Safeguarding

What is safeguarding?

Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm. As AIREA51 is majority a kids entertainment venue Safeguarding is of critical importance.

Safeguarding means:

protecting children from abuse and maltreatment
preventing harm to children’s health or development
ensuring children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care
taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.

Safeguarding Policy Statement – AIREA51 Ltd

The purpose and scope of this policy statement:

The purpose of this policy statement is:

to protect staff, children and young people who receive AIREA51 Ltd’s services from harm. This includes the children of adults who use our services
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. This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of AIREA51 Ltd, including senior managers and the board of directors, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff and students.

Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from nspcc.org.uk/childprotection.

Supporting documents

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies, procedures, guidance, risk assessment, AIREA51 employee handbook and other related documents

We believe that:

Children, young people & staff should never experience abuse of any kind
We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children, young people & staff, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

We recognise that:

the welfare of staff & children is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we take
working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare
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 or other issues
extra safeguards may be needed to keep children who are additionally vulnerable safe from abuse.

We will seek to keep staff, children and young people safe by:

valuing, listening to and respecting them
appointing a nominated child protection lead for children and young people, a deputy and a lead trustee/board member for safeguarding
adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers
developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures
providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently
recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
recording and storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance [more information about this is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk/fororganisations]
sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families via leaflets, posters, group work and one-to-one discussions
making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern
using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers 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
building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.

Safeguarding contact details:

Nominated child protection lead
Name: Dean McGuire
Phone/email: 07706 319349 / deanm@airea51.co.uk

NSPCC Helpline

Tel: 0808 800 5000

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Behavioural code of conduct for staff working with children

This is an AIREA51 policy document within Safeguarding (Updated 8/4/2022)

The purpose and scope of behaviour code

This behaviour code outlines the conduct that AIREA51 Ltd expects from all our staff and volunteers. This includes trustees, agency staff, interns, students on work placement and anyone who is undertaking duties for the organisation, whether paid or unpaid. The behaviour code is there to help us protect staff, children and young people from abuse. It has been informed by the views of children and young people. AIREA51 Ltd is responsible for making sure everyone taking part in our activities has seen, understood and agreed to follow the code of behaviour, and that they understand the consequences of inappropriate behaviour.

The role of staff and volunteers

In your role at AIREA51 Ltd you are acting in a position of trust and authority and have a duty of care towards the other staff, children and young people we work with. You are likely to be seen as a role model by young people and are expected to act appropriately. We expect people who take part in our services to display appropriate behaviour at all times. This includes behaviour that takes place outside our organisation and behaviour that takes place online.

Responsibility of staff and volunteers

You are responsible for:

prioritising the welfare of other staff, children and young people
providing a safe environment for children and young people
o ensuring equipment is used safely and for its intended purpose
o having good awareness of issues to do with safeguarding and child protection and taking action when appropriate.
following our principles, policies and procedures o including our policies and procedures for safeguarding and child protection, whistleblowing and online safety
staying within the law at all times
modelling good behaviour for children and young people to follow
challenging all inappropriate behaviour and reporting any breaches of the behaviour code to your duty Manager or directly to Dean McGuire
reporting all concerns about abusive behaviour, following our safeguarding and child protection procedures
o this includes inappropriate behaviour displayed by an adult or child and directed at anybody of any age.

Respecting children and young people

You should:

listen to and respect children at all times
value and take children’s contributions seriously, actively involving them in planning activities wherever possible
respect a young person’s right to personal privacy as far as possible
o if you need to break confidentiality in order to follow child protection procedures, it is important to explain this to the child or young person at the earliest opportunity.

Diversity and inclusion

You should:

treat other staff, children and young people fairly and without prejudice or discrimination
understand that other staff, children and young people are individuals with individual needs
respect differences in gender, sexual orientation, culture, race, ethnicity, disability and religious belief systems, and appreciate that all participants bring something valuable and different to the group/organisation
challenge discrimination and prejudice
encourage young people and adults to speak out about attitudes or behaviour that makes them uncomfortable.

Appropriate relationships

You should:

promote relationships that are based on openness, honesty, trust and respect
avoid showing favouritism
be patient with others
exercise caution when you are discussing sensitive issues with children or young people
ensure your contact with children and young people is appropriate and relevant to the nature of the activity you are involved in
ensure that whenever possible, there is more than one adult present during activities with children and young people
o if a situation arises where you are alone with a child or young person, ensure that you are within sight or can be heard by other adults
o if a child specifically asks for or needs some individual time with you, ensure other staff or volunteers know where you and the child are
only provide personal care in an emergency and make sure there is more than one adult present if possible
o unless it has been agreed that the provision of personal care is part of your role and you have been trained to do this safely.

Inappropriate behaviour

When working with other staff, children and young people, you must not:

allow concerns or allegations to go unreported
take unnecessary risks
smoke, consume alcohol or use illegal substances
develop inappropriate relationships with children and young people
make inappropriate promises to children and young people
engage in behaviour that is in any way abusive o including having any form of sexual contact with a child or young person
let children and young people have your personal contact details (mobile number, email or postal address) or have contact with them via a personal social media account
act in a way that can be perceived as threatening or intrusive
patronise or belittle children and young people
make sarcastic, insensitive, derogatory or sexually suggestive comments or gestures to or in front of children and young people

If you have behaved inappropriately, you will be subject to our disciplinary procedures. Depending on the seriousness of the situation, you might be asked to leave AIREA51 Ltd. We might also make a report to statutory agencies such as the police and/or the local authority child protection services. If you become aware of any breaches of this code, you must report them to Dean McGuire. If necessary, you should follow our whistleblowing procedure and safeguarding and child protection procedures.

Whistleblowing in child safeguarding

Whistleblowing is when someone reports wrongdoing on the basis that it is in the public interest for the wrongdoing to be brought to light. This is usually something they’ve seen at work but not always. The wrongdoing might have happened in the past, be happening now, or be something the whistleblower is concerned may happen in the near future (Gov.uk, 2019).

The NSPCC Advice Line offers free advice and support to professionals with concerns about how child protection issues are being handled in their own or another organisation.

Contact the Whistleblowing Advice Line on:

0800 028 0285
help@nspcc.org.uk

Contact the Whistleblowing Advice Line if:

your or another organisation doesn’t have clear safeguarding procedures to follow
concerns aren’t dealt with properly or may be covered up
a concern that was raised hasn’t been acted upon
you are worried that repercussions are likely to arise if you raise a concern.

This applies to incidents that happened in the past, are happening now, or may happen in the future.