I advised in the last newsletter that in each newsletter I would report on our child-safe culture and any progress that we make, in particular for our newer members. It is our genuine desire and our obligation to foster a culture which promotes safety and wellbeing for our children.
- We have just been audited by the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) and have completed a self-assessment against the OCG’s 10 child-safe standards. There are 4 levels of culture development and compliance: Vulnerable, Emerging, Proactive and Resilient. The outcome of the OCG assessment was a mark mid-way in the “Emerging” sector. Our aim is to progress to midway through the Proactive sector or higher.
- Since the audit, we have placed this logo on our club website homepage together with the words “Budokan has a commitment to child safety”. This is important as it shows our dedication to this culture. There is also a link under the logo to all our policies and procedures within our website. This logo also appears at the start of our newsletters and an article will be included in each newsletter communicating issues impacting child-safety.
The “Child-Safe” folder at the club (hanging from the trophy cabinet) now also contains the relevant contact list so you know to approach if you have any issues or recommendations. Of the 10 child-safe standards against which we are assessed, the 3 that we can make most improvement against are:
- Standard #2 - Participation and Empowerment
- Standard #4 - Equity and Diversity
- Standard #7 - Training
- Our priority in the short term will therefore be to improve our strategies across these 3 areas. Please reach out to me if you have any suggestions or comments on this project.
We are still seeing examples of unnecessary risks being taken by club members by:
- parking cars along the front of the dojo (training hall)
- dropping off or picking up children from the front of the hall reducing visibility for those needing to cross the road.
- PLEASE, before your child’s class, accompany your child to the dojo door and after class, pick your child up from the dojo by parking away from the front of the dojo.
- Please also leave free the 2 spaces reserved for the coaches which are located on the east side of the hall
- please refrain from taking photos or video at training sessions. On occasions we may take some promotional photos and videos and post these on the club website or social media. Please advise Rob if you have any objection to us or a Committee member doing this from time to time. This does not apply during club competitions, unless otherwise advised at the time.
Please make every effort to comply with these requirements and please help the coaches and committee to enforce the requirements where you see others who do not take the same care as you. - THIS IS YOUR CLUB AND THESE ARE YOUR CHILDREN – LET’S KEEP THE CLUB A SAFE PLACE FOR EVERYONE.