Safeguarding and Child Protection
Our purpose is to improve the lives of young people through the provision of music activities. We pride ourselves on providing these activities in a warm, supportive, collaborative and safe environment. All our members, including staff, contractors and volunteers, understand this and we share a code of conduct to underpin it.
We recognise that many of the young people we work with may be vulnerable in some way. We all have a responsibility to safeguard the welfare of young people as best we can and to keep them safe.
Grounded Sounds has a comprehensive Child Protection Policy and set of Procedures. The main document is outlined below.
Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of Children Policy Version 14 – 25th July 2024
Introduction
The main activities of Grounded Sounds are all involved with young people – aged 11 - 25. As such it is critical that we have a clear policy and set of processes around child protection. The Board of Trustees is committed to ensure these are in place, well understood and followed.
This policy applies to all people working on behalf of Grounded Sounds (GS), including the management and trustees, members of the advisory board, paid staff, agency or freelance staff and volunteers. It also applies to the staff of service providers who are involved with GS managed activities involving children.
The purpose of the policy is:
● to protect all children and young people who access GS’s services. ● to provide staff and volunteers with the overall principles that guide our approach to child protection
● to set out key elements of our approach to recruitment - to ensure we only take on suitable people
● to set out key elements of how we manage our activities involving children - both to ensure we keep children safe and we protect GS members from false allegations of abuse
Associated with this policy are two more detailed procedures:
● one that staff should follow in the event that they suspect a child or young person may be actually experiencing, or be at risk of, harm or abuse. This procedure sets out our approach to sharing information with schools and other agencies.
● a second procedure for dealing with the situation where allegations of abuse are made against one of our own staff or volunteers.
Overall principles
GS believes that a child or young person should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe. We are committed to practise in a way that protects them.
We recognise that
● the welfare of the child is paramount
● all children, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have a right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse
● some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues ● working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.
We seek to keep children and young people safe by:
● valuing them, listening to and respecting them
● adopting child protection practices through procedures and a code of conduct for staff and volunteers
● recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made ● providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support and training
● developing and implementing an effective e-safety policy and related procedures ● sharing information about child protection and good practice with children, parents, staff and volunteers
● sharing concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving schools, parents and children appropriately
Approach to the recruitment of staff
In recruiting and appointing staff who will be directly involved with children’s activities, whether paid or voluntary, GS adopts the following approach:
● We produce a job and person specification, identifying the tasks and responsibilities involved.
● We draw up selection criteria.
● We ask all applicants to apply in writing, covering their personal details, previous and current work/volunteering experience.
● We measure the application against the selection criteria
● We require all successful applicants to undertake the government Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
● As part of the DBS check, we ask for photographic evidence to confirm the identity of the applicant e.g. their passport or driving licence.
● We always interview our candidates and ask for two references, either by phone or in writing, from people who are not family members and who have knowledge of the applicant.
● We have at least two people from our organisation on the interview panel. ● We ask for details of any gaps in employment.
● We provide induction sessions for all successful applicants, which amongst other things covers our child protection policy and procedures. This includes a help sheet for safeguarding matters.
Approach to the recruitment of participants aged 16-25
When recruiting young people aged 16-25 who are considered ‘at-risk’, we ensure that we ask certain questions in the referral process (this may be aided by a key worker or parent/guardian):
● If from a young offending background, we ask about the nature of the crime. If the young person / key-worker would rather not disclose this, we ask for the level of the crime (1, 2 or 3 for severity, 3 being most severe).
● We check with the young person / key worker about the location of the project and whether this is problematic (the young person may not feel safe entering certain postcodes / areas).
● We ask if the young person has had any mental health issues in the past and if they need any specific support (previous participants have had issues that have included PTSD, psychosis, suicidal tendencies).
● We run through our participant code of conduct, which we ask them to sign.
Approach to the management of GS activities with children under 18
In order to keep children safe and protect them from abuse, as well as protecting GS members from false allegations, we adopt the following approach in managing our activities involving children:
● We conduct a risk assessment prior to any activity supervised by a GS member, in order to ensure any risks to health or safety of the participants are minimised. ● We ensure that there is an adequate level of adult supervision, with a maximum of 10 young people to each DBS checked GS member
● We obtain consent from a parent or guardian for every unaccompanied child attending our activities.
● We keep a register of any unaccompanied children attending a GS activity and the GS members involved.
● We record any unusual events which occur during a GS activity on an accident / incident form.
● Except where it is either necessary or helpful (for example in mentoring sessions), we avoid GS members being alone with a child. Where a GS member is alone with a child for mentoring on school premises a member of staff from the relevant school is made aware of the meeting place and times, and wherever possible the meeting room should have a window and not be out of sight.
● We always seek parental consent to take and/or use photographs or videos involving children. We also ensure that digital images are taken using GS owned equipment and stored securely.
● All GS members are required to treat all children with dignity and respect - in attitude, language and actions - at all times.
We also frequently ask for feedback from the participants in GS activities and ask for any aspects that we can improve.
Note that managing any risks of travel to and from the venue are deemed the responsibility of the parent or guardian. This is stated in the parental consent form.
COVID-19/Online delivery
To date, in order to comply with COVID-19 restrictions or indeed for other reasons, we have used an online delivery model for the 18-24 age group only. These sessions are conducted using password-protected Zoom calls or via GS Instagram Live broadcasts. We do not, as a matter of practice, use online models for delivery for the younger age group under 18.
In the event that we did need to use an online delivery model, appropriate research and training will be put into place. This will include guidance from appropriate organisations as below:
https://network.youthmusic.org.uk/safeguarding-guidance-and-considerations-organis ations-move-learning-online
https://www.ukyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Digital-Youth-Work-Guide.pdf
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/online-safety/social-media-online-communities-safeguar ding
In the event that we need to hold an online meeting with a young person (for example for recruitment for The Bridge Programme for 15-17 year olds), we follow the guidance from Youth Music, with whom we have received safeguarding training for 'moving learning online'.
Specifically, ahead of a call we will:
● Include parents in all email correspondence to inform them of the day, date and time of such contact, request explicit parental permission and explain who will be present in the meeting.
● Ensure an appropriate, password protected and accessible platform is used for the meeting (GS preferred use will be Zoom).
● Ensure that the young person understands that another person can be present on the call with them if they prefer.
● Ask the young person to ensure they are not in a personal space and/or have background filters in place.
● Ensure that two members of GS staff are present for the duration of the call. ● Have a clear procedure in place for dropped connections – e.g. phone call immediately via parent.
● GS staff member to ensure all other apps, tabs and windows on devices before a session.
● GS staff member to have a private, confidential space, free from background distractions or noise-disturbances.
● GS staff member to open the meeting with clear introductions, and to give clear instructions as to who to contact/speak to in the event of problems or concerns.
Approach to communications with children and young people, use of social media and internet
In view of the common usage of digital communications methods and social media today, and the potential for online abuse or inappropriate exchanges of messages, we will adopt the following additional principles for communication with children under 18.
● The primary method of communication from GS members (staff or volunteers) to GS participants under 18 will be via GS Gmail accounts, which can be monitored. Emails will be used for communication between mentors and mentees. Parental consent will be sought in both cases.
● For multi-participant projects requiring shared communications we may use group WhatsApp with the permission of a parent, and ensure that two members of DBS checked GS staff are in any WhatsApp group.
● Individual texts, phone calls or WhatsApp messages should be avoided. ● Under no circumstances will any GS members initiate contact with a GS participant under 18 via social media. Within social media we include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.
● If a GS participant under 18 was to contact a GS member via social media, then the participant will be told that this method of communication is inappropriate. If they continue to use methods other than Gmail their messages will be ignored.
● If a GS participant over 18 was to contact a GS member via social media, it can only be to share music or seek advice, the participant would be directed to the official GS social media platform and asked to send an email for further communication.
● If a text, phone message or email is sent by a GS participant which is deemed inappropriate they will be given immediate feedback and, depending on the severity, further action will be taken, up to dismissal.
In addition, during any GS managed activity with young people, we will actively discourage any internet usage that is not directly related to the content of the session. Specifically, we will not normally provide wifi access details and we will discourage the use of mobile phones during sessions.
Further information about communications, social media and photographic consent is also included in the GS staff Code of Conduct.
Working with other organisations
When we are working with other organisations – for example schools, venue operators, recording studios, youth organisations, etc. - we will first clarify who has overall responsibility for managing the activity in a safe way.
When appropriate, we will also obtain and review their own child protection policies and procedures and ensure that our approach takes their own procedures into account.
If a partner organisation is delivering an activity on our behalf we will ensure that they have their own appropriate safeguarding and protection policies and procedures in place.
Code of conduct and approach to non-conformance
We have a code of conduct for all GS staff which incorporates the key points of this policy and which is communicated to them on joining the team, with reminders from time to time at training sessions. In the event that a staff member is not conforming with the policy they will be put on a formal warning and in the event that the
non-conformance continues they will be dismissed (or, if not an employee, simply not used again).
Legal framework
The policy has been drawn up based on guidelines within the Safe Network Standards and as such reflects general guidance produced by government on child protection as well as the key relevant laws that seek to protect children, namely: ● Children Act 1989
● United Convention of the Rights of the Child 1991
● Data Protection Act 1998
● Sexual Offences Act 2003
● Children Act 2004
● Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
Annual review, and responsibilities
The trustees, with input from management, will review our policy and procedures annually and update them in line with any lessons learnt or improved practices that have been identified.
The Chairman of the Trustees, has overall leadership responsibility for safeguarding and child protection.
Day-to-day responsibility for dealing with child protection matters lies with Sharon Noble, the GS Managing Director. She is our designated child protection/safeguarding officer. Any queries or concerns should in the first instance be directed to Sharon. Charles Scott, another Trustee, acts as the deputy designated safeguarding officer in Sharon’s absence.
This policy was last reviewed on 25th July 2024 and will next be reviewed in July 2025.
Contact details:
Sharon Noble – Managing Director and Designated Safeguarding Officer Email: sharon@groundedsounds.org
Mobile: 07367 650651
Charles Scott – Trustee and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Officer
Email: charlesscott@btinternet.com
Mobile: 07798 527848