The small print
Keeping children safe.
Safeguarding is the one thing in this business that is not negotiable. Not a policy we keep in a drawer, a thing we actually do.
Our commitment
Every child we work with has the right to be safe, listened to and treated with respect, whoever they are. We take that seriously enough to build the business around it rather than bolt it on.
Who works with your child
- Enhanced DBS checked. Every coach, before they work with children, with barred-list checks where the role requires it.
- Safeguarding trained, and refreshed. Not a one-off certificate from years ago.
- First aid trained, with a qualified first aider on every session.
- Professionally qualified. We require CIMSPA professional status of everyone who works with us, which is a higher bar than this sector usually sets.
- Safer recruitment. Two references taken and verified, identity and qualifications checked, and an interview that asks about safeguarding and explores any gaps in someone's history. DBS checks renewed every three years.
- Prevent trained, so our staff know what to do if they are worried a child is being drawn into extremism.
On the day
- A collection password that you choose. Nobody takes your child home without it. If we are not satisfied, we do not release the child and we ring you.
- Registers taken at the start, after lunch and at the end.
- Coaches are never alone with a child out of sight of another adult.
- Accidents are recorded and you are told at collection, however minor.
- Risk assessments for the venue and the activities, done before the day.
Medical and additional needs
We ask about allergies, medical conditions, medication and SEN before a child attends, and the coach on the day knows about them before the child arrives rather than during.
Please tell us everything, and tell us if something changes. We can only keep a child safe on what we know.
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead
Our Designated Safeguarding Lead is Andy Heald, a qualified DSL. If you have a concern about a child, he is the person it goes to. Email [email protected], marked for Andy's attention.
Naming one person matters. It means a concern does not get passed around, and it means you know exactly who you are asking for.
If you are worried about a child
Tell us straight away. Email [email protected], or speak to any member of our staff at a session and ask for Andy.
If a child is in immediate danger, ring 999. If you are worried about a child in Wigan or Bolton and it is not an emergency, you can contact the local authority children's services directly. You do not need our permission and you do not need to go through us.
We will always act on a concern. We would far rather be told something that turns out to be nothing than not be told something that turns out to be serious.
Photographs
We never publish a photograph of a child whose parent has not agreed, and we never name a child alongside an image. You can withdraw agreement at any time. Where we run competitions for school partnerships, photography follows each school's own rules and images stay with that school.
If your concern is about one of our staff
Tell us, and we will not handle it ourselves. An allegation against anybody who works for us goes to the Local Authority Designated Officer at the council within one working day, before we take any other step, and we follow their direction from there.
You can also go straight to the council yourself, or to the police. You do not need our permission and you do not need to tell us first.
Our staff
Everyone who works with us knows how to raise a concern, who to raise it with, and that they can go outside the organisation if they are not satisfied. Nobody is ever discouraged from reporting something.
We work to a written code of conduct. It sets out plainly what our staff do and do not do: never alone with a child out of sight of another adult, never photographs on a personal device, never personal contact with a child by phone or social media. Breaking it is a disciplinary matter.
See also our privacy notice and our booking terms.