Child Protection Policy
Latitude Sports Stars 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 operate from at our head office situated at 11 Cavendish Street, Keighley West Yorkshire BD21 3RB. We host a variety of extra- curricular school clubs, as well as PE classes and summer camps from within the UK. We provide adventurous activities, curriculum-based learning, and sport tuition on a residential or day-programme basis. Our list is not exhaustive.
All Latitude Sports Stars team members have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people and adults at risk. This also applies to third party delivery agents we may at times employ. All these groups should be familiar with our policies and procedures and are expected to comply with them and have a duty to report any safeguarding,
Child and adult protection or welfare concerns are reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead at the centre they are staying at.
In line with Latitude Sports Stars values we will treat children and adults at risk with respect and celebrate their achievements.
Policy Objectives
In support of this policy, we will:
● Undertake DBS checks and other appropriate checks on all staff at enhanced level. Check will be repeated every 3 years.
● Ensure our approach to safeguarding is learner centred and staff always consider what is in the best interests of the learner.
● Ensure that all team members are recruited according to current safer recruitment guidelines and receive training and supervision appropriate to their roles.
● Communicate to parents, children, our team members and others what our expectations are of their behaviour, and what they can expect in return.
● Provide information to parents, party leaders, children, adults at risk and carers and our own team members to allow them to raise concerns or complaints about safeguarding concerns.
● Maintain contacts with statutory child and adult protection agencies to allow close liaison and joint working to the best possible standards.
● Ensure arrangements are in place to maintain the health and wellbeing of all.
● Assess all risks that individuals may encounter and manage these accordingly, including risks relating to e-safety and radicalisation.
● Take a proactive approach to safeguarding which constantly reviews our practice and responds to issues promptly and competently.
● Ensure each site has a local arrangement document, including thresholds and criteria for action.
Our policy applies to everyone and ensures that all children, young people and adults at risk have the same protection regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity.
This policy is subject to review on an annual basis, or sooner if changes to the company’s circumstances or the legislative environment necessitate an earlier revision. If no change of policy is required, it is valid for three years from the date of authorisation.
The annual review will be organised by the Policy Owner and take the form of a meeting between the Safeguarding Advisory Group personnel.
This policy has been written to ensure our safeguarding arrangements comply withstatutory requirements, regional guidance, and procedures together with current goodpractice, and pays particular regard to:
● The ChildrenAct 1989
● The ChildrenAct 2004
● UN Convention on the Rights of the child
● Sexual OffencesAct 2003
● Protection of FreedomAct 2012
● Keeping Children Safe In Education 2021
● Working Together to Safeguard Childre2018
● CareAct 2014
● Mental CapacityAct 2005
● Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups 2006
● Social Services and WellbeingAct 2014
● General Data Protection Regulation
Governance and Accountability
Latitude Safeguarding: Lead and Deputy
Our Lead for Safeguarding is:
Paul Quinlan: Latitude Sports Stars Owner/Manager,
Telephone Number: 07927 665664
Our Deputy Lead is:
Alice Pickering: Latitude Sports Stars Coach/Paediatric Children’s Nurse & First Aid Lead
Telephone Number: 07596 941412
Our Policy holder is:
Paul Quinlan: Latitude Sports Stars Owner/Manager,
Telephone Number: 07927 665664
Their role is to:
● Oversee and ensure that our safeguarding policy is fully implemented.
● Child and Adult Safeguarding is up to national standards.
● Undertake and update training every three years and be aware of and follow local arrangements.
● Ensure our safeguarding standards are communicated to all team members.
● Ensure details are made available to all adults, children and parents/carers.
● Ensure all team members receive training in safeguarding, appropriate to their role.
● 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.
“Child safety and wellbeing is a standard at Latitude Sports Stars“
Safeguarding Operational Procedures
In support of our Safeguarding Policy and to underpin legislation and national guidance, Latitude Sports Stars have developed comprehensive operational procedures with key thematic areas of focus:
Safer Recruiting
At Latitude Sports Stars we have a clear recruitment, induction and training strategy. We will adhere to safer recruitment best practice; clear job descriptions, terms and conditions of employment, team member’s responsibilities and training programmes which identify relevant procedures for each role. All new team members are to complete safeguarding training during their induction.
This includes E-safety, the team code of conduct, reporting systems and the role of the DSL. All new team members will have a probationary review within the third month of employment and will then be observed and appraised at regular intervals throughout their period of employment.
The safeguarding training strategy, competencies, matrix and code of practice for training and qualification requirements for all Latitude Sports Star employees are bench-marked against national standards.
Safer Environment
Latitude Sports Stars place a strong emphasis on ensuring each site is secure and has a consistent approach to safeguarding.
Procedures have been developed to reflect and respond to the surroundings with the establishment of local arrangements. Each site is the subject of audit/inspection and review to ensure all procedures mitigate risk and enhance the learning experience.
Safer Systems
Robust and effective systems have been established that all team members are familiar with and have been equipped to respond appropriately to all safeguarding and child and adult protection concerns. Safer Systems provides clarity regarding Latitude Sports Stars referral pathways- this thematic area has been developed to ensure process is thresholding and decision making are consistent across all locations and provide a foundation to mitigate threat and risk and minimise harm to all concerned.
Safer Communication
Safer Communication in safeguarding- the ability for Latitude Sports Stars to communicate corporately to the Latitude Sports Stars Community with clear internal and external messaging regarding the importance of safeguarding together with reinforcing clear procedural messages is vital. This overarching strand has links to the marketing of safeguarding initiatives, developmental programmes and hot updates on safeguarding developments and learning underpinning a strong Latitude Sports Stars safeguarding culture.
Safer Workforce
To complement safer recruitment and safer workforce Latitude Sports Stars ensure that each team member is trained, equipped and supported to be able to consistently deliver a safeguarding response to the highest standard.
Staff are made aware of staff allegation procedures and that Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) must be notified in the first instance.
Our DSL will be notified of any allegations made against a member of staff of any serious harm or abuse as soon as is practical.
Safer Data / Information
Latitude Sports Stars has a clear policy regarding confidentiality and information sharing linked to GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We will ensure that accurate records are made, stored securely and only shared appropriately.
We fully endorse the principle that the welfare of children and young people override any obligations of confidence we may hold to others.
Signatures
Individual cases will only be shared or discussed on a “need to know” basis.
In very exceptional circumstances when someone is concerned that the company is not dealing with child or adult safeguarding concern appropriately (as per the ‘open-door’ policy), or when the concern is about a DSL they should contact.
Paul Quinlan at: Paul@LatitudeSportsStars.co.uk or telephone 07927 665664
This policy is specifically for our School Clubs and Summer Camps programme and sits alongside the main Latitude Sports Stars safeguarding policy.
Signed:
Paul Quinlan 01/24
Alice Pickering 01/24
Louie Wilkinson 01/24
Ben Hemsley 01/24
Appendix: Covid 19 Safeguarding Update
March 2020 to Present
The safety and wellbeing of all our teams and guests are our main priority and ensuring that we have robust systems and processes in place to safeguard our guests and teams are outlined within this policy.
In addition to our safeguarding policy, we have included the following as a reminder of our team’s duties and responsibilities to safeguarding during the COVID -19 crisis.
It will be especially important for Latitude Sports Stars to ensure that:
● The best interests of children must always continue to come first, during the pandemic.
● If anyone has a safeguarding concern about any child, they should act immediately following our normal reporting process.
● Appropriate designated safeguarding lead arrangements are in place, and we should ensure all our teams and guests know who to report incidents or areas of concern to.
In addition to the above, we have also taken into consideration particular care for:
● Individual children who have found the long period at home hard to manage.
● Those who have developed anxieties related to the virus.
● Some children may also have experienced bereavements in their immediate family or wider circle of friends or family or had increased or new caring responsibilities.
● We also want to provide additional support to our guests on particularly the below areas.
● Opportunities for children to talk about their experiences of the past few months.
● Opportunities for conversations with trusted adults where this may be supportive.
If anyone has any need to contact the safeguarding team, please in the first instance contactour DSL.
Alternatively please report any incidents or areas of concern toPaul@LatitudeSportsStars.co.uk or alternatively you can contact Alice Pickering: Deputy Safeguarding Lead on: 07596 941412 or Office@LatitudeSportsStars.co.uk