Safeguarding Policy

Express Performing Arts Academy is committed to building a ‘culture of safety’ in which the children in our care are protected from abuse, harm and radicalisation.

The Club will respond promptly and appropriately to all incidents or concerns regarding the safety of a child that may occur. The Club’s child protection procedures comply with all relevant legislation and with guidance issued by the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB).

There is a Child Protection Officer (CPO) available at all times while the Club is in session. The CPO coordinates child protection issues and liaises with external agencies (eg Social Care, LSCB and Ofsted).

The Club’s designated CPO is Lisa Walshe.

Child abuse and neglect

Child abuse is any form of physical, emotional or sexual mistreatment or lack of care that leads to injury or harm. An individual may abuse or neglect a child directly, or by failing to protect them from harm. Some forms of child abuse and neglect are listed below.

·        Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child so as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve making the child feel that they are worthless, unloved, or inadequate. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.

·        Physical abuse can involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may be also caused when a parent or carer feigns the symptoms of, or deliberately causes, ill health to a child.

·        Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. This can involve physical contact, or non-contact activities such as showing children sexual activities or encouraging them to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.

·        Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and emotional needs. It can involve a failure to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter, to protect a child from physical and emotional harm, to ensure adequate supervision or to allow access to medical treatment.

Signs of child abuse and neglect

Signs of possible abuse and neglect may include:

·        significant changes in a child's behaviour

·        deterioration in a child’s general well-being

·        unexplained bruising or marks

·        comments made by a child which give cause for concern

·        reasons to suspect neglect or abuse outside the setting, eg in the child’s home, or that a girl may have been subjected to (or is at risk of) female genital mutilation

·        inappropriate behaviour displayed by a member of staff, or any other person. For example, inappropriate sexual comments, excessive one-to-one attention beyond the requirements of their role, or inappropriate sharing of images.

If abuse is suspected or disclosed

When a child makes a disclosure to a member of staff, that member of staff will:

• reassure the child that they were not to blame and were right to speak out

• listen to the child but not question them

• give reassurance that the staff member will take action

• record the incident as soon as possible (see Logging an incident below).

If a member of staff witnesses or suspects abuse, they will record the matter straightaway using the Logging a concern form. If a third party expresses concern that a child is being abused, we will encourage them to contact Social Care directly. If they will not do so, we will explain that the Club is obliged to and the incident will be logged accordingly.

Peer-on-peer abuse

Children are vulnerable to abuse by their peers. Peer-on-peer abuse is taken seriously by staff and will be subject to the same child protection procedures as other forms of abuse. Staff are aware of the potential uses of information technology for bullying and abusive behaviour between young people.

Staff will not dismiss abusive behaviour as normal between young people. The presence of one or more of the following in relationships between children should always trigger concern about the possibility of peer-on-peer abuse:

·        Sexual activity (in primary school-aged children) of any kind, including sexting

·        One of the children is significantly more dominant than the other (eg much older)

·        One of the children is significantly more vulnerable than the other (eg in terms of disability, confidence, physical strength)

·        There has been some use of threats, bribes or coercion to ensure compliance or secrecy.

If peer-on-peer abuse is suspected or disclosed

We will follow the same procedures as set out above for responding to child abuse.

Extremism and radicalisation

All childcare settings have a legal duty to protect children from the risk of radicalisation and being drawn into extremism. There are many reasons why a child might be vulnerable to radicalisation, eg:

·        feeling alienated or alone

·        seeking a sense of identity or individuality

·        suffering from mental health issues such as depression

·        desire for adventure or wanting to be part of a larger cause

·        associating with others who hold extremist beliefs

Signs of radicalisation

Signs that a child might be at risk of radicalisation include:

·        changes in behaviour, for example becoming withdrawn or aggressive

·        claiming that terrorist attacks and violence are justified

·        viewing violent extremist material online

·        possessing or sharing violent extremist material

If a member of staff suspects that a child is at risk of becoming radicalised, they will record any relevant information or observations on a Logging a concern form, and refer the matter to the CPO.

Logging a concern

All information about the suspected abuse or disclosure, or concern about radicalisation, will be recorded on the Logging a concern form as soon as possible after the event. The record should include:

·        date of the disclosure, or the incident, or the observation causing concern

·        date and time at which the record was made

·        name and date of birth of the child involved

·        a factual report of what happened. If recording a disclosure, you must use the child’s own words

·        name, signature and job title of the person making the record.

The record will be given to the Club’s CPO who will decide on the appropriate course of action.

For concerns about child abuse, the CPO will contact Social Care. The CPO will follow up all referrals to Social Care in writing within 48 hours. If a member of staff thinks that the incident has not been dealt with properly, they may contact Social Care directly.

For minor concerns regarding radicalisation, the CPO will contact the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB).  For more serious concerns the CPO will contact the Police on the non-emergency number (101), or the anti-terrorist hotline on 0800 789 321. For urgent concerns the CPO will contact the Police using 999.

Allegations against staff

If anyone makes an allegation of child abuse against a member of staff:

·        The allegation will be recorded on an Incident record form. Any witnesses to the incident should sign and date the entry to confirm it.

·        The allegation must be reported to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and to Ofsted. The LADO will advise if other agencies (eg police) should be informed, and the Club will act upon their advice. Any telephone reports to the LADO will be followed up in writing within 48 hours.

·        Following advice from the LADO, it may be necessary to suspend the member of staff pending full investigation of the allegation.

·        If appropriate the Club will make a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Promoting awareness among staff

The Club promotes awareness of child abuse and the risk of radicalisation through its staff training. The Club ensures that:

·        the designated CPO has relevant experience and receives appropriate training in safeguarding and the Prevent Duty, and is aware of the Channel Programme and how to access it

·        designated person training is refreshed every two years

·        safe recruitment practices are followed for all new staff

·        all staff have a copy of this Safeguarding policy, understand its contents and are vigilant to signs of abuse, neglect or radicalisation

·        all staff are aware of their statutory duties with regard to the disclosure or discovery of child abuse, and concerns about radicalisation

·        all staff receive basic safeguarding training, and safeguarding is a permanent agenda item at all staff meetings

·        all staff receive basic training in the Prevent Duty

·        staff are familiar with the Safeguarding File which is kept with the directors of the company L.Walshe & D.Clark at all times on location.

·        the Club’s procedures are in line with the guidance in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015)’ and staff are familiar with ‘What To Do If You’re Worried A Child Is Being Abused (2015)’.

Supervision of children

When children arrive they will be welcomed by a member of the team, on exiting the class children will be escorted to the collection point and dismissed once a member of the Express team has identified the responsible adult who is collecting the child.  Children attending older classes may have been given permission to make their own way home, this will be in agreement with their parent/carer and the club.  Children attending sessions will be supervised by Express members of staff at all times.

Use of mobile phones and cameras

Photographs will only be taken of children with their parents’ permission. Only the club mobile devices/cameras will be used to take photographs of children at the Club.  Neither staff nor children nor visitors may use their mobile phones to take photographs at the Club, unless given permission by the directors, these should be for personal use only and only of their own child. 

Contact numbers

Social Care: 0345 140 0845 (Sefton)

Social Care out of hours contact:  0151 934 3555

LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer):

Police: 101 (non-emergency) or 999 (emergency)

Anti-terrorist hotline: 0800 789 321

NSPCC: 0808 800 500

Ofsted: 0300 123 1231

Data Protection Policy

At Express Performing Arts Academy/Express Kids Casting we respect the privacy of the children attending the Club and the privacy of their parents or carers, as well as the privacy of our staff. Our aim is to ensure that all those using and working at Express Performing Arts Academy/Express Kids Casting can do so with confidence that their personal data is being kept secure.

Our lead person for data protection is Lisa Walshe. The lead person ensures that the Club meets the requirements of the GDPR, liaises with statutory bodies when necessary, and responds to any subject access requests.

Confidentiality

Within the Club we respect confidentiality in the following ways:

·        We will only ever share information with a parent about their own child.

·        Information given by parents to Club staff about their child will not be passed on to third parties without permission unless there is a safeguarding issue (as covered in our Safeguarding Policy).

·        Concerns or evidence relating to a child’s safety, will be kept in a confidential file and will not be shared within the Club, except with the designated Child Protection Officer and the manager.

·        Staff only discuss individual children for purposes of planning and group management.

·        Staff are made aware of the importance of confidentiality during their induction process.

·        Issues relating to the employment of staff, whether paid or voluntary, will remain confidential to those making personnel decisions.

·        All personal data is stored securely on a password protected computer.

·        Students on work placements and volunteers are informed of our Data Protection policy and are required to respect it.

Information that we keep

The items of personal data that we keep about individuals are documented on our personal data matrix

Our personal data matrix is reviewed annually to ensure that any new data types are included.

Children and parents: We hold only the information necessary to provide a childcare service for each child. This includes child registration information, medical information, parent contact information, attendance records, incident and accident records and so forth. Our lawful basis for processing this data is fulfilment of our contract with the child’s parents. Our legal condition for processing any health-related information about a child, is so that we can provide appropriate care to the child. Once a child leaves our care we retain only the data required by statutory legislation and industry best practice, and for the prescribed periods of time. Electronic data that is no longer required is deleted and paper records are disposed of securely or returned to parents.

Staff: We keep information about employees in order to meet HMRC requirements, and to comply with all other areas of employment legislation. Our lawful basis for processing this data is to meet our legal obligations. Our legal condition for processing data relating to an employee’s health is to meet the obligations of employment law. We retain the data after a member of staff has left our employment for the periods required by statutory legislation and industry best practice, then it is deleted or destroyed as necessary.

Sharing information with third parties

We will only share child information with outside agencies on a need-to-know basis and with consent from parents, except in cases relating to safeguarding children, criminal activity, or if required by legally authorised bodies (eg Police, HMRC, etc). If we decide to share information without parental consent, we will record this in the child’s file, clearly stating our reasons.

We will only share relevant information that is accurate and up to date. Our primary commitment is to the safety and well-being of the children in our care. 

Subject access requests

·        Parents/carers can ask to see the information and records relating to their child, and/or any information that we keep about themselves.

·        Staff and volunteers can ask to see any information that we keep about them.

·        We will make the requested information available as soon as practicable, and will respond to the request within one month at the latest.

·        If our information is found to be incorrect or out of date, we will update it promptly.

·        Parents /carers can ask us to delete data, but this may mean that we can no longer provide care to the child as we have a legal obligation to keep certain data. In addition, even after a child has left our care we have to keep some data for specific periods so won’t be able to delete all data immediately.

·        Staff and volunteers can ask us to delete their data, but this may mean that we can no longer employ them as we have a legal obligation to keep certain data. In addition, even after a staff member has left our employment we have to keep some data for specific periods so won’t be able to delete all data immediately.

·        If any individual about whom we hold data has a complaint about how we have kept their information secure, or how we have responded to a subject access request, they may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

GDPR

We comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), regarding obtaining, storing and using personal data.