Child Protection Policy Statement

Fuzzy and Britta attended a certified course on Child Protection and Good Practice in August 2003 and they have taken the greatest care in developing the following guidelines for their Circus School.

We have combined the code of conduct for sports coaches as laid down by Sports Coach UK with the child protection policy and good practice for youth workers to cover all areas of our activities.

Fuzzy’s & Britta’s Circus School is fully committed to safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people by protecting them from physical, sexual and emotional harm.

Our Circus School should always be a positive and inspiring experience for all participating children. Circus School instructors will therefore at all times, show respect and understanding for the rights of young people, and their safety and welfare, and conduct themselves in a way that reflects our principles.

Our instructors can provide the Disclosure Scotland Certificate and we also try to keep abreast with new developments and Good Practice regulations. If you feel that we have missed out on something or if your codes differ from ours then please let us know so that we can adhere to your policies.

Principles

You can reduce likely situations for the abuse of participants and help protect yourself from false accusations by making sure that everyone is aware that, as a general rule, you should not
- Spend time alone with young people away from others
- Contact young people out with the activity or the project
- Take young people alone in a car on journeys, however short
- Take a young person to your home
When occasions arise where it is unavoidable that these things happen, then they should only occur with the full knowledge of your line manager, senior worker or the young person’s parents.

Code of Practice

Circus School staff should never
- Engage in rough, physical and sexually provocative games
- Allow or engage in inappropriate touching of any form
- Allow young people or other staff and volunteers to use inappropriate language
- Make sexually suggestive comments about or to a young person even in fun
- Deter young people from making allegations through a fear of not being believed
- Show favouritism to any individuals
- Rely on just your own good name to protect you
- Believe it could never happen to me
- Smoke, take drugs or be under the influence alcohol.

Circus School staff should always
- Treat everyone with respect
- Respect a young person’s right to personal privacy
- Work in an open environment
- Create an environment in which individuals are motivated to maintain participation and improve performance
- Identify and meet the needs of individuals
- Challenge unacceptable behaviour and language
- Take seriously any allegations a young person makes, ensuring that the appropriate people are alerted and that the incident is recorded
- Provide access for young people to talk to others about any concerns they may have
- Record any accident in our Accident Report Book - and also make sure a representative of the school is told so they can inform the child’s parents
- Remember that someone might misinterpret your actions, no matter how well intentioned
- Report all allegations and suspicions of abuse
- Plan activities so that at least one other member of staff or volunteer is present
- Try to ensure that no one is placed in a position that could cause further compromise.