Health & Wellbeing

Safeguarding Policy

Safeguarding Team

Safeguarding Lead

Greg Perry

Deputy Safeguarding Lead

Bethany Smith

Welfare officer

Alan Flower

High Class Sport provides a safe, secure environment for the children attending and we are committed to providing protection from harm and abuse.

All Employees receive annual Safeguarding training, which is carried out before each school year commences. If staff are employed after such date, they are required to complete an online safeguarding course so their work can commence.

The company will respond promptly and appropriately to all incidents or concerns regarding the safety of a child that may occur.

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 behavior
deterioration in a child’s general well-being
unexplained bruising or marks
comments made by a child which give cause for concern
inappropriate behavior displayed by an adult. 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 our Safeguarding 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 company is obliged to and the incident will be logged accordingly.

Logging a concern

All information about the concern, suspected abuse or disclosure, will be recorded on the Safeguarding 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.

Completed forms will be handed to Greg Perry, who will then decide on the best course of action. For concerns about child abuse, Greg Perry will contact Social Care. Greg Perry 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. If it is suspected that a criminal act has taken place, or that the child is in imminent danger, the club leader will contact the Police. For other concerns, the club leader may choose to contact the Head Teacher or School’s Child Protection Lead, or the Local Authority Designated Officer, to discuss the best course of action.

Greg Perry is to be notified if this happens in writing within 48 hours.

If an allegation is made against Greg Perry, the person making the allegation should contact the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) immediately and may wish to raise the allegation with Alan Flower, the Companies Welfare Officer.

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). 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 company will make a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service.