Safeguarding Policy
Safeguarding Children and Child Protection Policy
Safeguarding Children and Child Protection Policy
This policy:
This policy must be read and understood by all members of staff at The Midhurst Dance School. We will make sure this policy is accessible to all staff, parents, and students, where appropriate, and will make sure that all teachers / staff members can understand this policy by discussing with staff. All staff and volunteers at The Midhurst Dance School must adhere to this policy and must understand their duties and responsibilities regarding safeguarding. A copy of this policy will be always available on our website.
All staff and volunteers have a strict duty never to subject a child to any form of harm or abuse. Failure to adhere to these procedures will be treated as gross misconduct.
Our responsibility:
At The Midhurst Dance School, we recognise we have a responsibility to protect and safeguard the welfare of all children and young people we work with and have an explicit duty to do so under the Children Act 1989 and 2004 and the Education Act 2002. At the Midhurst Dance School, we believe that the welfare of the child is of paramount importance. That no child should be treated any less favourably than others in accessing services that meet their needs and that all children without exception have the right to protection from abuse regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, or beliefs.
A ‘child’ is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. The fact that a child has reached 16 years of age, is living independently, in further education, or working does not change his/ her entitlement to services or protection as a child. Our guidelines apply to all children and young people until their 18th birthday.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people means:
Protecting children from maltreatment, preventing impairment of a child’s health or development, ensuring that children are growing up with the provision of safe and effective care and taking action to ensure that children have the best life chances.
At the Midhurst Dance School, we will do this by:
Identifying and responding to concerns about a child or young person
Providing a safe and happy dance environment
Doing risk assessments
Using safer recruitment strategies
At The Midhurst Dance School all concerns and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take steps to protect children, to keep them safe from hazards and to take appropriate action in the event of an accident. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take reasonable steps to protect children and young people from harm and abuse while in contact with our school and our staff and to report any incident of or suspicion of abuse to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or in their absence directly to the appropriate statutory authority.
Designated safeguarding lead:
At The Midhurst Dance School our designated safeguarding lead is Debrah Purves. As designated safeguarding lead, they have additional training in Safeguarding and its place in the world of dance teaching (interactive webinar 21/o6/21).
Managing injury:
If a child has a physical injury and there are concerns about abuse attention should be sought for the injury first, then procedures for referring to children’s social care should then be followed. Contacting the emergency services for medical treatment must not be delayed for any reason.
Managing recruitment:
The Midhurst Dance School will ensure all required checks are made when hiring staff and that those in regular contact with children hold a current DBS check. All staff and volunteers will be recruited in line with safer recruitment guidance and DBS checks made where current Government guidance requires us to.
No staff will be employed or able to volunteer if they are barred from working with children and in the event of an incident where a member of staff must be dismissed (or chooses to leave) because they have harmed a child, DBS will be notified.
When new staff, volunteers or regular visitors join our organisation, they will be informed of the safeguarding policy and told who our Designated Safeguarding Lead is.
Managing allegation:
If any member of staff or volunteer has concerns about the behaviour or conduct of another individual within the organisation, the nature of the concern should be reported to Debrah Purves. The member of staff who has a concern or to whom the allegation or concern is reported should not question the child or investigate further. The Designated Lead Debrah Purves will report the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).
If allegation or concern is raised about a member of staff, outside of work, this may still present a risk of harm to children for whom that member of staff is responsible and as such the general principles of this policy still apply.
Harm to children:
Everybody working with children at The Midhurst Dance School must be alert to the needs of children and the risk of harm. All staff and volunteers should be able to recognise, and know how to act upon evidence that a child’s health or development is being impaired or that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. At The Midhurst Dance School we will make every effort to protect children from harm when they are visiting our setting/ attending our classes.
We will ensure:
Appropriate recruitment and selection procedures
Provision of safeguarding training for all staff and volunteers
When hiring staff, all required checks are made in line with current Government guidance. All staff and volunteers are recruited in line with safer recruitment guidance.
We will take all reasonable steps to ensure health safety and welfare for all those who access our organisation
We will take all practicable steps to ensure that no one working with us or for us would put a child in a situation of unreasonable risk to their health and safety.
We will not harm or abuse children within our care and will take all reasonable steps to ensure no one working with us or around us within the community could harm or abuse a child in our care.
We will ensure good reporting to our DSP and onward to children’s social care wherever we suspect harm and will foster an environment of good communication, transparency and trust.
All staff and volunteers have a strict duty to never subject a child or young person to any form of harm or abuse. Failure to adhere to these procedures will be treated as gross misconduct.
During the admissions process relevant contact and medical information shall be collected and access to emergency information will be available to teaching staff and volunteers at every session.
Where we suspect harm and abuse:
Every member of staff has a duty to be alert to the signs of harm and abuse.
Where they have concerns these should be recorded carefully and accurately.
All concerns should be discussed with The Midhurst Dance School’s designated safeguarding lead.
A decision shall then be made with the DPL regarding sharing this concern onward to children’s social care or the police as required.
Where possible and only if it is safe to do so, the teacher who has the concern or the DSL should let the parent / carer of that child know if they intend to raise that concern with children’s social care and they should seek their permission to share information. Please be aware if the parent declines to consent and your concerns regard harm / significant harm you are still duty bound to share with children’s social care.
In the absence of the DSL all concerns should be shared directly with children’s social care.
Their number is tel: 01403229900 their share a concern page is Raise a concern about a child - West Sussex County Council All information sharing must be Data Protection act and GDPR compliant. Sharing must be discrete, appropriate, honest, and accurate but it is important for all staff and volunteers to be aware GDPR and Data Protection law does not create a barrier to sharing safeguarding information and all concerns MUST be shared with the DSL and children’s safeguarding as necessary.
Recognising harms and abuse:
Below are the definitions of harm to children and young people use these to help you recognise harm and ensure you cause no harm.
Physical abuse: A form of abuse that may involve hitting shaking throwing poisoning burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of or deliberately causes illness in a child.
Emotional abuse: The persistent emotional maltreatment off a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless, unloved inadequate, or valued in so far as they meet the needs of another person only, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s developmental capability, as well as the over protection and limitation of exploration and learning or preventing the child from participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the Ill treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (or cyber bullying), causing children to frequently feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, although it may occur alone.
Sexual abuse: Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing rubbing, touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.
Neglect: The persistent failure to meet a child’s physical and/ or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing, and shelter (including exclusion from home and abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care givers); ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include an unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional needs.
Where a child tells us about harm and abuse:
Always listen to what the child has to say with an open mind
Do not ask leading or probing questions
Never stop a child who is talking freely about significant events
Make a note of the discussion, taking care to record the timings, setting and people present, as well as what was said
Do not ask children to make a written statement
Never promise a child that what they have told you may be kept secret.
Explain that you have responsibility to share information
Inform the DSP for your organisation immediately.
Where we believe another teacher or responsible adult has harmed a child:
If any member of staff or volunteer has concerns about the behaviour or conduct of another individual within the organisation, the nature of the concern should be reported to Debrah Purves who will report the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). Their phone number is tel: 03302226450 their email is LADO@westsussex.gov.uk their share a concern page is West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership - West Sussex County Council
________________________________________
Policy signed by Debrah Purves DATE 08/08/21
Reviewed:
Date Notes / Amendments Reviewed By
24/04/22 Managing recruitment D. Purves
The Midhurst Dance School Safeguarding Policy
REACH FOR THE STARS!
1. INRODUCTION
This policy is aimed at all individuals who are involved or are present in the holding or teaching of any classes, sessions, workshops, or events at or held by The Midhurst Dance School.
This policy is available on our website.
2. THE MIDHURST DANCE SCHOOL’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION
The Midhurst Dance School recognises that we have an explicit duty to safeguard and protect children, young people and vulnerable adults from abuse as defined in the Children Act 2004, the Education Act 2002 and the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. At the Midhurst Dance School, we believe that the welfare of the child is of paramount importance. That no child should be treated any less favourably than others in accessing services that meet their needs and that all children without exception have the right to protection from abuse regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, or beliefs. A child is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday.
All staff and volunteers have a strict duty never to subject a child to any form of harm or abuse. Failure to adhere to these procedures will be treated as gross misconduct.
3. CODE OF BEHAVIOUR FOR THE MIDHURST DANCE SCHOOL STAFF / VOLUNTEERS
People working /volunteering at The Midhurst Dance School must always observe the following requirements where children, young people or similarly vulnerable people are concerned.
Dos and Don’ts for Working with Children
DO:
• Behave professionally
• Listen to children
• Treat everyone with respect
• Communicate at an appropriate level
• Be aware of policy and procedures
• Report any suspicions
• Be aware, approachable, and understanding
DO NOT:
• Harm a child or frighten a child
• Touch inappropriately
• Use inappropriate language
• Threaten, shout or be aggressive
• Force a child to do something they do not want to do
• Mistreat, demean, ignore, or make fun of any student
• Show favouritism to any one individual or groups of individuals
• Let a child expose him/herself to danger
• Make racist, sexist or any other remark which upset or humiliate
• Take photos of children without the permission of The Midhurst Dance School
• Place yourself in a vulnerable position
Dos and Don’ts for Working with Vulnerable Adults
DO:
• Be respectful, responsible and professional
• Act in an appropriate manner
• Listen and communicate
• Use common sense; be caring, attentive and aware
• Be sympathetic to their needs
• Be aware of your responsibility and your duty of care
• Be aware of policy and procedures as outlined in this document
DO NOT:
• Treat vulnerable adults as children
• Engage in inappropriate behaviour
• Be aggressive or physically restrain
• Do anything of a personal nature they can do for themselves
• Place yourself in a vulnerable position
4. FIRST AID
Unless there is good reason, First Aid should not be administered without the permission of the child’s parent or accompanying adult. A child cannot give consent. If the parent is not at the premises, obtain their phone number and try and make contact. However, if a child is alone and seriously injured or unconscious, the situation will need to be dealt with immediately. If possible, treatment should only be given by a trained First Aider.
Provided this does not in itself put the child at risk, always try to administer First Aid with another adult present. Always tell the child exactly what you are doing and why.
Unless it is irrelevant, ask the child if they use medication (e.g., for asthma, diabetes, and epilepsy) or have any allergies. Some children have allergic reactions to stings.
For minor injuries, you may not offer any medication, including antiseptics or pills of any kind.
Any treatment should be as little as necessary without threatening the child’s wellbeing.
If a child comes to you for comfort because of a minor accident or fright, it is acceptable with the Code of Behaviour to hold their hand or put your arm around them. Just ensure:
• you know about any injury and do nothing to make it worse
• physical contact is what the child wants, and the kind of contact between you is appropriate to their age and stage of development
• you do your best to stay in sight of other adults
If a child needs a doctor or hospital, call the emergency services.
It is nearly always best to stay with them and wait for the ambulance. You should only take the risk of bringing in the child yourself if the emergency services ask you to do so because of exceptional circumstances.
5. Where we suspect harm and abuse
At The Midhurst Dance School, all concerns and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take steps to protect children, to keep them safe from hazards and to take appropriate action in the event of an accident. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take reasonable steps to protect children and young people from harm and abuse while in contact with our school and our staff and to report any incident of or suspicion of abuse to the Designated Safeguarding Leader (Debrah Purves) or in their absence directly to the appropriate statuary authority.
Every member of staff has a duty to be alert to the signs of harm and abuse. All concerns should be discussed with the DSL Debrah Purves. In the absence of the DSL all concerns should be shared directly with children’s social care tel:01403229900 Share a concern page: Raise a Concern about a Child, West Sussex County Council.
If any member of staff or volunteer has concerns about the behaviour or conduct of another within the organisation. The member of staff who has a concern or to whom the allegation or concern is reported, should not question the child, or investigate further. The nature of the concern should be reported to Debrah Purves who will report the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). Te;:03302226450 LADO@westsussex.gov.uk Share a concern page: West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership, West Sussex County Council.
Policy signed by Debrah Purves DATE 08/08/21
Reviewed: 30/04/2022
Date Notes / Amendments Reviewed By
This policy:
This policy must be read and understood by all members of staff at The Midhurst Dance School. We will make sure this policy is accessible to all staff, parents, and students, where appropriate, and will make sure that all teachers / staff members can understand this policy by discussing with staff. All staff and volunteers at The Midhurst Dance School must adhere to this policy and must understand their duties and responsibilities regarding safeguarding. A copy of this policy will be always available on our website.
All staff and volunteers have a strict duty never to subject a child to any form of harm or abuse. Failure to adhere to these procedures will be treated as gross misconduct.
Our responsibility:
At The Midhurst Dance School, we recognise we have a responsibility to protect and safeguard the welfare of all children and young people we work with and have an explicit duty to do so under the Children Act 1989 and 2004 and the Education Act 2002. At the Midhurst Dance School, we believe that the welfare of the child is of paramount importance. That no child should be treated any less favourably than others in accessing services that meet their needs and that all children without exception have the right to protection from abuse regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, or beliefs.
A ‘child’ is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday. The fact that a child has reached 16 years of age, is living independently, in further education, or working does not change his/ her entitlement to services or protection as a child. Our guidelines apply to all children and young people until their 18th birthday.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people means:
Protecting children from maltreatment, preventing impairment of a child’s health or development, ensuring that children are growing up with the provision of safe and effective care and taking action to ensure that children have the best life chances.
At the Midhurst Dance School, we will do this by:
Identifying and responding to concerns about a child or young person
Providing a safe and happy dance environment
Doing risk assessments
Using safer recruitment strategies
At The Midhurst Dance School all concerns and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take steps to protect children, to keep them safe from hazards and to take appropriate action in the event of an accident. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take reasonable steps to protect children and young people from harm and abuse while in contact with our school and our staff and to report any incident of or suspicion of abuse to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or in their absence directly to the appropriate statutory authority.
Designated safeguarding lead:
At The Midhurst Dance School our designated safeguarding lead is Debrah Purves. As designated safeguarding lead, they have additional training in Safeguarding and its place in the world of dance teaching (interactive webinar 21/o6/21).
Managing injury:
If a child has a physical injury and there are concerns about abuse attention should be sought for the injury first, then procedures for referring to children’s social care should then be followed. Contacting the emergency services for medical treatment must not be delayed for any reason.
Managing recruitment:
The Midhurst Dance School will ensure all required checks are made when hiring staff and that those in regular contact with children hold a current DBS check. All staff and volunteers will be recruited in line with safer recruitment guidance and DBS checks made where current Government guidance requires us to.
No staff will be employed or able to volunteer if they are barred from working with children and in the event of an incident where a member of staff must be dismissed (or chooses to leave) because they have harmed a child, DBS will be notified.
When new staff, volunteers or regular visitors join our organisation, they will be informed of the safeguarding policy and told who our Designated Safeguarding Lead is.
Managing allegation:
If any member of staff or volunteer has concerns about the behaviour or conduct of another individual within the organisation, the nature of the concern should be reported to Debrah Purves. The member of staff who has a concern or to whom the allegation or concern is reported should not question the child or investigate further. The Designated Lead Debrah Purves will report the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).
If allegation or concern is raised about a member of staff, outside of work, this may still present a risk of harm to children for whom that member of staff is responsible and as such the general principles of this policy still apply.
Harm to children:
Everybody working with children at The Midhurst Dance School must be alert to the needs of children and the risk of harm. All staff and volunteers should be able to recognise, and know how to act upon evidence that a child’s health or development is being impaired or that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. At The Midhurst Dance School we will make every effort to protect children from harm when they are visiting our setting/ attending our classes.
We will ensure:
Appropriate recruitment and selection procedures
Provision of safeguarding training for all staff and volunteers
When hiring staff, all required checks are made in line with current Government guidance. All staff and volunteers are recruited in line with safer recruitment guidance.
We will take all reasonable steps to ensure health safety and welfare for all those who access our organisation
We will take all practicable steps to ensure that no one working with us or for us would put a child in a situation of unreasonable risk to their health and safety.
We will not harm or abuse children within our care and will take all reasonable steps to ensure no one working with us or around us within the community could harm or abuse a child in our care.
We will ensure good reporting to our DSP and onward to children’s social care wherever we suspect harm and will foster an environment of good communication, transparency and trust.
All staff and volunteers have a strict duty to never subject a child or young person to any form of harm or abuse. Failure to adhere to these procedures will be treated as gross misconduct.
During the admissions process relevant contact and medical information shall be collected and access to emergency information will be available to teaching staff and volunteers at every session.
Where we suspect harm and abuse:
Every member of staff has a duty to be alert to the signs of harm and abuse.
Where they have concerns these should be recorded carefully and accurately.
All concerns should be discussed with The Midhurst Dance School’s designated safeguarding lead.
A decision shall then be made with the DPL regarding sharing this concern onward to children’s social care or the police as required.
Where possible and only if it is safe to do so, the teacher who has the concern or the DSL should let the parent / carer of that child know if they intend to raise that concern with children’s social care and they should seek their permission to share information. Please be aware if the parent declines to consent and your concerns regard harm / significant harm you are still duty bound to share with children’s social care.
In the absence of the DSL all concerns should be shared directly with children’s social care.
Their number is tel: 01403229900 their share a concern page is Raise a concern about a child - West Sussex County Council All information sharing must be Data Protection act and GDPR compliant. Sharing must be discrete, appropriate, honest, and accurate but it is important for all staff and volunteers to be aware GDPR and Data Protection law does not create a barrier to sharing safeguarding information and all concerns MUST be shared with the DSL and children’s safeguarding as necessary.
Recognising harms and abuse:
Below are the definitions of harm to children and young people use these to help you recognise harm and ensure you cause no harm.
Physical abuse: A form of abuse that may involve hitting shaking throwing poisoning burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of or deliberately causes illness in a child.
Emotional abuse: The persistent emotional maltreatment off a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless, unloved inadequate, or valued in so far as they meet the needs of another person only, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s developmental capability, as well as the over protection and limitation of exploration and learning or preventing the child from participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the Ill treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (or cyber bullying), causing children to frequently feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, although it may occur alone.
Sexual abuse: Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing rubbing, touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.
Neglect: The persistent failure to meet a child’s physical and/ or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing, and shelter (including exclusion from home and abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care givers); ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include an unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional needs.
Where a child tells us about harm and abuse:
Always listen to what the child has to say with an open mind
Do not ask leading or probing questions
Never stop a child who is talking freely about significant events
Make a note of the discussion, taking care to record the timings, setting and people present, as well as what was said
Do not ask children to make a written statement
Never promise a child that what they have told you may be kept secret.
Explain that you have responsibility to share information
Inform the DSP for your organisation immediately.
Where we believe another teacher or responsible adult has harmed a child:
If any member of staff or volunteer has concerns about the behaviour or conduct of another individual within the organisation, the nature of the concern should be reported to Debrah Purves who will report the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). Their phone number is tel: 03302226450 their email is LADO@westsussex.gov.uk their share a concern page is West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership - West Sussex County Council
________________________________________
Policy signed by Debrah Purves DATE 08/08/21
Reviewed:
Date Notes / Amendments Reviewed By
24/04/22 Managing recruitment D. Purves
The Midhurst Dance School Safeguarding Policy
REACH FOR THE STARS!
1. INRODUCTION
This policy is aimed at all individuals who are involved or are present in the holding or teaching of any classes, sessions, workshops, or events at or held by The Midhurst Dance School.
This policy is available on our website.
2. THE MIDHURST DANCE SCHOOL’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION
The Midhurst Dance School recognises that we have an explicit duty to safeguard and protect children, young people and vulnerable adults from abuse as defined in the Children Act 2004, the Education Act 2002 and the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. At the Midhurst Dance School, we believe that the welfare of the child is of paramount importance. That no child should be treated any less favourably than others in accessing services that meet their needs and that all children without exception have the right to protection from abuse regardless of their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, or beliefs. A child is anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday.
All staff and volunteers have a strict duty never to subject a child to any form of harm or abuse. Failure to adhere to these procedures will be treated as gross misconduct.
3. CODE OF BEHAVIOUR FOR THE MIDHURST DANCE SCHOOL STAFF / VOLUNTEERS
People working /volunteering at The Midhurst Dance School must always observe the following requirements where children, young people or similarly vulnerable people are concerned.
Dos and Don’ts for Working with Children
DO:
• Behave professionally
• Listen to children
• Treat everyone with respect
• Communicate at an appropriate level
• Be aware of policy and procedures
• Report any suspicions
• Be aware, approachable, and understanding
DO NOT:
• Harm a child or frighten a child
• Touch inappropriately
• Use inappropriate language
• Threaten, shout or be aggressive
• Force a child to do something they do not want to do
• Mistreat, demean, ignore, or make fun of any student
• Show favouritism to any one individual or groups of individuals
• Let a child expose him/herself to danger
• Make racist, sexist or any other remark which upset or humiliate
• Take photos of children without the permission of The Midhurst Dance School
• Place yourself in a vulnerable position
Dos and Don’ts for Working with Vulnerable Adults
DO:
• Be respectful, responsible and professional
• Act in an appropriate manner
• Listen and communicate
• Use common sense; be caring, attentive and aware
• Be sympathetic to their needs
• Be aware of your responsibility and your duty of care
• Be aware of policy and procedures as outlined in this document
DO NOT:
• Treat vulnerable adults as children
• Engage in inappropriate behaviour
• Be aggressive or physically restrain
• Do anything of a personal nature they can do for themselves
• Place yourself in a vulnerable position
4. FIRST AID
Unless there is good reason, First Aid should not be administered without the permission of the child’s parent or accompanying adult. A child cannot give consent. If the parent is not at the premises, obtain their phone number and try and make contact. However, if a child is alone and seriously injured or unconscious, the situation will need to be dealt with immediately. If possible, treatment should only be given by a trained First Aider.
Provided this does not in itself put the child at risk, always try to administer First Aid with another adult present. Always tell the child exactly what you are doing and why.
Unless it is irrelevant, ask the child if they use medication (e.g., for asthma, diabetes, and epilepsy) or have any allergies. Some children have allergic reactions to stings.
For minor injuries, you may not offer any medication, including antiseptics or pills of any kind.
Any treatment should be as little as necessary without threatening the child’s wellbeing.
If a child comes to you for comfort because of a minor accident or fright, it is acceptable with the Code of Behaviour to hold their hand or put your arm around them. Just ensure:
• you know about any injury and do nothing to make it worse
• physical contact is what the child wants, and the kind of contact between you is appropriate to their age and stage of development
• you do your best to stay in sight of other adults
If a child needs a doctor or hospital, call the emergency services.
It is nearly always best to stay with them and wait for the ambulance. You should only take the risk of bringing in the child yourself if the emergency services ask you to do so because of exceptional circumstances.
5. Where we suspect harm and abuse
At The Midhurst Dance School, all concerns and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take steps to protect children, to keep them safe from hazards and to take appropriate action in the event of an accident. It is the responsibility of all staff and volunteers to take reasonable steps to protect children and young people from harm and abuse while in contact with our school and our staff and to report any incident of or suspicion of abuse to the Designated Safeguarding Leader (Debrah Purves) or in their absence directly to the appropriate statuary authority.
Every member of staff has a duty to be alert to the signs of harm and abuse. All concerns should be discussed with the DSL Debrah Purves. In the absence of the DSL all concerns should be shared directly with children’s social care tel:01403229900 Share a concern page: Raise a Concern about a Child, West Sussex County Council.
If any member of staff or volunteer has concerns about the behaviour or conduct of another within the organisation. The member of staff who has a concern or to whom the allegation or concern is reported, should not question the child, or investigate further. The nature of the concern should be reported to Debrah Purves who will report the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO). Te;:03302226450 LADO@westsussex.gov.uk Share a concern page: West Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership, West Sussex County Council.
Policy signed by Debrah Purves DATE 08/08/21
Reviewed: 30/04/2022
Date Notes / Amendments Reviewed By
