Guidance for clubs

 
GUIDANCE FOR CLUBS THAT TEACH CHILDREN

BJJKO Clubs are Safe Clubs.
General Guidance for running a Ju-Jitsu Club in the UK.

Guidance for Running a Safe BJJKO Club
Keeping children safe during club activities.

Summary
        This is non-statutory guidance from the BJJKO (British Ju-Jitsu and Kobudo Organisation).
        It aims to:
  • help Registered Club Instructors/Martial Art activity providers understand best practice for creating a safe environment for children in their care.
  • give parents and carers confidence that their child is in a safe activity or learning environment.
  • protect instructors by ensuring they understand what they need to do.


Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, is everyone’s responsibility.
 Safeguarding is defined for the purposes of this guidance as:
  • Protecting children from maltreatment.
  • Preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development.
  • Ensuring that children are cared for, consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.
  • Taking action if you identify children to be at risk of harm.        
This guidance is for Club owners and instructors who provide activities, tuition or after-school clubs for children, also known as out-of-school-settings (OOSS), in our case a Martial Arts Club, as well as their assistants and volunteers.
  • Following this guidance is voluntary for clubs (aside from the legal requirements which are made clear throughout the guidance) – BJJKO will not monitor or assess whether providers are implementing the practices set out. 
  • By adopting these practices, you will be taking reasonable steps to ensure the safety of children using your services and attending your venue.
  • Your Professional Indemnity Cover may be void in the event of a claim, if proof of negligence or non-compliance of safeguarding guidance is found.
In terms of Safeguarding children, your Martial Arts Club is classed as an out-of-school setting (OOSS)?

OOSS are clubs or individuals that provide tuition, training, instruction or activities to children in England without their parents’ or carers’ supervision, but are not:
  • Schools.
  • Colleges.
  • Education settings providing alternative provision.
  • 16 to19 academies.
  • Providers caring for children that are registered with OFSTED or a childminder agency.

These settings generally provide tuition, training, instruction or activities outside normal school hours (for example, evenings, weekends, school holidays).
These settings can occur in many kinds of venue, from a person’s home to much larger and more formal places such as community and youth centres, sports clubs, and places of worship. 
Fees may or may not be charged, and some settings may operate on a commercial basis.

As a provider, you, your instructors and volunteers have a duty of care toward the children who attend. 
This means that by law you must take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of the children and to protect them from harm.
As detailed in DfE statutory guidance “working together to safeguard children”, no single practitioner can have a full picture of a child’s needs and circumstances, so everyone who comes into contact with them has a role to play in identifying concerns, sharing information and taking prompt action.

We recognise that characteristics of settings can vary, including the activities and learning they offer, so the steps you take to reduce the risk of harm to children in your setting will differ depending on its specific characteristics (for example, size, physical location, hours of operation). However, taking appropriate steps to reduce risk will reassure parents that their children will be safe in your care.

About this guidance
Our organisation provides safeguarding support for clubs teaching children.

We also have a duty of care to provide training, however ensuring instructors complete and update that training is the responsibility of the club providers, completing safeguarding training is not a condition of membership, accreditation is achieved by a club once we are satisfied that safeguarding regulations are being met. 
Having an accreditation does not guarantee that a club is safe, club instructors are responsible for continuity of safeguarding practices and updating training.



How the guidance can help you as a provider
The guidance will help providers understand how they can run safe clubs to ensure the welfare of the children attending them. Following the guidance is not mandatory (except for the existing legal requirements specified). 
However, all the actions we outline are good practice and should be supported by effective leadership and training. 
We have put in place, robust policies that will help you meet your duty of care towards all children attending your club and we strongly encourage you to review them regularly to ensure the children in your care are kept safe from all forms of harm.

The guidance covers safeguarding best practice in 4 sections:
  • Health and safety
  • Safeguarding and child protection
  • Safe recruitment and suitability of staff and volunteers
  • Code of conduct
  • GDPR

We want parents and carers to be happy with the club’s arrangements and environment before they decide their child will attend. 
So, some sections contain examples of questions that parents and carers may ask you, and the types of response you should be able to give to reassure them that their child will be safe in your care.



How to use this guidance
We expect all clubs to review, and comply with, what the law says you must do. 
The organisation is responsible for providing a set of safeguarding policies for clubs; however, you are responsible for understanding and implementing policies that apply to your club.

The basic safeguarding checklist of requirements for all Ju-Jitsu clubs details the basic requirements you should have in place regardless of the type or size of venue.

By determining which type of club best describes your setting and implementing the suggested actions, you are taking the first steps to safeguarding the children in your setting from harm. 
However, effective safeguarding also requires a culture of vigilance around children’s welfare, embedded through effective leadership and training. 
This means that you should ensure that all instructors and volunteers understand and comply with the safeguarding and safe recruitment arrangements you put in place and that you should review your policies, procedures and training on an ongoing basis.



Basic safeguarding checklist of requirements for all Martial Arts Clubs

Health and safety
  • You must consider the suitability and safety of the setting for Instructors and volunteers and take steps to reduce any risks identified.
  • You should have first aid training and/or a first aid kit to hand as well as awareness of what to do in an emergency (for example, call 999 if a child is having an asthma attack)
  • You must have a fire safety and evacuation plan.
  • You should have more than one emergency contact number for each child, where reasonably possible, and know of any medical concerns or allergies of your students.

Safeguarding and child protection
  • You must have a safeguarding and child protection policy in place, including procedures for dealing with safeguarding incidents which are communicated to  and understood by all staff members, BJJKO policies and procedures are available to all Club Instructors on our website.
  • You should have awareness of and training on the specific safeguarding issues that can put children at risk of harm (for example, abuse and neglect, peer-on-peer abuse, extremism and radicalisation).Training is available to all BJJKO Instructors.
  • You should have clear procedures on what to do if they have concerns about a staff member, volunteer or other adult who may pose a risk of harm to children. 
  • You should appoint a designated Club Welfare Officer (CWO)
  • You should provide parents with a named individual  (such as the CWO) so they can raise safeguarding concerns, or if you are a lone provider provide the contact details of the BJJKO Safeguarding Lead.
  • You should have printed contact details for the BJJKO Safeguarding Lead, accessible to all students and know the referral route into children’s social care.


Suitability of staff and volunteers
As the senior instructor at your club you should: 
  • Ensure staff and volunteers have completed a Safe Recruitment Form and had relevant checks (for example, DBS check or verification of identity) this can be sourced via the .GOV website or the organisation can apply for a DBS check on your behalf.
  • Have regular Child Protection / Safeguarding Training in place. Checking Suitability and Providing Training are the responsibility of the Club, however The BJJKO provide Safe Recruitment Packs and Training to all our Clubs. 
  • Follow guidance on the use of Safe Recruitment and Safeguarding Training, following guidance is the choice of a Clubs Senior Instructor and is not mandatory, although we strongly recommend it is followed.

Governance
  • You should have a clear complaints procedure, if you are not sure about this, speak to our Safeguarding Lead or for more information contact us by email safeguarding@bjjko.co.uk
  • You should have an effective whistleblowing policy; this is explained in the BJJKO Safeguarding Policy.
Remember: These basic safeguarding practices should be supported by effective leadership, training and a culture of vigilance around children’s welfare in your club.

Safeguarding / Child Protection Poster

Advice for Instructors and Club Staff

Available for Download Here

Download File
Section 1: health and safety - Basic requirements
To identify which requirements are most relevant to you, you should first decide whether you are a:

1. Large Club with 5 or more volunteer Assistant Instructors.
The specifications for large Clubs have primarily been decided based on existing health and safety legislation which states that if you have 5 Instructors you need to have a written health and safety risk assessment.

If this describes your club, you should read:
  • BJJKO Safe Practice Policy
  • BJJKO Child Protection Policy
  • Health and safety policy
  • Fire safety 
  • Parental consent forms (Enrolment Pack) and safe recruitment.

This is to ensure you have:
  • A written Safeguarding policy, and Health and Safety Policy including a risk assessment section.
  • An appointed person and/or at least one staff member who has first aid training.
  • A fire safety and evacuation plan
  • Trained all staff members on Child Protection.
  • Have a registration / membership form for the children in your care, including essential contact information and medical details.
  • Taken a register at the start of each session.


2. Small Club with 4 or fewer volunteer Assistant Instructors.
If you have fewer than 5 Instructors there is no requirement for a written health and safety assessment, providing you are observing the recommended Instructor to Student ratios.
If your club is operating for several hours on multiple days of the week, you may wish to follow the best practice suggested for ‘large clubs’ throughout this guidance.

If this describes your club, you should read:
  • BJJKO Safe Practice Policy
  • BJJKO Child Protection Policy
  • Health and safety policy
  • Fire safety 
  • Parental consent forms (Enrolment Pack) and safe recruitment.

This is to ensure you have:
  • Considered health and safety and taken steps to reduce risks.
  • An appointed person and/ or at least one staff member who has first aid training.
  • A fire safety and evacuation plan
  • Trained all staff members on Child Protection.
  • More than one emergency contact number for each child (where possible) and knowledge of any medical concerns.
  • Taken a register at the start of each session.
3. Lone Instructor.
You do not have any Assistant Instructors, or you provide one-to-one lessons or have fewer than 30 students aged 6 and above, or 15 students aged 5 and above.

If this describes your club, you should read:
  • BJJKO Safe Practice Policy
  • BJJKO Child Protection Policy
  • Health and safety policy
  • Fire safety 
  • Parental consent forms (Enrolment Pack) and safe recruitment.

This is to ensure you have:
  • Considered health and safety and taken steps to reduce risks.
  • A fire safety and evacuation plan
  • Trained all staff members on Child Protection.
  • More than one emergency contact number for each child (where possible) and knowledge of any medical concerns.

Remember: The practices that you put in place should be regularly reviewed to ensure the children in your club setting are safe. 
For example, if you change venue, you should carry out a new risk assessment, and ensure all staff members are aware of what steps to take to reduce any risks identified.



Duty of care
As a club Instructor, you have a legal duty of care to try to ensure the environment is safe for people who visit or attend. 

This means you should take reasonable steps to ensure that people will be safe using the venue for the purposes for which they attend.
Regular checks must be carried out to identify any new hazards that may emerge after you have done your initial risk assessment, such as surfaces that become flooded or slippery in poor weather or building and maintenance taking place in or around your venue which could be dangerous for children.

As part of this, you should consider the safety and needs of all people within the setting, but especially adults and children with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities who use you club. 
For example, you may need to think about their specific needs when considering your evacuation route in the event of a fire.
Health and safety policy
You should have considered health and safety and taken reasonable steps to reduce risks regardless of the type and size of your setting.

This should:
  • Assess the risks to any staff, volunteers, children and others involved in the setting’s activities. 
  • Ensure that facilities are adequate and appropriate for the activity (for example, access to sanitary facilities and drinking water).
  • Include a site risk assessment of larger venues (access, lighting, fire), surrounding area, and equipment. For example, if you are renting a community hall, you should check that the owners have complied with health and safety law as set out by the Health and Safety Executive’s standards.
  • Introduce measures to manage those risks (risk management)
  • Ensure that adequate and appropriate arrangements and facilities for providing first aid are in place and the location of the first-aid kit is clearly displayed.
  • Tell any Instructors about the risks, and clearly designate and define measures to be taken to manage the risks.
  • Include appropriate insurance cover, If you are unsure which insurance is relevant, contact your BJJKO representative who will help clarify your level of cover.
If you have fewer than 5 Instructors, you do not have to write down your health and safety policy, but you may wish to record any significant findings.



Fire safety
A fire safety policy and evacuation plan must form part of your health-and-safety policy. 

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 details the legal duty to make sure your premises and Instructors / students are kept safe from fire and can escape to safety if a fire occurs.

Under the order, anyone who has control of the premises may be a ‘responsible person’; this could be you (providing you are trusted with keys to the premises); or the owner of the premises. If a number of people could be classed as the ‘responsible person’, you must work together to meet the requirements.

The order applies to virtually all premises and covers nearly every type of building, structure and open space. This includes community halls, places of worship and other community premises; schools and sports centres; tents and marquees; and the shared areas of properties several households live in.

Specific guidance is available depending on the type of premises where you are hosting your activity or service. For example, if you are running a club in a community centre where more than 300 people could gather, you would need to check with the provider.

If you are the responsible person, you must ensure you:
  • Carry out a fire-risk assessment.
  • Consider who may be especially at risk.
  • Reduce the risk from fire as much as reasonably possible and provide general fire precautions to deal with any possible risk that is left.
  • Take further measures to make sure there is protection if flammable or explosive materials are used or stored.
  • Create an evacuation plan, tailored to the premises, to deal with an emergency (including clearly marked escape routes and exits, and a safe meeting point).
  • Record your fire-risk assessment findings if you have 5 or more Instructors or volunteers.


Parental consent forms and attendance registers
It is good practice to have a parental consent form when enrolling children in your setting, so you have relevant information for each child, such as parental / carer contact details and whether the child has any particular needs, such as Special Educational Needs, regular medication or allergies. Please note such forms will normally contain data that is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018. Further information on the GDPR is available from your BJJKO representative. 

The BJJKO provide an enrolment pack that is available to all Club Instructors.

When enrolling a child into your club, consider the following points:
  • Take note of more than one emergency contact number per child, where reasonably possible, and ensure you are aware of any health conditions or medical requirements. You may also want to take note of the school the child attends.
  • The BJJKO provides an Enrolment Pack that includes this form.
  • If a child has any particular needs, make sure you discuss with parents and carers how you will address these.
  • Request updates for parental contact details; you could do this once a year as part of the renewal process.
Before they enroll their child, you might consider encouraging parents and carers to meet with you either prior to, or during a session, so they are reassured their child will be safe in your care. 
Visiting parents and carers should not be exempt from the child protection policy and procedures that your Instructors follow. 
For example, you should never leave a child unsupervised with another parent or carer.

Taking a register of attendance is also considered good practice so you know how many and which children are present on a given day.

If you discover that a child is missing, you should alert an Instructor or the CWO. 
  • The CWO or Instructor should calmly search inside and outside the building. 
  • If there is no sign of the child, then you should contact the police immediately and also inform their parents. 
  • You should then wait for the police to arrive and follow their instructions. 
  • CWO or Instructor should continue to search while waiting for the police to arrive.

If you discover that a child is missing and are a Lone Instructor, who is looking after several children, you should not leave the other children unattended to search for the missing child. Instead, you should contact the missing child’s parents and the police and stay with the other children until help arrives.

Questions a parent or carer may ask you.
Note – some of these questions will not be relevant for all clubs. 

Q: May I have a copy of your safeguarding or child protection policy?
A: You should be able to provide, or show parents, this type of policy on request or, if you have fewer than 5 Instructors, you should at a minimum be able to explain to parents where they can view or download it (there is always an up-to-date copy on the BJJKO web site open for all visitors to download or view). 

Q: Do you have a parental consent and emergency details form that I need to return to you?
A: You should collect more than one emergency contact number (where reasonably possible) and the necessary medical information for each child. To collect this information, you may want to print off a number of our Enrolment Packs and consider giving parents one at the first session and asking for it back as soon as possible. If a child joins your club, you should ask for this information to be updated each year as part of their membership renewal.

It is good practice to create a register in case of an emergency, such as a fire, a safeguarding concern or accident, or in the event of one of the children in your care going missing. 
Any personal data you collect through consent forms or registers should be securely stored and not retained longer than necessary.

Q: Who is in charge of first aid?
A: As the clubs Senior Instructor, you should be able to name a designated person in charge of first aid and tell parents what first-aid training this designated person has had. This designated person could be yourself or another instructor at the club. You should also let parents know that you have a first-aid kit available. Where you have multiple assistant instructors at the club, the location of the first-aid kit should be clearly displayed.

Section 2: safeguarding and child protection. Basic Requirements

I am a large Club with 5 or more volunteer Assistant Instructors.
You should read:
  • Safeguarding and child protection policy, including procedures
  • Specific safeguarding issues
  • Designated Club Welfare Officer (CWO), including managing safeguarding concerns and working with instructors.
  • Working alone with children.
  • Reporting concerns about a colleague.
  • What to do if a child makes a disclosure.
  • Local authority children’s social care and multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
This is to ensure you:
  • Have access to the BJJKO child protection policy and written procedures in place.
  • Are aware of the specific safeguarding issues that can put children at risk of harm and undertake appropriate training (for example, abuse and neglect, peer-on-peer abuse).
  • Have appointed a suitable CWO.
  • Have made staff and volunteers aware of what to do if they have concerns about a colleague who may pose a risk of harm to children.
  • Have ensured that all staff and volunteers know the BJJKO referral route.
I am a small Club with 4 or fewer volunteer Assistant Instructors.
You should read:
  • Safeguarding and child protection policy, including procedures
  • Specific safeguarding issues
  • Designated Club Welfare Officer (CWO), including managing safeguarding concerns and working with instructors.
  • Working alone with children.
  • Reporting concerns about a colleague.
  • What to do if a child makes a disclosure.
  • Local authority children’s social care and multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.
This is to ensure you:
  • Have access to the BJJKO child protection policy and written procedures in place.
  • Are aware of the specific safeguarding issues that can put children at risk of harm and undertake appropriate training (for example, abuse and neglect, peer-on-peer abuse).
  • Have appointed a suitable CWO.
  • Have made staff and volunteers aware of what to do if they have concerns about a colleague who may pose a risk of harm to children.
  • Have ensured that all staff and volunteers know the BJJKO referral route.

I am a Lone Instructor.
You should be aware of the following:
  • The BJJKO safeguarding and child protection policy.
  • Specific safeguarding issues.
  • The BJJKO designated safeguarding lead, including managing safeguarding concerns.
  • Working alone with children.
  • What to do if a child makes a disclosure.
  • The BJJKO referral route. 
This is to ensure you:
  • Have access to the BJJKO child protection policy and can verbally detail the steps you will take to protect children in your care.
  • Are aware of the specific safeguarding issues that can put children at risk of harm and undertake appropriate training.
  • Know how to contact your DSL and are well versed in, the BJJKO referral route.
Remember: The practices and training that the BJJKO put in place are regularly reviewed to ensure the children in your club are safe, make sure you are up to date.

Safeguarding and child protection is everyone’s responsibility. 
The BJJKO Safeguarding Team will work with you and your club to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. 
It is clear that anyone working with children should make their approach child centred (for example, give priority to the interests and needs of the child).

So, you should designate an adult (which could be yourself) to have lead responsibility for safeguarding children while they are in your care. 

We call this person the Club Welfare Officer (CWO). 
When appointing a CWO, you should consider the needs and characteristics of the children attending your club.

All staff, especially the CWO, should consider the context in which safeguarding incidents occur. 
For example, threats to children’s welfare could arise in school or other educational establishments, from external visitors to schools or clubs, in peer groups, and from the wider/online community.

We advise club instructors and the CWO working with children, to maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here’. 
When concerned about a child’s welfare, they should always act in the child’s best interests. 
They should know and understand the clubs safeguarding processes and the appropriate escalation route. 

Protection policy
As a club owner, you should have a clear and effective child protection policy in place that says how you will protect children in your care. 
The BJJKO’s policy is available to all club instructors and can be downloaded from our website. 

Procedures
If you have one or more assistant instructors at your club, then it is important to print off a copy for them or help them get access to the BJJKO online resource. 

It is important to ensure that all instructors understand their responsibilities and know what to do in the event of a safeguarding concern. Typically, these should include:
  • A procedure covering what to do if you have a concern that a child may be at risk of abuse or exploitation.
  • A procedure to use in the event of allegations or concerns of peer-on-peer abuse in your organisation.
  • A procedure to deal with allegations or concerns that an adult working with children and young people in your organisation may present a risk of abuse.
  • A complaints procedure that includes provision for children, young people, and families to raise a safeguarding concern.
If you have assistant instructors, you should also consider additional guidance, information, or expectations that you need them to be aware of. 

These should include:
  • A code of conduct for staff and volunteers.
  • The importance of the organisation's safe recruitment policy.
  • Information about the different types of abuse, signs, and symptoms.
  • How to respond directly to a child who discloses abuse.


Safeguarding issues
All club and assistant instructors should be aware of safeguarding issues that can put children at risk. 
Training is available from the BJJKO, anyone that works with children in your club should be appropriately trained in safeguarding and child protection. 
  • The BJJKO offers e-learning training courses on child protection to all club instructors as part of our safeguarding obligation. 
  • It is important that CWO’s, instructors and anyone that comes in contact with children at your club is offered training and support. 
  • It is the responsibility of the club to ensure all its staff are trained and although training is offered by the organisation, monitoring and enforcement is not the organisation's function or responsibility.
  • Failure to have staff trained may invalidate your club cover or PI Insurance.
The Course is Modular and covers the main concerns when safeguarding children. 
The following sections outline some of the main issues that club instructors may encounter.



Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
Children with SEND can face additional safeguarding difficulties. 
Club Instructors should ensure they understand that additional barriers can exist when recognising abuse and neglect among such children.

These can include:
  • Assumptions that signs of possible abuse such as behaviour, mood and injury relate to the child’s disability, without further exploration.
  • Being more prone to peer-group isolation than other children.
  • The potential for these children to be disproportionately affected by behaviours such as bullying, without showing any outward signs.
  • Communication barriers and difficulties in managing or reporting these challenges.
To address these extra difficulties, providers should consider giving more support to the children.


Mental health and wellbeing
Mental health problems and suicidal thoughts can affect anyone, of any age and of any background. 
Mental health problems are common among children and young people, but it can be difficult to identify as they often keep it to themselves. This can also be true with other forms of safeguarding issues.

It is important that you and your staff know the signs and symptoms of mental health problems. 


Club Welfare Officer (CWO)
Support is always available from The BJJKO on appointing a Club Welfare Officer (CWO).
This should be someone known to students, parents and instructors and they should be contactable, both in person and by phone or email where discretion is required. 

Where appropriate, you could appoint yourself as the CWO (for example, if you are a lone provider).

CWOs should be suitably trained and have a good understanding of specific safeguarding issues (including bullying, physical abuse, sexual harassment and sexual violence, sexting, online safety and radicalisation), child protection, what abuse and neglect look like, our referral processes and what to expect when a referral is made.


Managing safeguarding concerns
Information on a Club Welfare Officers (CWO) duties and relevant training can be obtained from your BJJKO representative.
 
It is good practice for CWOs to have the contact details for the BJJKO Safeguarding Lead team on hand in case they need guidance. 

Information regarding child services is available through your local authority. 
Find your local authority online by searching, Find your local council and enter the postcode of your club. 
Contact details for your local authority’s multi-agency safeguarding hub, safeguarding lead or Prevent officer are often listed on the website under ‘child safeguarding’ or ‘child protection services’. 

Working with Club Instructors.
Club Instructors should be aware that they must raise all safeguarding concerns with the Club Welfare Officer (CWO) immediately.
 
The CWO should act as a source of support, advice, and expertise to instructors on matters of safeguarding. 
It is also important that all instructors know the appropriate safeguarding policies and reporting process.


Working alone with children.
In most situations, you should have at least 2 adults present when working with children and young people at your club. 
However, sometimes it may be appropriate or necessary for an adult to supervise a small group of children on their own, or to speak one-to-one with a child. 
This could happen if a child in your group asks to speak to a trusted adult alone, or if you are a lone provider, for instance.

If you need to work alone with children, then it is good practice to arrange a meeting with the child and their parent or carer so you can agree what will happen during sessions and where you will be and at what time. 
You should also give them a copy of your child protection policy.

You should consider if it’s appropriate for a parent, carer or another trusted adult to be present during the session. 
You could also invite parents and carers to wait in a separate room during the session. 
If the child and their parents or carers are happy for you to work alone, you should get written consent.

If you are working alone unexpectedly with a child or young person, you should make sure you are somewhere where other people can see you – for instance, in a room with a window. 
You should also tell another adult that you are alone with the child; this could be your senior instructor or the CWO.


Reporting concerns about an instructor who may pose a risk of harm to children.
Being clear about your expectations of the behavior of instructors is an important part of safeguarding the children in your care. 
Our code of conduct sets out the standards of behavior for your instructors. 
It includes clear expectations of what people should do, and what they must not. 
This will help raise awareness of illegal, unsafe, unprofessional and unwise behavior. 



What to do if a child makes a disclosure of abuse or harm. 
If a child in your setting discloses to you that they have been abused or that they feel at risk of harm, you should follow our safeguarding policies and procedures immediately. 

These should include clear instructions on the BJJKO referral route. If a child is at risk of immediate harm, you should call the police on 999.

Full details of the disclosure process are included in our training courses and safeguarding policy.


Questions a parent or carer may ask you.
Note – some of these questions will not be relevant to all clubs. 

Q: Who is responsible for child protection and what training have they had? How recent was this training?
A: You should be able to name a person who is responsible for safeguarding; if you are a lone provider this may be yourself. The CWO should have had the training that gives them the knowledge and skills needed for their role. 
At a minimum the CWO should be aware of the safeguarding issues children may face in settings and have the contact details for the local authority children’s social care team.

There is no set requirement for how often training is to be repeated, but the CWO may want to conduct a regular review of the training they have undertaken and consider whether there are new legislative requirements or if the circumstances of your club have changed.

Q: Will anyone besides the instructor, or other children’s parents, be present in the club while my child is there? If so, will they be there regularly?
A: As a rule, you should not have people who are not a part of your club at your venue while children are present. If other people will be present besides the instructors, the CWO or other children’s parents, you should have a visitors’ book where they can sign in and also ask them to show ID. You should ensure that any adult who is not a club member or instructor is never alone with a child in your care.

Q: May I see your child protection policy and procedures?
A: If you run provision for children, and engage one or more instructors, you should be able to give or show a physical or electronic copy of our child protection policy to a parent on request.

If you are a lone instructor, you should still have a printed child protection policy that you can give to parents on request. 
You do not need to give them a copy of our safeguarding procedures, but you should be able to provide reassurance to parents that you are aware of the specific safeguarding issues that children can face in your club and detail reasonable steps you will take to ensure the children in your care are safe.


Basic requirements
  • Recruitment
  • Have staff and volunteers undergone DBS checks?
The BJJKO do not have any authority regarding the process of recruiting assistant instructors, this is left to the discretion of the senior club instructor and the CWO, we do however recommend that our guidance is followed to ensure children at your club are safe.



Recruitment
Club Instructors should safeguard and promote children’s welfare. 
So, it is vital that you apply robust procedures that deter and prevent unsuitable people from teaching children at your club.

Senior Instructors promote instructors from within their club’s student base, this ensures that they are not allowing unknown instructors to have contact with children. 

To be sure of an instructor’s suitability to work with children, you should make some other important checks before allowing prospective instructors to teach children.

As the assistant coach will be helping with training sessions, the appropriate level of criminal records checks: Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks) including a ‘children’s barred list’ check where relevant for the role.

DBS checks for Instructors, Assistants and volunteers.
You can apply for a basic DBS check for a volunteer; if the role is for an assistant instructor that will be left alone with children in your care, a standard or enhanced check may be necessary. 

These checks must be done on behalf of an instructor and not by the instructor themselves, this can be done via the club or our organisation. 

A standard DBS check will be acceptable for Assistant Instructors, however, for Senior Instructors an enhanced DBS check is required. 

This should be arranged by the organisation on your behalf.

Questions a parent or carer may ask you.
Note that some of these questions will not be relevant to all clubs.

Q: What checks do you undertake to ensure staff are suitable to work with children? How recent were the checks?
A: Regardless of the type and size of your club, you should safeguard and promote children’s welfare by making sure you have robust procedures in place to prevent unsuitable people from working or volunteering at your club. 

You should be able to describe to parents a range of checks that you have undertaken on instructors to reassure them that their child is safe in your care. 

Q: What training have staff and volunteers had?
A: Training will differ according to the type of instructor, but all assistants and volunteers should have at least a good working knowledge of and be appropriately trained in safeguarding and child protection. 

You should be able to verbally detail the training that instructors and volunteers have done.



Complaint’s procedure.
Sometimes a parent or staff member may be alerted to an issue by their child or another parent regarding your club or one of your instructors. 
As a club instructor, you should have a clear policy to deal effectively with complaints.

Our complaints policy and procedure are available on our website or from your BJJKO representative.


Whistleblowing policy.
All instructors and volunteers should feel able to raise concerns about poor or unsafe practice and potential failures in the club’s safeguarding regime and know that such concerns will be taken seriously by its senior team. 
For more details see the BJJKO whistle blowing policy.


Code of Conduct.
It is good practice to have a code of conduct for instructors and visitors. 
For more details see the Codes of Conduct section in the BJJKO safeguarding policy.

A consent form is included in the BJJKO enrolment pack.


Photography and sharing images.
If you wish to take photographs of the children who attend your club for your website, for example, it is important that you get parental consent and are able to explain to parents and carers how you use images of children and young people in publications, on websites and on social networking sites, and what actions you take to keep children safe. 
You may wish to update parental consent annually if a child attends your setting for more than a year. 

A consent form is included in the BJJKO enrolment pack.


Visiting Instructors.
When booking visiting instructors, you should assess any risks and put in place procedures to protect the children in your care. Visiting instructors should not be exempt from the child protection policy and procedures that your own instructors and volunteers follow. 
For example, you should never leave a child unsupervised with a visiting instructor. 
GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (the Act) place duties on organisation's  and individuals to process personal information fairly and lawfully and keep the information they hold safe and secure. 
Club owners should be aware of this to ensure that information they hold about children is not shared inappropriately or in a way that might lead to its misuse. 
Clubs should not retain personal information longer than necessary. 

How long settings need to retain information will be based on the clubs needs and legal requirements. For example, a parental consent form which includes emergency contact numbers and a child’s medical information should be securely stored until the child no longer attends the club, and then disposed of securely.

GDPR and the Act do not prevent, or limit, the legitimate sharing of information for the purposes of keeping children safe. 
Concerns about sharing information must not obstruct the promotion and protection of children’s safety and welfare.

GDPR does not prevent a club owner asking questions on safeguarding grounds about the suitability of an individual instructor or volunteer at your club. Fears about sharing information should not stand in the way of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

Clubs should ensure that instructors and volunteers (especially the CWO) who need to share special category data are aware the Act contains ‘safeguarding of children and individuals at risk’ as a processing condition that allows practitioners to share information.

A copy of this document is available to download in the Instructors area

Lesley Morris
Lead Safeguarding Officer
DPO (Data Protection Officer)


Lesley can be contacted by email should you have any questions relating to a BJJKO Club or for help and advice for new or existing students.

Most correspondence is conducted by email, however in some cases by phone, a face to face meeting can also be arranged at your club in complete confidence. 

safeguarding@bjjko.co.uk

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