The Club has a Safeguarding Co-ordinator who is an Executive Committee member. 

 

The safeguarding policy has been agreed by the Committee and a copy can be downloaded by clicking on the link below. The Safeguarding policy is reviewed by the committee every 12 months.

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Last Review Date: 25th January 2025

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Our Safeguarding Officer is: Sarah Meikle

Email: safeguarding@acdelcobowmenarchery.club

Mobile: 07944 303609

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Policy Statement

Safeguarding determines the actions that we take to keep children and vulnerable adults safe, protecting them from harm.  As an archery club, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our members.

As a club, we adopt the Archery GB Policies for Safeguarding Children, Young People, and Vulnerable Adults. This policy will be reviewed in accordance with Archery GB guidelines.

 

Procedures

Promoting Good Practice

 Abuse of any kind can produce strong emotions in those facing such a situation. It is essential to understand these feelings but not allow them to interfere with your judgment about the appropriate action to take. Abuse can occur in many situations, including at home, in school, and in a sporting environment. Unfortunately, there are some who actively seek employment or voluntary work with children, young people, and vulnerable adults in order to harm them.

 

Coaches, Club Officers, and Volunteers who have regular contact with children, young people, and vulnerable adults can be important links in identifying cases where protection is needed. All members should report any suspicious cases of poor practice to the Club Safeguarding Officer (currently Sarah Meikle) by following the Club guidelines (further explained in this document and also available on the Club website).

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Good Practice Guidelines

All members of AC Delco are encouraged to behave appropriately to promote the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and to reduce the risk of allegations being made. The following are common-sense examples of creating a positive culture and environment.

AC Delco advocates the well-being of all, by:

▪ Always working in an open environment (i.e. avoiding private or unobserved situations).

▪ Treating all children, young people, and vulnerable adults equally, with respect and dignity.

▪ Requiring those working with children and young people to maintain safe and appropriate boundaries.

▪ Ensuring Coaches, Club Officers, and Volunteers keep up to date with technical skills, qualifications, sports insurance, and current Archery GB rules and regulations.

 ▪ Involving parents and carers when working with children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

▪ Ensuring a parent, legal guardian, or approved designated adult always accompanies their child/ren and young people to and from the Club and remains present. The responsibility for the care, good behaviour, and safe conduct of the child/young person remains with the parent or guardian.

▪ Making sure that if juniors are taken to tournaments (i.e. without their parent and by another club member), written consent is given to the adult acting as guardian from the parent.

▪ Adults (other than the parent/guardian) should not enter a or young person’s room, nor should they invite children or young people into their rooms, if away from home for tournaments/training.

 ▪ Not permitting smoking or drinking alcohol on the field. Members should be aware when away for tournaments/training that this should be avoided in the company of children.

All members should moderate their language on the field – be particularly aware when children are present

▪ Ensuring coaches should recognise the developmental needs and abilities of individuals, and be aware of individual needs when developing a coaching strategy for children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

 ▪ Ensuring that in all cases of electronic or written communication with under 18s, parents/guardians are always copied in. Ensuring that all members know this

▪ Ensuring that children, young people, and vulnerable adults are listened to, and have their views considered according to their maturity, age, and understanding.

 

Members of AC Delco are asked to avoid taking on responsibility for tasks they are not appropriately trained for, particularly if they are of a personal nature for children, young people, and vulnerable adults. All tasks involving children and young people should only be carried out with the full understanding and permission of the parents and children concerned.

 

AC Delco members should avoid spending time alone with children, young people and vulnerable adults. This is to protect both you and the child/young person/vulnerable adult. In cases of emergency, where permission/attendance cannot be given by the parent/carer /guardian, supervision of the child/young person/vulnerable adult should be undertaken by 2 members and the Safeguarding Officer informed immediately.

 

The following are never allowed:

▪ Taking part in rough, physical, or sexually provocative games.

▪ Sharing a room with a child or young person (unless they are your offspring)

▪ Allowing or taking part in any form of inappropriate touching (if you see this, stop it and report it immediately).

▪ Make sexually suggestive comments to a child or young person, even if it is “just for fun”.

▪ Have a sexual relationship with someone under the age of 18. .

▪ Fail to act on and record any allegations made by a child, young person or vulnerable adult to you.

 ▪ Invite or allow children or young people to visit or stay with you away from the Club

 

“Remember, it is never wrong to ask for more information when it comes to children’s safety, wellbeing and safeguarding” NSPCC, 2020

 

 

Incidents that must be Reported & Recorded

If any of the following take place, you should report this immediately to our Safeguarding Officer and record the incident using the appropriate incident report form (Appendix 1).

 You should also ensure the parents/guardians/carers are informed if:

▪ You accidentally hurt a child/young person/vulnerable adult;

▪ They appear to be distressed in any way;

▪ They have misunderstood or misinterpreted something you have done.

 

If a child, young person or vulnerable adult is in immediate danger or is seriously injured, you should contact the emergency services immediately on 999. Following this, report the concern to our Safeguarding Officer.

Contact details for the Club’s Safeguarding Officer can be found on the Club website and within this document.

 

Reporting & Dealing with Concerns about Poor Practice

If the concern is clearly about poor practice within the Club, please report this to our Safeguarding Officer who will deal with it in line with the Archery GB policy guidance. If the concern is about the Safeguarding Officer’s poor practice, or if you feel a matter has been handled inadequately and there are still concerns, please report your concerns to our Club Secretary.  The Club Secretary will then follow the Archery GB guidance policy, reporting it to the relevant Archery GB officer.

 

Reporting & Dealing with Concerns about Suspected Abuse

Any concern or suspicion that a child, young person or vulnerable adult has been abused should be reported to our Safeguarding Officer. They will take any steps needed to make sure the individual (or any other who may be at risk) is safe. The wellbeing of the child, young person or vulnerable adult is paramount. It is not up to members at AC Delco to decide whether abuse has taken place. The Club’s Safeguarding Officer will follow the Archery GB guidelines for reporting Concerns About Suspected Abuse (2018). A copy of this can be found on the Archery GB website

https://www.archerygb.org/about-us-structure-safeguard/safeguard/policy-guidence

 

Disclosure of Potential Previous Abuse

When abuse happens, it may take some time for the person who has been abused to recognise they have been affected. As such, disclosure of events that may have been abuse may be made some time after the event (e.g. by an adult who was abused as a child or young person). If this type of disclosure is made, the procedures outlined above should be followed. This is because other children, young people, or vulnerable adults (either within or outside of archery) may be at risk from the potential perpetrator. In line with Archery GB regulations, a member of AC Delco (full or associate) will have their membership terminated if information is received by Archery GB from the relevant government agency indicating the member is guilty of abuse. This will also apply if Archery GB is informed that the relevant member is disqualified from working with children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

 

AC Delco fully supports all those who report their genuine concerns. The Club’s Safeguarding Officer will keep a record of any concerns reported. Any matters that give rise to concern of children or young people’s welfare (e.g. poor practice or abuse) will be taken seriously and responded to in an appropriate and timely manner by the Club’s Safeguarding Officer.

 

Self – Reporting

Self reporting is a positive way of enabling a potentially difficult issue to be addressed at the earliest opportunity and demonstrates self awareness of the actions and how they can be perceived. This helps maintain a culture where everyone aspires to the highest standards of conduct and behaviour. Members are asked to take personal responsibility and let the safeguarding officer of any situation where their personal conduct has been brought into question. This will be treated with the strictest of confidence, whilst following AGB guidelines.

 

Confidentiality & Storing Information

 In the case of concerns, confidentiality will be upheld in line with the Archery GB guidelines (2018), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Human Rights Act 1998. The Club will make every effort to ensure that information is only handled to those who need it.

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Coaches, Club Officers & Volunteers

AC Delco strives for its Coaches, Club Officers and Volunteers with children, young people and vulnerable adults to be well motivated towards fostering a fun and safe environment for archery. To ensure that the Club remains safe, the following is expected of those active within AC Delco:

 ▪ Coaches must complete an Archery GB recognised Children’s Safeguarding in Sport course every three years.

 ▪ All active Coaches at AC Delco must obtain a valid Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check. This is a requirement by Archery GB, Southern Counties Archery Society, and Hampshire Archery Association.

 ▪ The Club’s Safeguarding Officer will hold a valid Enhanced DBS Check.

▪ The Club’s Safeguarding Officer must complete a Children’s Safeguarding in Sport course, to be renewed every three years.

▪ All Club Officers and Volunteers will be aware of the Club’s safeguarding policies and will endeavor to uphold these.

 For more information on the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as the Criminal Records Bureau), see https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/disclosure-and-barring-service.

 

Anti-Bullying

AC Delco does not tolerate the bullying of any Club Member by another Club Member.

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Bullying can include:

Physical: e.g. pushing, hitting, slapping, or kicking (in some cases, this may constitute assault) Verbal: e.g. racist remarks, threats, homophobic remarks, spreading rumours, teasing, name-calling, ridicule or humiliation.

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Emotional: e.g. unfriendliness, excluding behaviour, tormenting (both emotionally and physically), sending hurtful messages, ridiculing, humiliating, or threatening gestures.

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Harassment: e.g. using abusive or insulting behaviour with the intent to cause distress or alarm

Sexual: e.g. unwanted physical contact or sexually abusive comments Cyber: e.g. misuse of online chat forums, abusive or threatening communication via text messaging or calls.

 

Sports organisations play an integral role for creating a positive environment that challenges bullying. This can be done by giving children and young people the power to understand the effect of bullying and the best way to deal with it. More information on bullying can be found here:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/bullying-andcyberbullying/

 

Whistle-Blowing

It is essential that all members of AC Delco have the confidence to come forward to speak or act if they are unhappy with anything. Whistle-blowing is when an individual raises a concern about a wrongdoing, dangerous or illegal activity within their organisation. This can involve sharing potentially vital information (e.g. health and safety risks, environmental factors, harm to children, young people, and vulnerable adults, covering up for poor practice, etc.). Any of these factors should be dealt with immediately. AC Delco encourages its members to follow procedures on any perceived malpractice within the club as early as possible.

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More information and advice with regards to whistle-blowing can be found here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/reportabuse/dedicated-helplines/whistleblowing-advice-line/

 

Photography & Filming

Photographs and videos are great ways to celebrate achievements within archery, and we want all our members to feel comfortable with the use of photography and videos at AC Delco. Members give (or abstain form) consent for their photos to be taken as part of the membership application. At club events members and spectators will be made aware if photographs are being taken. Please speak to whomever is taking pictures at that event if you do not wish for yourself and/or the person you are responsible for to be included. Photography and videos are often used as a coaching aid. Coaches will always ask the archer’s permission before proceeding to film/photograph an archer. If the archer is under 18, after obtaining the archer’s consent, the coach will ask the parent/guardian for permission. All photography and film captured during coaching sessions will be shared with the archer depicted. If copies are to be sent directly to the archer (who is under 18), a parent/guardian must be copied in.

 

Social Media & Online Safety

The online world has advanced and changed the way people interact and communicate on a regular basis. At AC Delco, we too are using the internet and social media to promote both archery and the Club. Although digital media and communication can be beneficial for those involved, it does not come without risks, especially to children, young people and vulnerable adults. If parents choose to allow their children to have social media accounts, it is their responsibility to monitor their child’s online presence and messaging. Club Members are discouraged from private messaging children.

More information on how to keep safe online can be found here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-childrensafe/online-safety/. You can find Archery GB’s “E-Safety and Use of Social Media Policy” at www.archerygb.org.

 

Our Safeguarding Officer is: Sarah Meikle

Email: safeguarding@acdelcobowmenarchery.club

Mobile: 07944303609

 

However, if you are seriously concerned about a child, young person or vulnerable adult’s immediate safety, always dial 999 and report your concerns to the police. For further advice for adults concerned about children and young people, the NSPCC provides a free 24-hour service on 0808 800 5000 or help@nspcc.org.uk. For children and young people seeking advice, ChildLine provide a service on 0800 1111. DO NOT DELAY IN REPORTING A CONCERN

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