Safeguarding Policy and Good Practice Guidelines

1. Purpose

These guidelines set out the safeguarding standards expected of everyone working for Everybody Dance, including staff, freelance artists, volunteers, contractors, and any other representatives. Their purpose is to support the safety, dignity, and wellbeing of children, young people, and adults at risk, and to help protect staff from situations that could create misunderstanding or allegations.

These guidelines should be read alongside any organisation-specific safeguarding procedures, venue rules, school policies, and the relevant reporting procedures for concerns, disclosures, or allegations.

2. Scope and definitions

For the purposes of this policy, a child or young person is anyone under 18 years of age. In England, current safeguarding guidance for children applies to all babies, children, and young people under 18. For some groups, such as care leavers and young people receiving support through Education, Health and Care plans, support may continue beyond 18 in line with applicable guidance and local arrangements.

An adult at risk is an adult with care and support needs who is, or may be, unable to protect themselves from abuse or neglect because of those needs. This wording reflects current safeguarding terminology in England and should be used in place of older terms such as "vulnerable adult."

3. Our safeguarding principles

• Put the welfare of children, young people, and adults at risk first.
• Treat everyone with dignity, respect, patience, and fairness.
• Listen carefully to what people say and take their views seriously.
• Use the least intrusive approach that still keeps people safe.
• Maintain professional boundaries at all times.
• Report concerns promptly and through the correct safeguarding route.

4. Roles, responsibilities, and training

Everybody Dance works project by project and may use freelance staff, short-term workers, and volunteers. Anyone working with participants must understand these safeguarding standards before starting work and must complete any required training or induction arranged by the organisation.

Where appropriate, staff should complete safeguarding training that is current and relevant to their role, and the organisation should maintain regular access to safeguarding updates from the local authority multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and other trusted sector sources.

5. Safer recruitment and DBS checks

Everybody Dance uses Disclosure and Barring Service checks where roles are eligible and where the organisation considers them appropriate to the duties involved. References, identity checks, role descriptions, and supervision arrangements should also be used as part of safer recruitment practice.

The term CRB check is no longer used. Current terminology is DBS check, and where relevant, an Enhanced DBS check with barred list information. Any record of DBS information must be handled securely and in line with data protection requirements and the organisation’s retention procedures.

6. Working in schools and venues

When working in schools, colleges, community venues, or partner settings, staff must follow the procedures of the host organisation. This may include signing in, wearing an ID badge, attending a site briefing, and using the designated staff facilities.

A suitably responsible adult, teacher, or venue representative must be present as required by the host setting. If no responsible adult is present when one is required, staff must not begin the session until the issue is resolved.

When working in schools, staff should use staff toilets and follow school safeguarding expectations about supervision, ratios, and movement around the site.

7. Supervision and one-to-one contact

Staff should avoid being alone with a child, young person, or adult at risk wherever possible. If a one-to-one conversation is necessary, it should take place in view of or within hearing of others, with a door open or in another appropriate visible location.

Where privacy is needed, staff should balance confidentiality with safeguarding. The aim is to provide a respectful conversation without creating unnecessary risk for either the participant or the worker.

If a teacher, support worker, or other responsible adult leaves a session unexpectedly, staff should continue the session rather than leave participants unsupervised. If there is more than one member of staff present, one should seek help immediately from the relevant venue lead or manager.

8. Physical contact

Physical contact should be avoided unless it is necessary, proportionate, and clearly related to teaching, support, safety, or accessibility. In dance work, contact may occasionally be needed to demonstrate, guide, or correct movement, but staff should always consider whether the same result can be achieved without touching.

Any touch must be respectful, brief, unambiguous, and appropriate to the context. Participants should understand why contact is being used, and their wishes must be respected if they do not want to be touched.

Staff must never do anything of a personal nature for a participant if they can reasonably do it themselves.

9. Transport and travel

Participants should not be transported alone by staff in a private vehicle. If transport is unavoidable, it must be authorised in advance, consented to by a parent, carer, or responsible adult where appropriate, and covered by the organisation’s insurance arrangements.

Any travel arrangements should be transparent and recorded in line with the organisation’s procedures.

10. Professional boundaries

All relationships with participants must remain professional. Staff must not arrange to meet children, young people, or adults at risk outside the scope of their work, and must not form personal relationships that could be seen as exploiting a position of trust.

Children and young people remain children in law until their 18th birthday. Any adult working in a professional capacity has a duty to avoid behaviour that could be misunderstood, could blur boundaries, or could create a position of trust risk.

Staff must not engage in sexual contact or sexual communication with any child or young person under 18. Any concern involving abuse of trust must be reported immediately through safeguarding procedures.

11. Online safety and social media

Staff must not use personal social media accounts to connect with children or young people who take part in projects, workshops, rehearsals, or performances. Personal messaging, direct contact, or informal online communication with participants is not permitted unless expressly authorised through an official organisational channel and supported by a legitimate work need.

Any online communication must be professional, transparent, and in line with the organisation’s digital safeguarding procedures. Staff should assume that all digital communications may be recorded, shared, or misinterpreted.

12. Challenging behaviour and bullying

Unacceptable behaviour should be challenged promptly and calmly. Humiliating, shaming, threatening, or degrading responses are never acceptable, whether the behaviour comes from an adult or from a child or young person.

Bullying may include physical aggression, name-calling, ridicule, exclusion, racist abuse, sexual comments, unwanted touching, or persistent intimidation. Any report or suspicion of bullying must be taken seriously and passed to the designated safeguarding lead or other nominated person.

13. Recognising abuse

Abuse may be physical, emotional, sexual, or the result of neglect. Adults at risk may also experience financial or material abuse, coercive control, discriminatory abuse, modern slavery, self-neglect, or organisational abuse depending on the context and the person’s needs.

Possible warning signs include unexplained injuries, repeated or implausible explanations for injuries, changes in behaviour, fearfulness, withdrawal, regression, poor hygiene, hunger, inappropriate clothing for the weather, or sexualised behaviour that is not age-appropriate.

Signs do not prove abuse on their own, but they must always be considered seriously and reported.

14. Responding to disclosures

If a child, young person, or adult at risk tells you about abuse, or you suspect abuse from something you have seen or heard, listen carefully and stay calm. Do not ask leading questions, promise secrecy, investigate the matter yourself, or contact the alleged abuser.

Reassure the person that they were right to speak up, that they are being taken seriously, and that you will share the information with the appropriate safeguarding lead. Make a factual written record as soon as possible, using the person’s own words where you can.

Pass the concern immediately to the designated safeguarding lead or to the relevant statutory authority according to the urgency of the situation.

15. Recording and confidentiality

Safeguarding records must be factual, dated, signed, and stored securely. Personal opinions should be clearly separated from observed facts and direct quotations.

Records relating to concerns about a child, young person, or adult at risk must not be stored in unsecured files or shared beyond those who need to know. Records may need to be used in later safeguarding or legal processes.

16. Media, photography, and filming

Photographs, film, audio, and other media must only be taken, used, and shared with proper consent. If consent has not been given, no image or recording may be made.

Images should be respectful, accurate, and representative. They should focus on activity rather than on a single child or adult where possible, and should never show people in changing areas, toilet areas, or any other inappropriate setting.

Where a participant can be identified in an online image or video, explicit written consent is required from the relevant parent, carer, guardian, or adult participant, as applicable. Any consent should be time-limited and reviewed regularly.

17. Storage and use of images

Images and recordings must be stored securely and accessed only by authorised people. Third parties may only use material for the purpose for which consent was given, unless further consent is obtained.

Where names are used alongside images, care must be taken not to reveal unnecessary personal details such as addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, or school information that could identify or locate a child unnecessarily.

18. If a concern cannot wait

If immediate action is needed to protect a child, young person, or adult at risk, staff should contact the appropriate emergency services or local statutory services without delay. If there is immediate danger, call 999.

For non-emergency safeguarding advice involving a child, the NSPCC Helpline can be contacted on 0808 800 5000 or by email at help@nspcc.org.uk. For adults at risk, concerns should be reported to the relevant local authority adult safeguarding team or emergency services as appropriate.

19. Review and monitoring

This policy should be reviewed regularly to ensure that it remains accurate, legally current, and aligned with local safeguarding arrangements, digital safety developments, and organisational practice.

All workers are expected to follow the policy and to report any concerns about its operation or any situation where the policy appears to conflict with safeguarding needs.