HARLOW BALLET SAFEGUARDING POLICY

 

 Harlow Ballet School and Harlow Ballet Association work with children and young adults as part of their activities, including dance classes, performances, rehearsals for performances and special events, such as theatre visits and workshops.  In this Policy, the term Harlow Ballet refers to Harlow Ballet School and Harlow Ballet Association.

 Children and young adults have the right to be protected from harm and Harlow Ballet is fully committed to protect and safeguard all students and performers in accordance with The Children and Young Persons Act 1933, The Children and Young Persons Act 1963, The Children (Performance and Activities) (England) Regulations 2014 and The Children (Protection at Work) Regulations 1998.

 We believe that children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind and recognise that abuse can be physical, emotional, sexual or in the form of neglect.   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.

Any concerns regarding a child or young person should be reported to Claire Hickles as soon as possible.

We recognise that:

• the welfare of the child is paramount

• all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have a right to equal 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

• working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:

• valuing, listening to and respecting them

• developing child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures which reflect best practice

• using our safeguarding procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately

• creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise

• recruiting staff and volunteers safely, with all necessary checks being made thus ensuring children and young adults are supervised by Licensed Chaperones and DBS checked volunteers assisted by some parent helpers during performances

• providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures

• implementing a code of conduct for staff, volunteers and other adults working/performing alongside the children and young adults to enable them to act appropriately

• using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers as necessary

• ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place

•  ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance

• recording and storing information professionally and securely, including registers of everybody involved with classes/rehearsals/performances, up to date contact and medical details, in line with GDPR laws.

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Harlow Ballet will also:

• give enthusiastic and constructive feedback to continue the development of dance and performance technique always acting appropriately, bearing in mind that teaching often involves bodily contact which is necessary for the activity and improvement

• encourage all students and members of the Association to act as positive role models for each other

• ensure all staff and volunteers agree with the Harlow Ballet equal opportunities ethos.

• from time to time publish photographs of students to encourage them and other dancers on the Gallery page of this website. Please inform the Harlow Ballet if you do not wish any material of this sort containing pictures of members of your family to be published in this way. Any offending material will be taken down immediately.

 

This Policy will be monitored and updated as necessary.

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December 2020