Safeguarding
Combined Actors of Cambridge Child protection and
Safeguarding Policy
Combined Actors of Cambridge believes that it is always unacceptable for a child, young
person or anyone identifying as a vulnerable adult to experience abuse of any kind and
recognises its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children, young people and anyone
identifying as a vulnerable adult, by a commitment to practice which protects them.
We recognise that:
- the welfare of the child/young person or anyone identifying as a vulnerable adult is paramount.
- all children or vulnerable adults, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse.
- working in partnership with children, young people, vulnerable adults, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting their welfare.
The purpose of the policy:
- To provide protection for the children, young people and anyone identifying as a vulnerable adult who receive Combined Actors’ services, including the children of adult members or users.
To provide volunteers with guidance on procedures they should adopt in the event that
they suspect a child, young person or vulnerable adult may be experiencing, or be at
risk of, harm.
This policy includes all volunteer workers, students or anyone working on behalf of Combined
Actors of Cambridge.
We will seek to safeguard children, young people anyone identifying as a vulnerable adult by:
valuing them, listening to and respecting them
adopting and sharing of safeguarding guidelines through procedures and a code of
conduct for all people involved with Combined Actors of Cambridge productions
• recruiting volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
• sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving
parents/carers and children and vulnerable adults appropriately
• providing effective management for volunteers through supervision, support and
training
This policy will be regularly monitored by the CAC Committee and will be subject to annual
review.
Chair's Signature:
A Shepherd
CHILD PROTECTION PROCEDURES (Code of Conduct)
Responsibilities:
Combined Actors of Cambridge
At the outset of any production involving children Combined Actors of Cambridge will:
• Undertake a risk assessment and monitor risk throughout the production process.
• Identify at the outset the person with designated responsibility for child protection.
• Engage in effective recruitment of chaperones and other individuals with
responsibility for children, including appropriate vetting (if necessary in consultation
with the local education authority).
• Ensure that children are supervised at all times.
• Report any concerns to the person with designated responsibility for child
protection.
Parents
Combined Actors of Cambridge believes that it is important to work in partnership with
parents (NB: all references to parents include guardians). To that end:
• A copy of Combined Actors of Cambridge’s Child Protection Policy is available to all
parents on request.
• Parents will be encouraged to be involved in the activities of Combined Actors of
Cambridge and to share responsibility for the care of children.
• All parents are responsible for meeting/collecting (or arranging collection of) their
child after rehearsals or performances, and must let both the child and Combined
Actors of Cambridge know who will meet/collect the child. Parents must also let
Combined Actors of Cambridge know if the child has permission to travel
independently to and from Combined Actors of Cambridge. It is NOT the
responsibility of Combined Actors of Cambridge to take children home.
Unsupervised Contact
• Combined Actors of Cambridge will try to ensure that no adult has unsupervised
contact with children.
• If possible there will always be at least two adults in the room when working with
children.
• If unsupervised contact is unavoidable, steps will be taken to minimise risk. For
example, work will be carried out in a public area, or in a designated room with the
door open.
Physical Contact
You are reminded that your actions can be misinterpreted. Therefore, all adults will:
• maintain a safe and appropriate distance from children
• only touch children when it is absolutely necessary in relation to a particular activity
• seek the consent of the child prior to any physical contact and the purpose of the
contact will be made clear.
Managing sensitive information
• Permission will be sought from the parents for use of photographic material
featuring children for promotional or other purposes.
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• Combined Actors of Cambridge will actively discourage children and other
unauthorised members of the cast and crew from using their mobile phones to take
photographs at rehearsals and performances.
• Combined Actors of Cambridge’s web-based materials and activities will be
carefully monitored for inappropriate use.
• Combined Actors of Cambridge will ensure confidentiality in order to protect the
rights of its cast and crew, including the safe handling, storage and disposal of any
sensitive information such as criminal record disclosures.
Suspicion of abuse
• If you see or suspect abuse of a child while in the care of the Combined Actors of
Cambridge, please make this known to the person with responsibility for child
protection. If you suspect that the person with responsibility for child protection is
the source of the problem, you should make your concerns known to the Chair of
Combined Actors of Cambridge.
• Please make a note for your own records of what you witnessed as well as your
response, in case there is any follow-up in which you are involved.
• The individual against whom the allegation is made will be excluded from any
premises rented or hired by Combined Actors of Cambridge and will not have any
unsupervised contact with any other children in the production. See Rights and
Confidentiality below.
Disclosure of abuse
If a child confides in you that abuse has taken place:
• Remain calm and in control but do not delay taking action.
• Listen carefully to what has been said. Allow the child to tell you at their own pace
and ask questions only for clarification. Do not ask questions that suggest a
particular answer.
• Do not promise to keep it a secret. Use the first opportunity you have to share the
information with the person with responsibility for child protection. Make it clear to
the child that you will need to share this information with others. Make it clear that
you will only tell the people who need to know and who should be able to help.
• Reassure the child that ‘they did the right thing’ in telling someone.
• Tell the child what you are going to do next.
• Speak immediately to the person with responsibility for child protection. It is that
person’s responsibility to liaise with the relevant authorities, usually social services
or the police, and with parents.
• As soon as possible after the disclosing conversation, make a note of what was
said, using the child’s own words. Note the date, time, any names that were
involved or mentioned, and who you gave the information to. Make sure you sign
and date your record.
Recording
• In all situations, including those in which the cause of concern arises from a
disclosure made in confidence, the details of an allegation or reported incident will
be recorded, regardless of whether or not the concerns have been shared with a
statutory child protection agency.
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• An accurate note will be made of the date and time of the incident or disclosure, the
parties involved, what was said or done and by whom, any action taken to
investigate the matter, any further action taken, eg exclusion of an individual, where
relevant the reasons why the matter was not referred to a statutory agency, and the
name of the persons reporting and to whom it was reported.
• The record will be stored securely and shared only with those who need to know
about the incident or allegation.
Rights and Confidentiality
• If a serious complaint of abuse is made against any member of the Combined
Actors of Cambridge production team, cast, crew, committee, chaperone, other
volunteer (e.g. set builders, front of house staff at productions) etc, this will be
investigated by the relevant authorities.
• Both the alleged abuser and the child who is thought to have been abused have a
right to confidentiality under the Data Protection Act 1998. It must also be borne in
mind that any possible criminal investigation could be compromised through
inappropriate information being released.
• In criminal law the Crown, or other prosecuting authority, has to prove guilt and the
defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Accidents
• To avoid accidents, chaperones and children will be advised of “house rules”
regarding health and safety and will be notified of areas that are out of bounds.
Children will be advised of the clothing and footwear appropriate to the work that
will be undertaken. If a child is injured while in the care of Combined Actors of
Cambridge first aid will be given, parents will be informed as soon as possible, and
the injury will be recorded in Combined Actors of Cambridge’s accident book.
• If a child joins the production with an obvious physical injury a record of this will be
made in the accident book. This record can be useful if a formal allegation is made
later and will also be a record that the child did not sustain the injury while
participating in the production.
Chaperones
• Chaperones will be appointed by Combined Actors of Cambridge for the care of
children during the production process. Chaperones will normally be a Combined
Actors of Cambridge production team member or other volunteer who is well known
to Combined Actors of Cambridge. The chaperone should exercise the care which
a good parent might be reasonably expected to give to a child. The maximum
number of children in the chaperone’s care will not exceed 12.
• Unless already well known to Combined Actors of Cambridge, potential chaperones
will be required to supply photographic proof of identity (eg passport, driving
licence) and two references from individuals with knowledge of their previous work
with children. They will also be asked to sign a declaration stating that there is no
reason why they would be considered unsuitable to work with children.
• Chaperones will be made aware of Combined Actors of Cambridge’s Child
Protection Policy and Procedures.
• Chaperones will not usually have unsupervised access to children in their care.
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• Where chaperones are not satisfied with the conditions for the children, they should
bring this to the attention of the Director. If changes cannot be made satisfactorily,
the chaperone should consider not allowing the child to continue.
• If a chaperone considers that a child is unwell or too tired to continue, the
chaperone must inform the Director and not allow the child to continue.
• Chaperones should be aware of the safety arrangements and first aid procedures in
the venue and will ensure that children in their care do not place themselves and
others in danger.
• Chaperones should ensure that any accidents are reported to and recorded by
Combined Actors of Cambridge.
• If a parent has not collected a child, it is the duty of the chaperone to stay with that
child until arrangements have been made for the child to be taken home.