Sandwell Tae Kwon Do Safeguarding Policy

We are committed to ensuring the safety of people in our sessions, and giving them

quality martial arts instruction in a safe environment. All of our staff play an important

role in protecting children, and we believe that:

- We can contribute to the prevention of abuse

- All children have the right to be protected from harm

- Children and vulnerable adults need support to match their individual needs, including those who

have experienced abuse.

We aim to achieve this by:

-Subjecting all staff, (paid or voluntary), students and volunteers to criminal vetting (enhanced) DBS

checking upon taking a position of authority in the club.

- Regularly checking through self-declaration that nothing has changed since that person’s last DBS

check

- Notifying immediately Sandwell MBC Early Years, Children’s Services, Sandwell Safeguarding

Children Board of any issues that arise.

- The police, the Disclosure and Barring Service and Ofsted of any allegations of serious harm or

abuse

We train all staff to:

- Be familiar with our Safeguarding Policy, including issues of confidentiality.

- Be alert to signs and indicators of possible abuse

-To record concerns verbally with the lead instructor in a private manner where they are recorded on

our Incident log this will then be forwarded to Miss Stacey Cockbill (1st Degree Black Belt) our Safeguarding Officer for further investigation.

She will then decide what will happen next, in line with guidance and procedures from Sandwell TKD

in consultation with the International Tae Kwon Do Council.

- We ensure that training is regular as and when required. The Lead Instructor has attended a

Safeguarding Course for Children and Vulnerable Adults.

- Be diligent in sharing all relevant information with other professionals through written reports

and/or attendance at Child Protection, Child in Need, Early Help or Team Around the Family

Meetings as appropriate.

-Maintaining confidentiality in whichever way possible, sharing information only in the best interests

of the child.

To achieve this we will:

- Keep all Child Protection referrals in a locked file, separate from other records

- Disclose the information in our club on a ‘Need to Know’ only basis

- We ensure that all staff, students and volunteers understand their responsibilities to

embed British Values, and to have due regard to the need to prevent children and

their families from being drawn into terrorism, extremism or radicalisation, in line with

the Government’s Prevent Duty Guidance 2015. Particularly pp. 60-69

Parents/Carers

-In general, we will discuss concerns, and seek consent before approaching other agencies, however

there may be occasions when we will contact another agency before informing parents/carers, if it is

decided that contacting parents/carers may increase the risk of significant harm to the child. The

child’s safety and well-being is the most important factor.

Allegations Against Staff or Volunteers – Persons in a Position of Trust

In the event of an allegation being made against a person in a position of trust in or around our Club

we will:

- Through training, ensure that all members of staff understand the procedures to be followed,

including Whistleblowing

-Record the details and report to the senior instructor and Council for consideration

-If appropriate contact Sandwell’s Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), who will contact

Children and Young People’s Services. These groups will determine the need for further

investigation.

- Cooperate entirely with any investigations.

- Maintain confidentiality to protect all parties whilst investigations are underway

- Take any appropriate action as advised by, or as a result of the investigations

Safe Practice in a Digital World

Computers, digital cameras, mobile phones, tablets and the use of the internet is part of daily life for

many of our members.

-Before any photographs are taken in class permission is sought from people in the photograph.

-All images taken of children and members are stored securely on one mobile phone in the care of

our senior instructor. Photographs are stored electronically on our office computer.

- For promotional purposes we may from time to time publish images of our members on social

media or in print, and on our website to promote the outstanding work of our members. Permission

will always be sought beforehand from all in the image.

- We share information via WhatsApp. Members can remove themselves at any time and only

relevant images will be shared to aid Sandwell Tae Kwon Do training or promote our services to

members.

- The ITC logs all members electronically with images for the purpose of easy identification at

competitions and national events. The DOB of each person is not published online and permission

must be granted for us to use the image of the person.

We are thoroughly committed to ensuring the safeguarding of the members of our group especially

the children we teach and vulnerable adults who attend our classes.