5-Yards Safeguarding Policy
Introduction
As part of the Hockey Family, 5-Yards believe that all young people have the right to be safe whilst participating in Hockey. In line with England Hockey’s Safe D policy, 5-Yards accept responsibility for the welfare and safety of young people and aim to protect them from harm through providing a caring, supportive and safe environment for young people to participate in Hockey.
Important definitions
• Hockey family - The hockey family includes all individuals, clubs, associations, and other organisations involved in any capacity in the game of hockey, whether members of England Hockey or not. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes all players and anyone working within hockey (in a paid or voluntary capacity, and whether as an employee or on a self-employed or other work basis) including all coaches, umpires, referees and other officials.
• Young people are defined as children that have not reached their 18th birthday.
• Child abuse happens when a person, adult or child – harms a child. It comes in four recognised forms; Emotional abuse, Neglect, Physical abuse and Sexual abuse. Whilst according to law not a form of abuse, bullying can be a significant factor in other types of child abuse and does have equally detrimental consequences for a child.
• At 5-Yards we accept that it is our responsibility as part of the Hockey Family to recognise and report all forms of abuse whilst, creating an environment free of bullying.
Purpose of Policy
• This policy has been created to promote the welfare of young people and to protect them from harm.
• To provide staff and volunteers, as well as children and young people and their families, with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.
• The policy is informed by the guidance set out by Safe D England Hockey’s Safeguarding and Protecting Young People in Hockey Policy.
• We also aim to bring awareness to England Hockey’s good practice guidance which includes:
o The recruitment of persons working with young people
o Anti-bullying
o Taking and the use of photographic and recorded images of young people
o Communication with and supervision of young people
o Social media guidance
o Planning events and camps
This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of 5-Yards, including its Directors and paid staff, coaches, volunteers, seasonal workers, and students.
Legal requirements and government guidance
This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. With particular reference to ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015)’, it is a document issued by the Department of Education & Skills (DfES) and is guidance for anyone working with children in England about what safeguarding measures should be in place.
Supporting Documentation
5-Yards policy should be read alongside the following related documents;
• England Hockey’s safeguarding and Protecting Young People;
http://www.englandhockey.co.uk/page.asp?section=1168§ionTitle=Safeguarding+%26+Protecting+Young+People
• England Hockey’s Best Practice Guidance; http://www.englandhockey.co.uk/page.asp?section=1785§ionTitle=Best+Practice+Guidance
• England Hockey’s RESPECT-Code of Ethics and Behaviour; https://clubbuzzassets.s3.amazonaws.com/pro/documents/3437/EHB_RESPECT_-_Code_of_Ethics_Behaviour.pdf?1390500130
5-Yards believe that:
• Children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind
• 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.
5-Yards recognise that:
• The welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we take all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have an equal right to 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, their sexual orientation, elite status, language or culture and other issues
• Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare
5-Yards will seek to keep children and young people safe by:
• Recognising all young people participating in hockey (regardless of age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, ability or disability) have the right to play in an environment free from poor practice, abuse and harm.
• Ensuring all people who work in hockey at, or for, our company (including staff, officials, volunteers, team managers, coaches) have a responsibility for safeguarding young people and understand how the safeguarding policy and guidance applies to them.
• Ensuring all individuals working at, or for, the company are recruited in accordance with England Hockey’s recruitment guidance.
• Ensuring all individuals working within hockey at, or for, the company are provided with support, through education and training, so they are aware of and adhere to England Hockey’s Code of Ethics and Behaviour.
• Appointing a nominated Safeguarding officer for children and young people
• Making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern
• 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 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
• Always approaching safeguarding with a young person perspective, ensuring the individual’s wellbeing is the prime focus.
• Ensuring that the responsibility of determining whether or not abuse has taken place, lies with child protection experts, however it is everyone in hockey’s responsibility to report concerns.
Recognising and Reporting:
Abuse has four recognised forms and may not always be visible. The four forms of abuse are outlined below with examples of how such abuse may take place in a Hockey environment:
Emotional abuse
• Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional ill-treatment of a child so as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development.
o Criticism, name calling, sarcasm, bullying, racism or pressure to perform to unrealistic expectations
Neglect
• Neglect is when adults consistently or repeatedly fail to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs which could result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development
o Exposing them to undue cold, heat or extreme weather conditions without ensuring adequate clothing or hydration.
o Exposing them to unnecessary risk of injury
o Failing to ensure the use of safety equipment
o By requiring young people to participate when injured or unwell
Physical abuse
• Physically hurts or injures children by hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, biting, scalding, suffocating, drowning or otherwise causing harm.
o Young players are exposed to exercise/training which disregards the capacity of the players immature and growing body
o Young players are exposed to overplaying/overtraining
o Any person exposes young players to alcohol below the legal age or fail to supervise access to alcohol
o Young players are provided with or encouraged to take prohibited substances including performance enhancing drugs
Sexual abuse
• Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening or not.
o An adult uses the context of a training session to touch young people inappropriately
o Coaches, managers or volunteers use their position of power and authority to coerce young players into a sexual relationship
o Coaches or managers imply better progression of the player in return for sexual favours
o A young leader sends or requests a sexual image to a child via a mobile app
o A coach or umpire communicates inappropriately via social media
Bullying
• Whilst according to law not a form of abuse, bullying can be a significant factor in other types of child abuse and does have equally detrimental consequences for a child. Bullying can take many forms such as physical e.g. hitting; online or cyber e.g. abusive messages, comments or images on social media; involve damage or theft of property; based on someone’s gender, ethnicity, sexuality or disability; or about their sporting ability. Sometimes bullying can be referred to as ‘just banter’, which is a common excuse however is still bullying.
o Deliberately excluded from activities by coaches or other players
o Unreasonably forced to do things they don’t want to do
o Subjected to physical, verbal, emotional or sexual abuse
o Subjected to abuse due to their race or sexuality
o Bullied online by an adult or another young person
Reporting
Concerns can arise for a number of reasons such as:
• A young person disclosing something to you
• Signs or suspicions of abuse
• Allegations made against staff/volunteers/parents both inside and outside of hockey
• Observation of inappropriate behaviour
It is NOT your responsibility to decide if a situation is poor practice, abuse or bullying, but it IS your responsibility to share your concerns with a designated person.
Responding to concerns
You should always:
• Stay calm
• Reassure the person reporting their concerns that they have done the right thing in telling you
• Keep an open mind
• Listen carefully to what is said and take them seriously
• Find an appropriate early opportunity to explain that it is likely that the information will need to be shared with others – do not promise to keep secrets
• Ask questions for clarification only, and at all times avoid asking questions that suggest a particular answer. To help you to do this, try to ask questions starting with tell me about, explain to me, describe.
• Tell them what you will do next and with whom the information will be shared
• Report the incident to the 5-Yards Safeguarding Officer or England Hockey Ethics and Compliance Manager
• Record in writing what was said using the young person’s own words as soon as possible, using the England Hockey Safeguarding Referral Form.
How to report a concern
• 5-Yards Safeguarding officer should be your first point of contact
• The Safeguarding officers should not deal with issues in isolation, they should receive support in dealing with issues by other trusted people (will vary according to organisation)
• Minimise the number of people that you share a concern with, only share information on a need to know basis
• If in doubt – ask for advice from 5-Yards Safeguarding Officer or England Hockey (Ethics and Compliance Team)
• Deal with incidents and concerns quickly – problems escalate when they don’t get addressed.
Good Practice Guidance
Communication with young people
When communicating with young people it is recommended that you:
• Contact players only when necessary
• If players need to be contacted urgently i.e. a change in training arrangement, set up a ‘grapevine’ system
• Copy parents into written communication (i.e. letters or emails)
• Speak with a player and their parents if there is a need to communicate information in relation to playing, training or competition
Social media guidance
• Use social networking to engage our company with young people.
• Set up the company as a ‘Page’ rather than a personal profile.
• Consider the age of the people we will be interacting with (the minimum age for most sites is 13).
• Involve parents/carers with parental responsibility in communication with young people.
• Protect yourself, your privacy and all confidential information.
• Be clear to users what the site is and isn’t to be used for.
• Include good practice use as part of your company code.
• Promote positive communication.
• Ensure users are aware of the company’s reporting procedures.
• Ensure you are consistent in dealing with any inappropriate use.
• Always act in accordance with the England Hockey’s Safeguarding policy, procedures and good practice guidelines
Changing rooms
• Players aged 10 and under must be supervised at all times in changing rooms by two members of staff, of the same gender as the players.
• Adults working with young teams, including volunteers, coaches, umpires or staff, should not change or shower at the same time when using the same facility as young players.
• Mixed gender teams must have access to separate male and female changing rooms (or arrange to use them at different times).
• If young people are uncomfortable changing or showering in public, no pressure should be placed on them to do so. Encourage them to do this at home.
• If you have young leaders (under 18) involved in running sessions for other young people it is not appropriate for them to change together (they are in a position of trust), make alternative arrangements for them for changing (i.e. before / after other young people or change at home).
• If your company has disabled players, involve them and their parents / carers in deciding how, if applicable, they wish to be assisted to change and ensure they provide full consent to any support or assistance required.
• If adults and young people need to share a changing facility, the company must have consent from the parents that their child/children can share a changing room with adults in the company.
Late collection
If a parent /carer are late the company will:
• Attempt to contact the parent/carer
• Check the company contact number for any information regarding the young person
• Wait with the young person at the club, with wherever possible other staff/volunteers or parents
• Remind parents/carers of the policy relating to late collection
• If parents/carers remain uncontactable staff will need to report the situation to Local Authority Children’s Social Care Dept (Social Services) or the Police Staff/volunteers should avoid:
• Taking the child home or to any other location
• Asking the child to wait in a vehicle or the club with you alone
• Sending the child home with another person without permission.
5-Yards Safeguarding designated officer
The designated 5-Yards Safeguarding officer has undergone England Hockey’s Basic Awareness Online Safeguarding Training Course. The designated officer aims to promote the Safeguarding and Protecting of Young people in Hockey, through ensuring all staff of 5-Yards are aware of our safeguarding policy and ensure that our aims and values are upheld at all times through good practice.
Ian Sloan
Email: contact@5-yards.co.uk