Safeguarding Policy
Small Football School Safeguarding Policy (inspired by the FA)
1. Small Football School acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person who has been entrusted to its care and is committed to working to provide a safe environment for all members. A child or young person is anyone under the age of 10 engaged in any School football activity. We subscribe to The Football Association’s (The FA) Safeguarding Children - Policy and Procedures and endorse and adopt the Policy Statement contained in that document.
2. Key principles of The FA Safeguarding Children Policy are that:
- The child’s welfare is, and must always be, the paramount consideration
- All children have a right to be protected from abuse regardless of their age, gender, disability, race, faith or belief
- All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately
- Working in partnership with other organisations, children and their parents/carers is essential
- We acknowledge that every child who plays or participates in football should be able to take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practice and abuse. Small Football School recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our School.
3. Small Football School has a role to play in safeguarding the welfare of all children by protecting them from physical, sexual or emotional harm and from neglect or bullying. It is noted and accepted that The FA’s Safeguarding Children Regulations applies to everyone in football whether in a paid or voluntary capacity. This means whether you are a volunteer, match official, helper, a parent, football coach, School official or medical staff.
4. We endorse and adopt The FA’s Responsible Recruitment guidelines for recruiting volunteers and we will:
- Specify what the role is and what tasks it involves
- Request identification documents
- As a minimum meet and chat with the applicant(s) and where possible interview people before appointing them
- Ask for and follow up with two references before appointing someone
- Require CRB check
All current Small Football School members who are regularly caring for, supervising, training or being in sole charge of children will be required to complete a CRB check.
If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of Small Football School. That person will be discarded as The as the best interests of children shall prevail.
Anybody with history of misconduct towards children will not be allowed near the children and will not be able to participate in the activities of Small Football School.
5. Small Football School supports The FA’s Whistle blowing Policy. Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague can ‘whistle blow’ by contacting The FA Safeguarding Team on 0207 745 4787, by writing to The FA Case Manager at The Football Association, 25 Soho Square, W1D 4FA or alternatively by going direct to the Police, Children’s Services or the NSPCC. Small Football School encourages everyone to know about it and utilise it if necessary.
6. Small Football School has appointed Daddy Kabuiku as School Welfare officer. Daddy has successfully completed The FA’s Safeguarding Children and Welfare Workshop.
The Club Welfare Officer cer will liaise directly with the County FA (CFA) Welfare Officer and will be familiar with the procedures for referring any concerns.
7. We acknowledge and endorse The FA’s identification of bullying as a category of abuse. Bullying of any kind is not acceptable at our school. If bullying does occur, all players or parents/carers should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly. Incidents need to be reported to the Club Welfare Officer.
8. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility if you are worried about a child it is important that you report your concerns – no action is not an option.
If you are worried about a child then you need to report your concerns to the Club Welfare Officer.
If the issue is one of poor practice, the Club Welfare Officer will either:
- Deal with the matter themselves; or
- Seek advice from the CFA Welfare Officer.
- If the concern is more serious– e.g. possible child abuse – then contact the CFA Welfare officer, then immediately contact the Police or Children’s Services
- If the child needs immediate medical treatment take them to a hospital or call an ambulance and tell them this is a child protection concern.
Let your Club Welfare Officer know what action you have taken, they in turn will inform the CFA Welfare Officer.
If at any time you are not able to contact your Club Welfare Officer or the matter is clearly serious then you can either:
- contact your CFA Welfare Officer directly;
- contact the Police or Children’s Services;
- call The FA/NSPCC 24 hour Helpline for advice on 0808 800 5000 or Deaf users text phone 0800 056 0566.
10. Further advice on Safeguarding Children matters can be obtained from:
Small Football School Safeguarding and Welfare Officer: Daddy Kabuiku, phone: 07957 970674, email: daddy.kabuiku@gmail.com
County FA Safeguarding and Welfare Officer: Ken D'Rosario, Ken.D'Rosario@norfolkfa.com
www.TheFA.com/Footballsafe/Footballsafe@TheFA.com
The FA Safeguarding Children enquiry line: 0845 210 8080