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Safeguarding

Last updated: 20/08/2024

Introduction

The Starlight Dance Group Ltd is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. We recognise our responsibility to take all reasonable steps to promote safe practice and to protect children from harm, abuse, and exploitation. This policy outlines our commitment to safeguarding and the procedures we have in place to ensure the safety of all children in our care.

Policy Statement

We acknowledge our duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and are committed to ensuring our safeguarding practice reflects statutory responsibilities, government guidance, and complies with best practice standards and UK law.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to:

  • Protect children and young people who receive The Starlight Dance Group Ltd's services.
  • Provide staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to safeguarding.

Scope

This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of The Starlight Dance Group Ltd, including senior managers, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff, and students.

We Recognise That

  • The welfare of the child is paramount.
  • All children, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation, or identity, 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 them, listening to and respecting them.
  • Appointing a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) for children and young people, and a deputy for safeguarding.
  • Adopting child protection and safeguarding practices through procedures and a code of conduct for staff and volunteers.
  • Developing and implementing an effective e-safety policy and related procedures.
  • Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training, and quality assurance measures.
  • Recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made.
  • Recording and storing information professionally and securely, and sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children, their families, staff, and volunteers via leaflets, posters, one-to-one discussions.
  • 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 policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise.
  • 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.

Online Safety and Social Media

We recognise the importance of online safety in today's digital age. Our approach includes:

  • Implementing and regularly reviewing an e-safety policy.
  • Providing guidance to staff, volunteers, and students about appropriate online behavior.
  • Ensuring all digital platforms used by the school are secure and age-appropriate.
  • Obtaining parental consent before posting any images or videos of children online.
  • Educating students about online safety and responsible social media use.

Photography and Videography

As part of our activities, we may take photographs and record videos of children during classes, rehearsals, and performances. Our policy on this is:

  • We will always obtain written parental consent before taking and using any photographs or videos.
  • We will never identify children by name in photos used for promotional purposes without explicit parental consent.
  • Staff, volunteers, and parents are prohibited from posting any images of children from the dance school on personal social media accounts without explicit permission.
  • All images and videos will be stored securely and in line with data protection regulations.

Reporting Concerns

If you have any concerns about a child's welfare, please report it immediately to the Designated Safeguarding Lead. If the child is in immediate danger, please call 999.

Review

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.

This policy was last reviewed on: 20/08/2024

Contact Information

If you have any questions about Safeguarding, please contact us.