Shanklin Voluntary Youth and Community Centre

Safeguarding Policy – Shanklin Voluntary Youth & Community Centre (SVYCC)

(Registered Charity Number 302012)

The Charity is located at Shanklin Voluntary Youth & Community Centre, Victoria Avenue, Shanklin, Isle of Wight. PO37 6PJ

Introduction

The Charity has adopted this policy and expects every adult working and helping at, and from, SVYCC to support and adhere to it. Therefore, this policy shall apply to all volunteers, trustees & anyone working on behalf of the Charity.

Purpose of Policy

This policy is intended to protect children who receive services from us, and we define children as those under 18 years of age. This Charity believes that no child or young person should experience harm or abuse, and that we are committed to the safeguarding and protection of children and young people; and this policy is intended to provide guidance and an overarching framework for volunteers that represent us, as well as to guide our approach to safeguarding children and young people.

Risks to Children

Children can be vulnerable to different forms of abuse and harm, examples include:

• Physical or emotional abuse
• Neglect
• Sexual Abuse
• FGM
• Grooming & exploitation
• Trafficking & modern slavery
• Exposure to domestic abuse
• Bullying or cyber bullying
• Exposure to inappropriate content
• Self-harm/physical abuse

Safeguarding Principles

The Charity is committed to the principles of safeguarding and all children that come into contact with our service and is properly safeguarded, and every person shares responsibility for:

• Remaining alert & aware of safeguarding risks to children;
• Guarding children against harmful environments (eg provide adequate supervision)
• Taking positive steps to maintain the safety & well-being of children in and from SVYCC;
• Understanding the duty to report specific concerns (and understanding confidentiality issues);
• Challenging and report inappropriate or harmful behaviour of other adults;
• Acting appropriately in the presence of children
• Not taking inappropriate risks;
• Not smoking, drinking or other forms of inappropriate behaviour in the presence of children.

Safeguarding Officers

All Voluntary co-leaders, are appropriately DBS checked and experienced, and have a duty to respond to and report any safeguarding matters, which Richard priest the central point of contact, with all volunteers having his contact details, with the policy available in the reception and on-line, with contact details displayed accordingly.

Confidentiality and Data Protection

All personal information kept in relation to Children and young people that use services at, and from, SVYCC will be stored in accordance with data protection best practice, and legislation, with details available at reception.

Responding to a Safeguarding Issue

Where a child is at immediate risk, any adult present should call 999. Thereafter, appropriate safeguarding officer should be contacted appropriately, and as soon as reasonably practicable.

Where there is a safeguarding concern, but not an immediate risk of harm, the adult who has heard or witnessed a concern should contact the appropriate safeguarding officer as soon as practicable but no later than same day.

Where a child or young person makes a disclosure about an adult, or another child or young person, is is important that the adult:

• Listens calmly and carefully, showing that the concerns are taken seriously;
• Provide an honest and appropriate level of reassurance;
• Avoid interrogating the young person, or asking probing or leading questions;
• Avoid making false promises regarding secrets and confidentiality, because any information received may need to be shared with appropriate officer or external agency;
• Make a confidential written record of the discussion, either at the time or as soon afterwards, including details of dates, times, places and people concerned (videoing or photographing children should be avoided);
• Refer to appropriate safeguarding officer as soon as practicable, and no later than end of same day.

Reporting Concerns about other Adults

Where any person has a concern regarding any SVYCC Volunteer, concerns that may pose a safeguarding risk to children such as:

• Harming a child either physically or emotionally
• Exposing a child to physical or emotional harm
• Engaging in criminal activity involving a child

Any concerns should be raised with Safeguarding Officers or Voluntary Co-Leaders in first instance, so that agreed actions taken as soon as appropriate, involving appropriate agencies accordingly.

Further next steps can include:

• Further enquiries
• Escalation to Local Authority Safeguarding or Police
• Instigation of internal disciplinary processes, and could include suspension of volunteer
• A referral to DBS service or other regulatory agency

Any volunteer within SVYCC, subject to such allegations, should be informed properly in a formal meeting with details of actions to be taken recorded accordingly; the meeting would involve Safeguarding Officers/Voluntary Co-leaders and take place subject to any external actions or guidance.

Any SVYCC volunteer subject to allegations should be treated fairly, with any investigations, enquiries and decisions taken fairly and justly, with the safety of children at the heart of the process.

Any person from within SVYCC that makes an allegation against another person from within SVYCC shall be listened to, taken seriously and treated fairly throughout the process and subsequent decision.

Safeguarding Children at Events and Activities

All volunteers will be involved, as appropriate, with planning and risk assessments of events and activities involving children, at and from SVYCC, and events co-ordinated through safe-guarding offers and voluntary co-leaders: where appropriate, for specific events or activities, specific guidance will be issued to volunteers, children and parents/guardians and followed accordingly.

Venues

The location for any events or activities held or organised by SVYCC, will be risk assessed properly in accordance with suitability and safety for children; with fire safety and other precautions made clear to all involved.

First Aid

SVYCC have qualified volunteers in the Centre, with appropriate first aid equipment and documentation; with any incident brought to the attention of appropriate officer and reported accordingly, with parents/guardians advised accordingly.

Consent Forms

SVYCC have membership forms for all children which includes details of parents/guardians, and the forms include consent information, including for photographs, emergency contact details, and any information will be kept following data protection and confidentiality guidance.

Supervision

For most activities and events, in and from SVYCC, there will be appropriate numbers of volunteers for the number of children, and type of activity. Where parents/guardians are present, with their children, they should be primarily responsible for the supervision of their children.

Managing the Behaviour of Children Generally

When any adult SVYCC volunteer experiences or witnesses challenging or inappropriate behaviour from a child, or a conflict between children, they must:

• Treat all children fairly and equally;
• Approach the situation in a calm and neutral, non-judgmental, manner;
• Only ever use physical restraint/intervention to protect the immediate safety of a person, for example to protect self-harm or injury to another;
• Where physical restraint or intervention is considered justified, the minimum force should be used and take into account the risk posed;
• Make a written record of the incident and report to appropriate officer, recognising availability of other witnesses and other evidence available.

Managing the Risks posed by other Children

It is important to recognise that all SVYCC volunteers recognise that children can face harm from their peers, and this can commonly take the form of bullying, which can be defined as:

• Repeated; and
• Has the intention of harming someone physically or emotionally.

Bullying can sometimes reflect certain types of prejudice, for example, race, gender, religion or sexual orientation; and can include:

• Physical from one child to/on another;
• Name calling and threats
• Cyberbullying (abuse and threats using technology)

Any such incident will be dealt with SVYCC Volunteers in the first instance, and involving the safeguarding officers, with any continuing behaviour reported to parents/guardians and appropriate agencies accordingly. With a record kept of any incident and actions taken.

Photography

Our Photographs

On some occasions we may take photographs involving children, and we recognise this may have risks, such as:

• Potential for images to be re-used, shared or adapted in a damaging or inappropriate way;
• The general risk of sharing images and impact this could have on a child’s public image as they grow older.

In view of this, we will:

• Ask for consent, in a written form if possible, from the child and/or parent/guardian before taking and sharing any image
• Inform the child, parent/guardian how the image will be used or shared;
• Always seek to ensure the child’s identity is protected as much as possible in the sharing or publication of any material;
• In any picture with more than one child in the picture, ensure other children, parents/guardians are comfortable of such images being shared or published;
• Any image will be stored in accordance with data protection and confidentiality guidance.

Members of the Public

We do recognise that members of the public may take photographs when attending SVYCC, our activities or events, and we ask that parents/guardians and children take into account:

• Images of children should not be shown or shared on social media without the consent of the children involved, or their parents/guardians;
• Any images that are shared on social media, should adhere to appropriate privacy and security settings.

Other Policies

Other policies and procedures, such as our membership forms, First Aid, Data Protection, are available in SVYCC reception.