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Safeguarding policy

The Dance School Awards Safeguarding Leads are:
Stacey Ellis (Designated Safeguarding Officer)

They can be contacted on: info@thedanceschoolawards.com

1. The Dance School Awards are committed to ensuring that all children and
adults at risk with whom we engage are kept safe and protected from harm or
abuse. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. This policy sets out what
constitutes abuse, how to recognise it and what The Dance School Awards staff
are required to do if they are concerned about the welfare of a child or adult at
risk. This policy must be followed by everyone regardless of their employment
status, seniority or role. It applies to all Dance School Awards staff, freelancers,
independent contractors, suppliers, chaperones and parents.

2. Definitions In this policy, the following words mean:
• Adult at risk - Someone who is aged 18 years or over and is at risk of abuse or
neglect because they need particular care or support. Their vulnerability may be
connected to:
- age
- physical or mental disabilities, or special educational needs
- any illness, either mental or physical that they may have, or pregnancy
- isolation or loneliness; finances and work; or living conditions.
- Child – someone under 18 years of age
- Child protection - part of the safeguarding process which focuses on protecting
the child once they are identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm.
- Harm - the impact of the abuse, exploitation, or neglect of the child, young
person or adult at risk, whether deliberate or accidental as the result of a lack of
knowledge or awareness. Harm may result in an impairment of physical,
intellectual, emotional, or mental health or well-being. Harmful conduct may
constitute a criminal offence or professional misconduct.
- Safeguarding – action that is taken to promote the welfare of the child, young
person or adult at risk and protect them from harm.
- Young person – someone aged between 16 – 18 years.

3. The Dance School Awards principles in all safeguarding situations are:
- Children and young people should be treated with care, respect and dignity.
- Everyone who works for or with The Dance School Awards in any capacity, has a
responsibility for safeguarding the welfare of the children and adults at risk that
we meet in the course of our work.
- The Dance School Awards will follow employment laws and rules and always
seek work permits and Child Performance Licenses where required.
- The Dance School Awards follows safe recruitment practices to ensure we do not
engage anyone who may pose a risk to children or adults at risk.
- When working with children or adults at risk, The Dance School Awards will
always undertake a dynamic and ongoing risk assessment.

4. The Dance School Awards has trained a number of its senior leaders in
safeguarding and their details are provided in this document. The Safeguarding
Leads are the point of referral for concerns about the welfare and safety of a child
or adult at risk, whether there is a perceived or actual risk of harm, a child or adult
at risk has made a disclosure or provided us with information that raises concerns
or someone is behaving in a way that suggests they may pose a risk, cause harm
or have caused harm to a child, young person or adult at risk. The Safeguarding
Leads will maintain confidential records of safeguarding issues. Every
safeguarding issue which arises must be referred to a safeguarding lead as soon
as possible.

5. Reasons for becoming concerned about the welfare of a child or young person
may include:
- observing an injury;
- witnessing or heard an interaction (between children or between an adult
and a child) that you find worrying
- being concerned about bullying, whether physical, verbal or online;
- becoming aware of inappropriate communications – which could include
sexting (between children, or between an adult and child) or up-skirting;
- discovering that someone creates, accesses or shares images of child
abuse
- if a child exhibits sexualised awareness or behaviour, or seems neglected
or withdrawn in their behaviour; or
- if a child makes a disclosure to you about abuse or a risk of abuse, towards
them or someone else.

6. If you have any concerns these need to be shared with a safeguarding lead as
soon as possible. You should email info@thedanceschoolawards.com and will
receive a prompt reply. Your concern may be an important piece of information in
building the full picture to protect the child, young person or adult. If the child or
adult at risk is in immediate danger, dial 999 and ask for the police - do not delay.
Having made sure they are safe, contact your Safeguarding Lead immediately to
let them know what has happened. Remember that we do not expect or require
you to decide whether abuse has or is happening, but you are expected to alert a
Safeguarding Lead immediately. – This way, we can make sure concerns are dealt
with only by people who’ve been trained in safeguarding matters , and keep the
circle of people small enough to protect the privacy of the child, young person or
adult at risk. You should never try to investigate this yourself or inform anyone
other than the Safeguarding Lead. In particular, you should never tell the person
named as the potential abuser in any disclosure. Doing so could increase the risk
to the person who has trusted you with their disclosure. The Safeguarding Lead is
responsible for taking the decision on whether your concern should be referred to
the police, to the local authority, to a child’s school (through its Designated
Safeguarding Lead) or to some other safeguarding authority. The Safeguarding
Lead may not be able to share further details with you but will explain what they
can.

APPENDIX 1 THE DANCE SCHOOL AWARDS – BEHAVIOURAL GUIDELINES
These guidelines have been created to keep you, and the children and adults you
work with, safe.
1. Everyone who works for The Dance School Awards in any capacity (including all
staff and anyone working for us on a freelance or casual basis) will follow all of
these Behavioural Guidelines whenever their work brings them into contact with
children, young people or vulnerable people. All references to “child” or “children”
in these Behavioural Guidelines are a reference to children, young people and
adults at risk.

2. Everyone who works for The Dance School Awards has a duty to promote open,
honest, trustworthy and respectful relationships with everyone we meet in the
course of our work. Everyone who works for us will demonstrate proper personal
and professional behaviour and boundaries at all times during their work.
Everyone who works for The Dance School Awards will behave responsibly during
work-related social events, especially if children are present.

3. All arrangements and practical communications will be shared through the
child’s parent, guardian or chaperone rather than directly with the child. We will
use suitable language when communicating with the child and will not share our
personal information. We do not give out personal contact details to children.

4. Everyone who works for The Dance School Awards will work in an open
environment, avoiding private or unobserved situations with children and
encouraging open communication with no secrets. While having the consent of
their parent, guardian or chaperone is important, we will always explain to the
child what we plan to do and seek their consent to participate.

5. We will ensure that the child is accompanied by a parent, guardian or
chaperone and wherever possible, all activities will take place in open- plan
environments. If an activity has to happen in a room rather than an open-plan
space, no adult should ever be left on his or her own with any child or children –
two adults should always be present. If an emergency means that an adult is left
alone with any child or children, the door to the room must remain open at all
times.

6. We will maintain a safe and appropriate distance at all times. We will engage in
the minimum of physical contact with the child, and any necessary physical
contact will be public and appropriate. Our staff will not do things of a personal
nature for any child but instead, we will ask the child’s parent, guardian or
chaperone to help.

7. Our changing rooms will be split into female only and male only. Chaperones
will be in place to maintain these standards.
8. The Dance School Awards staff will not engage children in discussions relating
to personal matters (including any discussion of problems at home or emotional
issues).

9. If a child shares concerns with us, we will listen, stay calm, be reassuring, avoid
judgements and we will never promise to keep the disclosure secret. We will then
escalate the concern immediately to one of our Safeguarding Leads who will refer
it appropriately to the police, the Local Authority, the child’s school (through the
Designated Safeguarding Lead) or another suitable safeguarding authority. We
will not share the child’s disclosure with any other person.

10. There will be an appropriate ratio of supervising adults to children at our event
and rehearsals. This will include chaperones, who are licensed by the local
authority alongside dance school staff who hold current DBS certificates. The
Dance School Awards holds the details of these in our central record keeping
system.

11. We are prepared to challenge inappropriate behaviour and will respond
appropriately to all concerns about a child’s welfare, escalating the matter
promptly to our Safeguarding Leads in accordance with our Safeguarding Policy.

12. We will treat inappropriate or illegal behaviour extremely seriously and reserve
the right to refuse entry to The Dance School Awards event to anyone who has
breached our code of conduct (please see code of conduct document)
APPENDIX 2 DEFINITIONS OF ABUSE

A. What is child abuse? Child abuse is any action by another person – adult or
child – that causes significant harm to a child. It can occur by omission or
commission, by direct means or online, and cause physical, sexual or emotional
harm, but can also be about a lack of love, care and attention. Neglect can be as
damaging to a child as any other type of abuse.

A.1 An abused child can experience more than one type of abuse, and this can
happen over time, or be a one-off event.
A.2 Children can be more vulnerable to abuse if they have a disability, or if they are
exposed to parental and child mental health issues, bullying, parental or child
substance misuse, such as drugs or alcohol, and behavioural issues including
exclusion from education, social isolation etc.

B. Types of abuse
B.1 Physical abuse happens when a child or adult at risk is deliberately hurt,
causing injuries such as cuts, bruises, burns and broken bones. It can involve
hitting, kicking, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, use of restraint, denial of
treatment or improper administration of medication, or suffocation. It’s also
considered physical abuse if a parent or carer makes up or causes the symptoms
of illness in children, for example, by giving them medicine they don’t need, thus
making them unwell. This is known as fabricated or induced illness (FII).
B.2. Emotional Abuse is the emotional ill-treatment or neglect of a child or adult
at risk. It is sometimes called psychological abuse and can cause serious harm. It
may lead to the child or adult at risk thinking that they are worthless, unloved,
and inadequate. It may include expecting a child to be able to do more than their
stage of development would allow, such as expecting a baby to feed themselves,
be toilet trained or not to cry, as well as being over-protective and stopping
children from having opportunities to explore or participate in normal social
interaction. It can also include verbal threats, control, intimidation and
experiencing domestic abuse, either as a victim or seeing or hearing it, being
subject to or witnessing bullying (including cyber-bullying) which can cause the
child or adult at risk to feel frightened or in danger. Emotional abuse is a factor in
all forms of abuse although it may also exist alone.
B.3 Neglect is the ongoing failure to meet basic needs of a child or adult at risk
and can cause serious and long-term harm. Neglect may occur during pregnancy
because of maternal alcohol or drug misuse, or neglect may involve a parent,
guardian or carer failing to provide adequate food, clothing, heat and shelter, lack
of supervision, access to medical care or education, or failing to keep the child or
adult at risk safe from danger. It may also include unresponsiveness to basic
emotional needs.
B.4 Sexual abuse is when a child or adult at risk is forced or persuaded to take part
in sexual activities. This does not have to be physical contact but could involve
being forced or coerced into looking at, or being the subject of sexual images,
encouraging to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or being groomed in
preparation for abuse. It doesn’t necessarily involve violence and the child or adult
at risk may not be aware that what is happening is abusive. Sexual abuse can
involve contact abuse and/or non-contact abuse. Contact abuse happens when
the abuser makes physical contact with the child or adult at risk. Noncontact
abuse involves showing images of a sexual nature, encouraging them to observe
sexual activity or talking about sexual matters. Sexual abuse is not solely
perpetrated by adult men; women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can
other children. A child over 16 years of age can legally consent to sexual activity,
however for people working in a ‘position of trust’ sexual activity with a child over
16 is illegal. Examples of positions of trust includes teachers, care workers, youth
justice workers, social workers, doctors, faith group leaders and sports coaches.
For children over 16 or adults at risk, sexual activity that takes place without
consent or understanding is illegal.
B.5 Online Abuse is any type of abuse that happens on the web including
grooming, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation and bullying. When bullying (known
as cyberbullying) happens online it can involve social networks, games and
mobile devices and includes - sending threatening or abusive text messages. •
creating and sharing embarrassing images or videos. • 'trolling' - sending
menacing or upsetting messages on social networks, chat rooms or online games.
• excluding children from online games, activities, or friendship group. • setting up
hate sites or groups focusing on a specific child or young person. • encouraging
young people to self-harm. • voting for or against a child or young person in an
abusive poll. • creating fake accounts, hijacking, or stealing online identities to
embarrass a young person or cause them trouble by using their name.
B.6 Child and Adult Sexual Exploitation Children and adults in exploitative
situations and relationships may initially be groomed by being given high value
gifts, money, drugs, alcohol, status, or affection in exchange for engaging in sexual
activities that they are unable to consent to because they are too young or
because of the power differential between them and the perpetrator. They may
initially be tricked into believing they are in a loving, consensual relationship and
not understand that they are being abused. They may depend on their abuser or
be too scared to tell anyone what's happening. They might be invited to parties
and given drugs and alcohol before being sexually exploited and subject to
violent, humiliating and degrading sexual assaults which may involve multiple
perpetrators. Some children and adults are trafficked into or within the UK for the
purpose of sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation can describe a one-off situation
between two people (child-adult or adult-adult), while at the other end it may
include instances of organised crimes where a number of adults or children are
trafficked and sexually exploited. Sexual exploitation can also happen to children
and young people in gangs.
B.7 Harmful sexual behaviour occurs when children and young people engage in
sexual behaviour (HSB) which harms themselves and others. It can include: •
using sexually explicit words and phrases. • inappropriate touching. • using sexual
violence or threats. • full penetrative sex with other children or adults. Sexual
behaviour between children is considered harmful if one of the children is much
older, particularly if there is more than 2 years’ difference in age or if one of the
children is pre-pubescent and the other isn’t. However, a younger child can abuse
an older child, particularly if they have power over them for example, if the older
child is vulnerable.
B.8 Domestic abuse is any type of controlling, bullying, threatening or violent
behaviour between people who are or were in an intimate relationship. There are
many different types of abusive behaviours that can occur within intimate
relationships, including emotional, sexual, financial, psychological, and physical
abuse. Both males and females can be abused or be abusers and domestic abuse
can happen in any relationship regardless of age (including relationships between
young people aged 16 and 17), sexuality, gender identity, race, or religious identity.
Exposing children to domestic abuse is also considered abusive. Children can be
directly involved in incidents of domestic abuse, or they may be harmed by seeing
or hearing the abuse happening. Children in homes where there is domestic
abuse are also at risk of other types of abuse or neglect.
B.9 Bullying is behaviour that hurts someone and can happen anywhere – at
school, at home, at social events, at work or online. It is usually a sustained
behaviour and can harm a child, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Bullying
includes: • verbal abuse, such as name calling. • non-verbal abuse, using hand
gestures and body language. • emotional abuse, such as threatening, intimidating
or humiliating someone. • exclusion, such as ignoring or isolating someone. •
undermining, by constant criticism or spreading rumours. • controlling or
manipulating someone. • racial, sexual, or homophobic bullying. • physical
assaults, such as hitting and pushing. • making silent, hoax or abusive calls.
B.10 Human trafficking is a form of abuse where children and adults are tricked,
forced or persuaded to leave their homes. Grooming techniques are used to gain
the trust of the child/adult, their family or community. Children and adults can be
trafficked into the UK from overseas but can also be trafficked from one part of
the country to another. Children and adults are trafficked for: • sexual exploitation.
• benefit fraud. • forced marriage. • domestic servitude such as cleaning, childcare,
cooking. • forced labour in factories or agriculture. • criminal exploitation such as
pickpocketing, begging, transporting drugs across county lines and other crimes.
When children and adults are trafficked, they may experience other forms of
abuse such as physical, sexual, and emotional abuse to control them and they’re
also likely to suffer physical and emotional neglect. Human trafficking generally
involves organised criminals who recruit, transport and exploit children and adults
but can also be organised by individuals known to them and their family.
B.11 Financial Abuse Financial abuse happens if someone steals or defrauds (or
tries to) an adult at risk money, goods or property. This includes: • Exploitation. •
Embezzlement. • Withholding pension or benefits. • Exerting pressure around
wills, property, or inheritance. • Cuckooing.
B.12 Modern slavery is another term which may be used in relation to human
trafficking. Modern slavery encompasses slavery, servitude, forced and
compulsory labour and human trafficking (HM Government, 2014). The Modern
Slavery Act passed in 2015 in England and Wales categorises offences of slavery,
servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking (NCA, 2017).
B.13 Female genital mutilation (FGM) is illegal in the UK and is a form of child
abuse. It involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia for
non-medical reasons and is also known as female circumcision or cutting.
Religious, social, or cultural reasons are sometimes given for FGM but it’s effect
can cause severe and longlasting damage to the girl’s physical and emotional
health. The age at which FGM is carried out varies and it may be carried out when
a girl is new-born, during childhood or adolescence, just before marriage or
during pregnancy.

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