Responsibilities for extra-curricular providers
Roles and responsibilities for sports and extra-curricular providers
Promoting a culture whereby parents and carers routinely ask key safeguarding questions instils confidence in your setting, plus offers parents and carers valuable messages which they can apply to any setting. This ultimately raises safety across sport and extra-curricular provisions and drives abuse and exploitation away. Responsible providers will be aware of the safeguarding policies and procedures within any affiliated body, plus the local safeguarding procedures for child protection.
These posters from the NWG can be displayed in your setting to promote vigilance amongst your staff, parents and carers, plus advice on what to do. (You can amend and add contacts details of who to report concerns to.)
In Essex, the SET Procedures provides guidance for those working with children. Sports club and extra-curricular providers should familiarise themselves with the procedures. Chapter 7 outlines how to respond to safeguarding concerns about adults, Chapter 12 outlines safer recruitment processes and Chapter 29 outlines responsibilities for those within licensed settings.
Information to provide to parents/carers
We suggest you make the following clear to parents and carers:
- Where they can view your safeguarding policy
- Who they must speak to if they are worried about you or your staff’s conduct
- Who provides your staff’s safeguarding training
- Confirmation of staff DBS checks and safeguarding training completion if requested
- Who is your professional affiliated body and contact details
- Staff ratio and assurance a first aider is always on site
- Provision of consent forms and emergency contact details
- Codes of conduct for staff/volunteers/parents/carers/children
- Your policy if the child needs personal care or a parent/carer is late
- Coaches/staff will not travel alone with children at any time
- Coaches/staff will never contact children directly outside of activities (either via telephone, email or on social media), all contact will be directly with parent/carers only
Learning and Development
It is important all staff in your setting access and complete safeguarding and protecting children training. This ensures staff understand appropriate behaviour for themselves and others, and also help them to understand when something feels wrong. Your setting’s insurance is likely to require all your staff have this training too, failure to do so could make your insurance invalid.
The ESCB Learning and Development pages have many opportunities for providers including safeguarding children training, criminal exploitation training and much more.
Active Essex provide safeguarding and protecting children training for sport and physical activity providers, plus many more training and development opportunities.
NWG Safe to Play campaign - Coach's story (YouTube)
The Child Protection in Sport Unit (including webinars and podcasts)
Voices in sport (NWG Network) - safeguarding in sport resources developed in collaboration with those withed living experience of abuse through sport.
Further Reading
The Sheldon Report | non-recent child sexual abuse in football | CPSU news (thecpsu.org.uk) Published 17 March 2021
Working together to safeguard children - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Updated in December 2020