Prologue Youth Theatre Company Safeguarding and Child Protection

Policy

Prologue Youth Theatre Company (hereafter referred to as PYTC) aims to provide a safe and secure environment in which we nurture children and young people’s creativity and develop their personal skills through the regular provision of drama workshops and annual productions.

Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. A summary of the key legislation is available from nspcc.org.uk/learning.

Purpose of Statement

The purpose of this policy statement is:

to protect children and young people who take part in PYTC activities from harm. This includes the children of adults who use our services
to provide staff, as well as PYTC members and their families, with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.

This policy applies to, and must be complied with by, anyone working for or on behalf of PYTC (hereafter referred to as ‘staff’), including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, temporary workers, agency staff and students.

Terms and Definitions

For the purpose of this document:

‘Child--’ refers to anyone under the age of 16

‘Young person--’ refers to anyone aged 16 or over but under 18 and anyone aged 18 who is in sixth form or college

‘Adult--’ refers to anyone 18 years of age or older who is no longer in sixth form or college

‘Vulnerable adult--’ refers to any person who is 18 or over that is or may need community care services because of a disability (mental or other), age or illness and is someone who could be unable to look after themselves, or protect themselves from harm or exploitation

‘Member’--refers to any child, young person, adult or vulnerable adult who attends PYTC sessions or activities

‘Members’--refers to the children, young people, adults or vulnerable adults who attend PYTC sessions or activities

‘Staff’--refers to anyone working for or on behalf of PYTC including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, temporary workers, agency staff and students.

We believe that:

Children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind
We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

We recognise that:

the welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do
that all children regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have an equal right to 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 the welfare of children and young people.

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:

valuing, listening to and respecting them
appointing a nominated child protection lead and designated safeguarding officer for children and young people
adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers
developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures
providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently
recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance
sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families
making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern
using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately
creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise
ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance
building a safeguarding culture where staff, children, and PYTC members and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.

PYTC Child Protection Lead & Designated Safeguarding Officer

Name: Eve Winters

Phone/email: prologue.ytc@gmail.com

Recruitment of Staff

PYTC is committed to take all reasonable steps to ensure that unsuitable applicants are prevented from working with children. PYTC will ensure that:

All new staff members have a current and clear DBS check before beginning work.
All staff members DBS checks are renewed no longer than 3 years after their most recent check was issued.
References for new staff have been received from a previous employment before beginning work
All staff members have read, understood and agreed to adhere to this Safeguarding policy and its outlined procedures
All staff members are aware of their responsibility to report any concerns about non-adherence to this policy or signs of possible abuse
All staff members respond quickly to any concerns raised by a child, young person or vulnerable adult

Health & Safety

All staff members have a duty to take reasonable care for the health and safety of the children, young people or vulnerable adults who attend PYTC whilst attending any PYTC related activities. PYTC will ensure that:

All staff, children, young people and vulnerable adults are advised of best practice rules regarding health and safety including any areas that are out of bounds, and appropriate clothing/footwear for sessions
There is always a minimum of one staff member with a recent First Aid Qualification present at each PYTC session or activity
If anyone is injured while in the care of PYTC, a trained First Aider will administer first aid, record the incident in the accident book, and inform their parent or carer of the situation.
If a child, young person or vulnerable adult joins a PYTC session or activity with an obvious injury, this will be recorded in the accident book.
Medication is not given to a child, young person or vulnerable adult without the written consent or a parent or carer.
If medication is administered it must be documented in the accident book.

Good Practice during Sessions and Activities

All PYTC staff will ensure that they are working with its members in a safe, respectful and effective way at all times. This will include:

Wherever possible having two members of staff aged 18 or over present for PYTC sessions and activities
Working in an open environment where possible (e.g avoiding private/unobserved situations, leaving doors open where safe to do so, encouraging open communication)
Treating all of PYTC’s members with respect, dignity and equality.
Putting the welfare of PYTC’s members first.
Only having physical contact with children, young people and vulnerable adults when absolutely necessary in relation to a particular activity, and only after gaining consent to do so and making clear the purpose of the physical contact.
Involving parents and carers wherever possible.
Being a positive leader and role model
Giving encouraging and constructive feedback
Recognising the individual needs of its members and adapting its practice and activities to ensure all of its members have the opportunity to be challenged and to grow

All staff will avoid doing the following (except in exceptional circumstances in which they may find themselves such as needing to escort a child, young person or vulnerable adult to the hospital or if a parent or carer fails to pick up a child on time or at all)

Spending excessive amounts of time alone with a child, young person or vulnerable adult
Picking up or dropping off a child, young person or vulnerable adult to their home or an event

All staff are strictly prohibited from:

Being physically rough with PYTC’s members
Engaging in or encouraging sexually provocative games or behaviour during PYTC sessions or activities, or make sexually suggestive comments to any of PYTC’s members
Sharing a room with a child, young person or vulnerable adult
Inviting or allowing children, young people or vulnerable adults to stay with them at their home unsupervised
Reducing a member to tears as a form of control
Allowing allegations made by one of PYTC’s members to go unrecorded or not acted upon
Doing things of a personal nature for one of PYTC’s members that they can do for themselves

Media Consent

In order to publicise the work and productions of PYTC, photographic images and videos may be taken of its members for use in advertisements, social media, and on the website. On occasions, PYTC may take photographs and videos for use in PYTC sessions both in-person and online. Videos and photographs will only be taken under the following conditions:

In the case of children, after formal permission in writing has been obtained from a parent or carer.
In the case of young people and adults, after formal permission in writing has been obtained from the young person themselves or their parent or carer.
Photographs and videos are only taken of/for PYTC related activities or projects
No inappropriate images will be taken

A parent, carer, young person or adult may withdraw their permission to use images at any point and should do so in writing by emailing prologue.ytc@gmail.com.

Social Media

Social Media should never be used in a way that would result in a breach of any PYTC policy or any PYTC procedure. This includes but is not limited to PYTC’s privacy policy, bullying and harassment policy, and safeguarding policy.

Authorised use

PYTC recognises that social media can be a legitimate and effective way to communicate with children, young people and adults. However, contact between PYTC and its children, and young people must only occur via PYTC’s official social media accounts, listed below:

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PrologueYTC

Instagram @prologue_ytc

Twitter @prologue_ytc

Social media contact is allowed between staff and PYTC’s adult members. However, this contact must remain appropriate and not breach any of PYTC’s policies and procedures including but not limited to PYTC’s privacy policy, bullying and harassment policy, and safeguarding policy.

Prohibited use

PYTC staff are prohibited from the following:

Being friends with, sending or accepting friend or follower requests from any of PYTC’s children or young people on any of their personal social media channels.
Joining, accepting invitations to, or contributing to any groups, private or otherwise, relating to PYTC activities, productions or its children or young people
Sending or responding to any private or direct message from any of PYTC’s children or young people
Posting any images or PYTC’s children, young people and vulnerable adults excepting as a retweet or similar of a post from an official PYTC social media account.

PYTC does not expect its staff to remove or block any PYTC member who becomes a follower of their personal public social media accounts but all staff must discourage any PYTC children or young people from doing so, and must adhere to the conditions of this policy. In this case they must also respect their association with PYTC and maintain a duty of care to its children, young people and vulnerable adults when posting on their social media channels.

Incidents that must be reported and/or recorded

If any of the following incidents occur, staff must report or record them as soon as reasonably possible in the manner set out in this document.

Any accident or injury that happens during a PYTC session or activity must to recorded in the accident book, including accidents or injuries caused by staff or other children, young people or vulnerable adults
If any child, young person or vulnerable adult seems distressed or is exhibiting notable changes in their behaviour this should be recorded and reported to the Designated Safeguarding Officer
If any child, young person or vulnerable adult appears to be sexually aroused by your action this should be recorded and reported to the Designated Safeguarding Officer
If any child, young person or vulnerable adult misunderstands or misinterprets something you have done this should be recorded and reported to the Designated Safeguarding Officer
If you have concerns or suspicions of abuse or neglect, or a child makes a disclosure of alleged abuse or neglect to you this should be recorded and reported in the manner set out in this document.

Allegations or suspicions of abuse or neglect

PYTC staff are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of its children, young people and vulnerable adults. One aspect of this is recognising the signs of abuse and acting accordingly when they have suspicions of or are made aware of, alleged abuse or neglect. It is important to remember that abuse can occur at the hands of other children or young people.

According to Working Together 2018 abuse is defined as:

“A form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or, more rarely, by others. Abuse can take place wholly online, or technology may be used to facilitate offline abuse. Children may be abused by an adult or adults, or another child or children.”

According to Working Together 2018 Physical abuse is defined as:

“A form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.”

According to Working Together 2018 Emotional abuse is defined as:

“The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meets the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.”

According to Working Together 2018 Sexual abuse is defined as:

“Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse Sexual abuse can take place online, and technology can be used to facilitate offline abuse. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.”

According to Working Together 2018 Neglect is defined as:

“The persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: a. provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment) b. protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger c. ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate caregivers) d. ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment It may also include neglect, of or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.”

There are a number of ways in which abuse may become apparent:

A child or young person makes a disclosure of abuse
Someone else discloses that a child has told them they have been abused or they strongly believe they are being abused
A child or young person may show signs of physical injury for which there appears to be no satisfactory explanation
A child’s behaviour may indicate that it is likely that they are being abused
A member of staff’s behaviour or the way in which they relate to a child causes concern

What to do if you are concerned

If you wish to report concerns directly to the Police, please call 101, or in an emergency where the immediate safety of a child, young person or adult is at risk, dial 999.

It is not the responsibility of any PYTC staff member to decide if abuse has taken place, however, it is their responsibility to act on any concern via the procedure set out in this document

If you see or suspect abuse of a child, young person or vulnerable adult whilst in the care of PYTC, you must make this known to the Designated Safeguarding Officer (hereafter referred to as the DSO)
If you suspect the DSO is the source of the problem you should make your concerns know to the Local Authority Designated Officer (hereafter referred to as LADO)
You should make a note for your own records of what you have witness or your concerns as well as your response
If an allegation is made against any PYTC staff member, PYTC will ensure that the staff member does not have further contact with the child or young person, or any contact with other PYTC children or young people until the investigation is concluded.

Disclosure

If any child or young person discloses something to a member of staff that causes concern, it should be recorded as soon as possible whether or not it will be passed onto the DSO or other local authorities.

During disclosure staff should:

React calmly
Remember the child or young person may be anxious or scared
Tell the child that they were right to tell and is not to blame
Listen carefully and take what the child says seriously
Recognise the difficulties inherent in interpreting what is said by young children
Remember that young or disabled children may not be able to express themselves verbally
Ask no more questions than is necessary to ensure clarity about what has happened
Reassure the child but do not promise confidentiality. Explain you may have to speak to someone else who can help.
Make a fully written record of what has been said, heard and/or seen as soon as possible

During disclosure staff should not:

Panic
Allow their feelings of shock or distaste show
Ask for any more information than what is offered by the child or young person
Speculate or make assumptions
Make negative comments about the alleged abuser
Agree or promise to keep the disclosure a secret

Recording a disclosure or concerns

In order for a record of disclosure or concerns to be as helpful as possible it should be recorded as soon as possible and contain the following:

The child or young person’s name, age and date of birth
The child or young person’s home address and telephone number
Who the disclosure was made to, or who has concerns (whether it is the person making the record or someone else)
The nature of the allegation including any dates, times or other relevant information
The alleged abuser, if any, and their details
Make a clear distinction between what is fact, hearsay and opinion.
A description of any visible injury or bruising.
A description of any indirect signs or abuse, such as behavioural changes.
Details of any witnesses to the incident
The child, young person or vulnerable adult’s account, if a disclosure, of what has happened or how any injury or bruising occurred.
Whether the parents or carers have been contacted and if so, what was said
Whether anyone else has been consulted and if so, detail who
If not a direct disclosure, has the child, young person or vulnerable adult been spoken to, and if so, what was said
If referred to the police or social services, a record of this should be taken in writing within 24 hours and the name of the contact who took the referral should be recorded.

All records of concerns or disclosures and referrals should be stored in a secure place with access limited to the person making the record, the DSO and deputy DSO, in line with our privacy policy and data protection law. If the allegation concerns the DSO or deputy DSO they will not have access to the record. Safeguarding records will be kept for 10 years in order to enable accurate information to be given in response to any future requests for reference.

Allegations against staff

If the allegation is about poor safeguarding practice, a meeting of the company directors will be called as soon as is reasonably possible, in order for the directors to decide how to respond to the allegation and whether or not to discipline the member of staff involved in the allegation
Any suspicion that a child or young person has been abused by a member of staff should be reported to the DSO, who will then take all necessary steps to ensure the safety or the child in question and any other children who may be at risk.
The staff member in question will be suspended from work until a full investigation has been concluded.
The DSO will refer the allegation to social services who may involve the police, or go directly to the police if out of hours.
The parents or carers will be contacted as soon as possible following advice from social services
The DSO will notify the PYTC’s company directors
If the DSO is the suspect of the suspicion/allegation, the report can be made to the deputy DSO or any member of PYTC’s company directors who will then refer the allegation to social services

Allegations of historical abuse

Any allegation of historical abuse (e.g by an adult who was abused as a child, or any allegation of abuse made some time after the event) will be dealt with in the same manner set out in this document for allegations of current abuse.

Confidentiality

Every effort should be made to ensure that confidentiality is maintained for all concerned and that information concerning allegations and suspicions is given out purely on a need to know basis.

Remember: If you wish to report concerns directly to the Police, please call 101, or in an emergency where the immediate safety of a child, young person or adult is at risk, dial 999.

Anti-bullying and harassment policy

Bullying is not acceptable at PYTC and will not be tolerated in any form. It is important to remember that bullying can occur between staff, from between members, from member to staff and staff to member.

Bullying and harassment may include but is not limited to:

Physical actions such as hitting, pinching, kicking, smacking or any unwanted physical contact
Name calling, humiliation, exclusion, ignoring
Making degrading or disrespectful comments
Racist, sexist or Homophobic insults or gestures
Continuously discriminating against an individual for any reason
Making sexual comments or suggestions
Making inappropriate comments relating to a person’s personality
Applying undue emotional pressure on an individual
Cyber-bullying, including via text or email

If any staff member is made aware of bullying whether direct or indirect disclosure, or through observation, the matter will be taken seriously and all people involved will be given support. The following will likely occur:

Any incident of bullying or harassment will be discussed primarily with the victim(s) and the alleged perpetrator(s) and if necessary with their parents, carer or group leader.
The staff attending to the allegation will attempt to identify the problem and suggest possible solutions
Appropriate action will be taken quickly to end the bullying or harassing behaviour and if possible those involved will be reconciled
If the bullying or harassment continues a meeting with the appropriate parties will be called to attempt to find a solution. In cases involving children or young people this will involve their parents or carers. In serious cases, the solution may involve suspension
In cases of serious bullying or harassment, incidents will be recorded by staff and reported to the appropriate person/people. This could include local authority services or the police
If necessary, the DSO will be consulted

Online Safety Policy

On occasion it may be necessary for PYTC sessions and activities to be conducted online (e.g due to Covid-19 guidelines preventing in person sessions). Whenever digital or online platforms are used for any PYTC work, PYTC recognises the importance of protecting its children, young people, vulnerable adults and staff, and their families.

Live Video Chat

When live video chat services are used to conduct sessions the following procedure and code of conduct will apply:

No 1-to-1 sessions will take place between a staff member and child or young person
There will be a minimum of two children, young people and/pr vulnerable adults in all sessions.
The parents and carers of children and young people will be made aware in writing of the date and time and platform to be used for each online PYTC session.
All people on the live video chat must wear appropriate clothing, even on body parts which may not be seen
When signing in to the chat do not use your full name, but use only your first name and, if necessary, last initial.
No one is allowed to record or take photos of the session without the prior written consent of all people involved and in the case of children and young people, without the prior written consent of a parent or carer.
The only adults present during online sessions will be PYTC staff or adult members

Videos and other digital content

Working digitally may require members to make/submit videos or other digital content. When doing so PYTC will encourage its children, young people, adults and vulnerable adults to do the following:

Not use their full name
Not film or record anything that may reveal their address, phone number, school or location of anywhere else they may go to regularly
Not film anyone else under the age of 18
Wear appropriate clothing
Use appropriate language
Keep themselves safe-e.g not to share anything personal
Videos and other digital content may not be shared through personal social media platforms and may only be shared via the official PYTC social media accounts listed above.
Videos and other digital content will not be shared if any child, young person, or their parent/carer or any adult involved objects to the content being shared. If an objection is raised after content has been shared, it will be removed as soon as reasonably possible.

Review

All good practice, procedure and policy set out in this document will be reviewed on an annual basis by the DSO.

Who to contact

PYTC’s Designated Safeguarding Officer

Eve Winters

Email prologue.ytc@gmail.com

For concerns about a staff member

LADO 0300 123 1650

LADO@surreycc.gov.uk

Other useful contacts

If you wish to report concerns directly to the Police, please call 101, or in an emergency where the immediate safety of a child, young person or adult is at risk, dial 999.

MASH – Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub: 0300 470 9100

Email for concerns regarding a child or young person: csmash@surreycc.gov.uk

Email for concerns regarding an adult: ascmash@surreycc.gov.uk

Children’s Services Duty Team (Out of hours) 01483 517898

Guildford Police Station: 01483 571212

NSPCC Helpline : 0808 800 5000