Safeguarding


Photo by Michał Jakubowski on Unsplash The purpose and scope of this policy statement is to clearly state the safeguarding practices utilised in the tuition of the various educational areas practiced by the Digital Storytellers Academy (DSA).

The purpose of this policy statement is:

  • to protect children, young people and vulnerable adults who receive educational tuition from DSA from harm. This includes the children of adults who use our services
  • to provide staff and volunteers, as well as children and young people and their families, with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.

This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of the Digital Storytellers Academy, including senior managers and directors, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff and students.

Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, based upon the location of the DSA Studio which a student or member of staff attends. A summary of the key legislation is available from this NSPCC learning website.

Supporting documents

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies, procedures, guidance and other related documents.

  • Role description for the designated safeguarding officer
  • Dealing with disclosures and concerns about a child or young person
  • Managing allegations against staff and volunteers
  • Recording concerns and information sharing
  • Child protection records retention and storage
  • Code of conduct for staff and volunteers
  • Behaviour codes for children and young people
  • Photography and sharing images guidance
  • Safer recruitment
  • Online safety
  • Anti-bullying
  • Managing complaints
  • Whistleblowing
  • Health and safety
  • Induction, training, supervision and support
  • Adult to child supervision ratios

(Links to documents to be added, where appropriate)

We believe that:

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

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

  • valuing, listening to and respecting them
  • appointing a nominated protection lead for children, young people and vulnerable adults, a deputy and a lead board member for safeguarding
  • 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 [more information about this is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk/fororganisations] - please see the DSA separate Data Protection Statement.
  • sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families via leaflets, posters, group work and one-to-one discussions
  • making sure that children, young people, vulnerable adults 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 have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place
  • 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 and volunteers, children, young people, vulnerable adults and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.

Special Notes regarding attendance at DSA:

Digital Storytellers Academy is an educational organisation specialising in digital creative media, including the production of visual and audio media. As a result, special consideration is made for the fact that as part of membership contracts, students and staff may appear on camera or in sound recordings as a normal process of the education taking place, as well as having that media shown / broadcast / distributed via online distribution, festivals and other conventional media distribution means.

DSA makes special consideration for this process as part of the responsible adult / parent / carer of students wishes, and only permits release where prior consent has been provided via the membership contract.

 

Contact details

Nominated child protection lead Name:

  • Craig Robinson
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Deputy child protection lead(s) Name:

  • David Brook
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Senior management lead for safeguarding and child protection

  • Craig Robinson
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NSPCC Helpline 0808 800 5000

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually. 

This policy was last reviewed: August 2020

Signed: Craig Robinson, August 2020.