comes into contact, and conduct themselves in a way that reflects our principles.

We will respond promptly and appropriately to all incidents or concerns regarding the safety of a child that may occur. Our child protection procedures comply with all relevant legislation and with guidance issued by the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership.

2.    HOW WE SAFEGUARD AT CLUBLAND

There are a number of ways in which we ensure the safeguarding and wellbeing of the children at Clubland. These include:

• Adhering to current safer recruitment guidelines when recruiting all staff members, which include enhanced references and checks. Our full recruitment process can be found in our Safer Recruitment Policy.
• Aligning our safeguarding procedures with the government statutory guidance in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’
• Communicating to parents/carers, children and our staff members what our expectations are of their behaviour, and what they can expect in return.
• Ensuring arrangements are in place to maintain the health and wellbeing of all children, staff members and parents/carers through effective risk assessments and our Health and Safety Policy.
• Ensuring children are accessing the internet safely whilst in our care and encouraging safe access of the internet outside of our care through our Internet Safety Policy.
• Fostering a culture of safety in which the children and staff are protected from abuse, harm, and distress caused through the use of mobile phones and other wearable technology through our Mobile Phone and Wearable Technology Policy.
• Keeping safeguarding as a permanent agenda item at all staff meetings, enabling them the opportunity to raise any concerns or issues.
• Maintaining the confidentiality of children and parents attending Clubland and protecting our staff through our Social Media Policy.
• Promoting an awareness and vigilance among staff around child abuse and the risk of radicalisation through our staff induction and training programme, ensuring they understand their statutory duties with regards to concerns, disclosures, allegations and the Prevent Duty. More information on this can be found in our Staff Induction and Training Policy.
• Providing information to parents/carers, children and staff members to allow them to raise concerns or complaints about safeguarding concerns.
• Taking a proactive approach to safeguarding which constantly reviews our practice and responds to issues promptly and competently. 

3.    OUR SAFEGUARDING LEADS

Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is:
Emily McCartney, Deputy Director 

Our Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads are:
Carrie Nixon, Regional Manager
Wendy Tyler, HR Administrator

The above named persons can be contacted through our head office on 0208 979 3100.

Their role is to:

• Oversee and ensure that our safeguarding policy and related policies and procedures are current, fully implemented and shared with relevant practitioners
• Ensure all staff members receive safeguarding training that is up to national standards and appropriate to their role upon their induction and continuously throughout their professional career
• Undertake and update training every two years and be aware of and follow local arrangements
• Ensure our safeguarding standards are communicated to all staff members
• Ensure DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) recruiting and reporting procedures are adhered to
• Keep all records confidential, in line with statutory guidance and GDPR, ensuring due regard to principles which allow both sharing and withholding personal information
• Ensure reports are made to the relevant agency in all cases where children or vulnerable adults are thought to be at risk
• Support and provide advice and assistance to the setting-based safeguarding leads

Our setting based Designated Safeguarding Leads are:

Claygate Primary School: Kim Waters, Playscheme Manager and Lydia Allen, Deputy Manager
Cranmere Primary School:  Wendy Tyler, Playscheme Manager 
Long Ditton Infant School: Andreja Vukovic, Playscheme Manager and Mairead Halliday, Deputy Manager
Royal Kent School: Sally Offen, Playscheme Manager
Thames Ditton Infant School: Carrie Nixon, Playscheme Manager and Trina Lowther, Deputy Manager

The above named persons can be contacted in person at the relevant setting or by telephone on the setting mobile during opening hours (setting mobile numbers can be found on the Clubland website).

Their role is to:

• Be a point of contact for safeguarding concerns risen by children, parents, teachers, staff members and accompanying adults
• Assess the information promptly and carefully, clarifying or obtaining more information about the matter as appropriate
• Initially consult with relevant members of the safeguarding team and locally with C-SPA to test out any doubts or uncertainty about the concerns as soon as possible
• Make a formal request for support to C-SPA or contact the police, if a crime has, or may have been committed, without delay. Clubland Playscheme Ltd recognises that it is not the role of the organisation to investigate or to decide whether or not a child has been abused.

4.    FURTHER DETAILS ON SAFEGUARDING

In support of safeguarding and protecting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk at Clubland, we have a number of policies in place, the key points of which are:

Safer Recruitment

We have a clear recruitment process which adheres to safer recruitment guidelines. Our policy ensures a set of practices to help make sure our staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children and young people. It is a vital part of creating a safe and positive environment and making a commitment to keep children safe from harm.

Through our recruitment process we look to deter those who are unsuitable to work with children and young people from applying for roles at the company by being clear about our expectation of staff to share our commitment to safeguarding children, and being upfront that any appointment will be subject to rigorous safeguarding checks.

At each stage in the recruitment process we seek to identify and reject any candidates who are unsuitable by understanding their background, experience of working with children and knowledge of safeguarding, attaining references and enhanced DBS checks and securing a signed declaration about any criminal record and disqualification by association.

Through the probationary period, staff members will be expected to read and understand all policies related to their role, undertake safeguarding training and be responsible for meeting a number of personalised objectives that will ensure their practice is enhanced. They will be monitored regularly throughout this period and attend a final review after three months.

All our staff are required to register for the DBS Update Service and we carry out termly checks on these.

Health and Safety

Clubland Playscheme considers health and safety to be of utmost importance. We comply with The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 at all times and we have appropriate insurance cover, including employer’s liability insurance and public liability insurance.

Each member of staff follows the Club’s Health and Safety policy and is responsible for:

• Maintaining a safe environment
• Taking reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves and others attending the club
• Reporting all accidents and incidents which have caused injury or damage or may do so in the future
• Undertaking relevant health and safety training when required to do so by the manager.

Internet Safety

Our registration systems are managed online throughout our secure booking system Magicbooking. These are accessed via the internet on tablets on site. The tablets themselves have parental controls applied to the internet settings and are password protected. The children are not allowed access to these devices.

In settings where the children have access to the schools ICT suite, they use their own school log ins to access the computers or a specific Clubland Playscheme one which is specifically set up for use by the children. In both these cases the log ins will be restricted to only access content that appropriate for their age group. When accessing computers the children will be closely monitored by staff.

Children are not allowed to bring in and use their own devices to our breakfast and afterschool clubs however they are allowed to bring these in to our holiday club and are allocated short periods of time throughout the day to use these. They are only allowed to use items that do not connect to the internet and they are closely monitored by staff when using the devices.

Mobile Phone and Wearable Technology

Clubland Playscheme accepts that mobile technology is part of the ever changing digital environment that we live and work in. Clubland Playscheme continues to foster a ‘culture of safety’ in which the children and staff are protected from abuse, harm, and distress. We therefore have a clear policy on the acceptable use of mobile phones and other wearable technology that is understood and adhered to by everyone; staff, children and parents/carers.

Staff members are not permitted to have their phones on them during a shift – with the exception of our Playscheme Managers who’s phones must be password protected – and these must be switched off and placed in a secure box which is provided at each setting.

Wearable technology such a Smartwatches and Fitbits (this list is not exhaustive) are permitted to be worn by staff however they may only be used as a watch when working with children. This means that all other functions must be disabled (using flight mode).

Whilst we understand that some children have mobile phones, we actively discourage them from using their phones within the club. If they bring their phones in, they must be switched off and placed in the secure box provided at each setting, alongside the staff phones.

In the interest of safeguarding we ask all parents and visitors not to use their phones or other mobile devices on Clubland premises. The taking of photographs by parents or visitors is strictly prohibited.

Social Media

Clubland Playscheme recognises that many staff enjoy networking with friends and family via social media. However we have to balance this against our duty to maintain the confidentiality of children and parents attending our club, as well as ensuring that our good reputation is upheld. Staff must remember that they are ambassadors for our Club both within and outside of working hours and are expected to conduct themselves accordingly when using social media sites. Their profiles must be set to private and they must not state that they work at Clubland Playscheme.

When using social media sites, staff must not:

• Post or discuss anything that could damage Clubland Playscheme’s reputation.
• Post anything that could offend other members of staff, parents/carers or children using our club.
• Publish any photographs or materials that could identify the children or our club.
• Accept invitations from parents/carers to connect via social media (e.g. friend requests on Facebook) unless they already know the parent/carer in a private capacity.
• Discuss with parents/carer any issues relating to their child or our club. Instead invite the parent/carer to raise the issue when they are next at the club, or to contact the Playscheme Manager if the matter is more urgent.

Staff Induction and Training

To complement safer recruitment, we ensure that each staff member is trained, equipped and supported to be able to continuously and consistently deliver a safeguarding response to the highest standard.

All our staff are required to complete safeguarding training as part of their induction and in addition to this, we maintain an annual training plan whereby certain months of the year are dedicated to safeguarding training relevant to each job role. We also identify staff who need extra support or additional training and provide this on an ad hoc basis.

5.    RELATED POLICIES

See also related policies: Basic Safeguarding Training document, Clubland Playscheme’s Child Protection Procedure, Health and Safety Policy, Internet Safety Policy, Mobile Phone and Wearable Technology Policy, Safer Recruitment Policy, Staff Induction and Training Policy and Social Media Policy.

Last reviewed: October 2023

Next review date: October 2024