1. BEN BRADFORD GOALKEEPING ACADEMY acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person who has been entrusted to its care and is committed to working to provide a safe environment for all members. A child or young person is anyone under the age of 18 engaged in any academy football activity. We subscribe to The Football Association’s child protection and best practice policy and procedures and endorse and adopt the policy statement contained in that document.
 

2. The key principles of The FA child protection policy are that:
• The child’s welfare is, and must always be, the paramount consideration
• All children and young people have a right to be protected from abuse regardless of their age, gender, disability, culture, language, racial origin, religious beliefs or sexual orientation
• All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately
• Working in partnership with other organisations, children and young people and their parents or careers is essential. We acknowledge that every child or young person who plays or participates in football should be able to take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practice and abuse.

BEN BRADFORD GOALKEEPING ACADEMY recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our academy.

3. BEN BRADFORD GOALKEEPING ACADEMY has a role to play in safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people by protecting them from physical, sexual or emotional harm and from neglect or bullying. It is noted and accepted that The Football Association’s child protection regulation (see The FA Handbook) applies to everyone in football whether in a paid or voluntary capacity. This includes those who are a volunteer, match official, helper on academy tours, football coach, academy official or medical staff.

4. We endorse and adopt The FA’s child protection and best practice guidelines for recruiting volunteers and will:

• Provide a role profile
• Request identification documents
• As a minimum meet and chat with the applicant(s) and where possible conduct interviews before appointing
• Request and follow up with two references before appointing
• Require an FA CRB Enhanced Disclosure where appropriate in line with FA guidelines. All current BEN BRADFORD GOALKEEPING ACADEMY members with direct access to children and young people are required to complete a CRB Enhanced Disclosure via The FA CRB Unit. If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of BEN BRADFORD GOALKEEPING ACADEMY guidance will be sought from The Football Association. It is noted and accepted that The FA will consider the relevance and significance of the information obtained via The FA Enhanced CRB Disclosure Unit and that all decisions will be made in the best interests of children and young people. It is accepted that The FA aims to prevent people with a history of relevant and significant offending from having contact with children or young
people and the opportunity to influence policies or practice with children or young people. This is to prevent direct sexual or physical harm to children and to minimise the risk of ‘grooming’ within football.

5. BEN BRADFORD GOALKEEPING ACADEMY supports The FA’s whistle blowing policy.
 

Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague can ‘whistle blow’ by contacting The FA Child Protection Manager -Wembley Stadium, PO Box 1966, London SW1P 9EQ Tel - 0800 1691863 or by going direct to the police, social services or the
NSPCC. BEN BRADFORD GOALKEEPING ACADEMY encourages everyone to know about it and utilise it if necessary.

6. BEN BRADFORD GOALKEEPING ACADEMY have appointed an Academy Welfare Officer (CWO) in line with The FA’s role profile who has completed the child protection and best practice workshop. The CWO is the first point of contact for all academy members and
parents or guardians regarding concerns for the welfare of any child or young person. They will liaise directly with the CFA CPO and will be familiar with the procedures for referring any concerns. They will also play a proactive role in increasing an awareness of poor
practice and abuse amongst academy members.

7. We acknowledge and endorse The FA’s identification of bullying as a category of abuse. Bullying of any kind is not acceptable at our academy. If bullying does occur, all players, parents or guardians should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with
promptly. Incidents need to be reported to the CWO or in cases of serious bullying contact the CFA CPO.

8. Codes of conduct for players, parents or spectators, officials and coaches have been implemented by BEN BRADFORD GOALKEEPING ACADEMY. In order to validate thes codes of conduct the academy has clear sanctions to deal with any misconduct and acknowledges the possibility of potential sanctions which may be implemented by leagues
or the CFA in more serious circumstances. All prospective members will be informed of These codes.

9. Reporting your concerns about the welfare of a child or young person. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility if you are worried about a child it is important that you report your concerns – no action is not an option. i. If you are worried about a child then you need to report your concerns to the Academy Welfare Officer. ii. If the issue is one of poor practice
the Academy Welfare Officer will either:
• deal with the matter themselves or
• seek advice from the CFA Welfare Officer iii.If the concern is more serious – possible child abuse, where possible, contact the CFA Welfare Officer first, then immediately contact the Police or Children’s Social Care. iv.If the child needs immediate medical
treatment take them to a hospital or call an ambulance and tell them this is a child protection concern. Let your Academy Welfare Officer know what action you have taken, they in turn will inform the CFA Welfare Officer. v. If at any time you are not able to contact
your Academy Welfare Officer or the matter is clearly serious then you can either:
• contact your CFA Welfare Officer directly
• contact The FA Safeguarding Team on 0800 169 1863 or Safeguarding@TheFA.com
• contact the Police or Children’s Social Care
• call the NSPCC 24-hour Helpline for advice on 0808 800 5000 or text 88858 or email help@nspcc.org.uk NB – The FA’s Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures are available via – www.TheFA.com/footballrules-governance/safeguarding – click on ‘Raising Awareness – Best Practice Downloads’, the Policy and Procedures document is within the resources area. The policy outlines in detail what to do if you are concerned about the welfare of a child and includes flow diagrams which describe this process. How to make a referral is also covered in the Safeguarding Children workshop. Participants are given the opportunity to discuss how this feels and how best they can prepare themselves to deal with such a situation. For more information on this workshop contact your County Welfare OffICER

 

10. Further advice on Safeguarding Children matters can be obtained from: Helen Weaver - County Football Association’s Welfare Officer Tel - (01245) 393098 / Email - helen.hever@essexfa.com NSPCC 24-hour Helpline -Tel - 0808 8005000 / Text – 88858 /
Email - help@nspcc.org.uk The FA Safeguarding Children general enquiry line - Tel - 0845 210 8080 Email - footballsafe@thefa.com Website - www.TheFA.com/Footballsaf