One Touch Football Soccer School Child Protection Policy
1. One Touch Football Soccer School 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 club 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 organizations, 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.
One Touch Football Soccer School recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our club.
3. One Touch Football Soccer School Football Club 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 club tours, football coach, club official or medical staff.
4. We endorse and adopt The FA’s child protection and best practice guidelines for recruiting volunteers and will:
- Develop 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 Unit Enhanced Disclosure where appropriate in line with FA guidelines.
All current One Touch Football Soccer School members with direct access to children and young people will be 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 One Touch Football Soccer School 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 CRB Unit Enhanced CRB Disclosure 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. One Touch Football Soccer School 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 on 0207 745 4771, by writing to The FA Case Manager at The Football Association, 25 Soho Square, London W1D 4FA or by going direct to the police, social services or the NSPCC. One Touch Football Soccer School encourages everyone to know about it and utilise it if necessary.
6. One Touch Football Soccer School appointed a Club Welfare Officer (CWO) in line with The FA’s role profile and required completion of the child protection and best practice workshop. The post holder will be involved with designated person’s training provided by The FA. The CWO is the first point of contact for all club 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 club 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 club. 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, a member of the committee 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 One Touch Football Soccer School In order to validate these codes of conduct the club has clear sanctions to deal with any misconduct at club level 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. Further advice on child protection matters can be obtained from:
- The County Football Association’s Child
- Protection Officer, whose details can be found in the County Handbook
- The Football Association/NSPCC Child Protection
- 24-Hour Helpline 0808 800 5000
- www.TheFA.com/Goal
- The FA child protection team 0207 745 4649
On-line booking
We offer an online booking service but there is an extra online booking charge of £1.00. Once you have filled in this online form and made payment you will be contacted by us to confirm your booking.
Via Post
Once you have filled in the consent form along with payment you will be guaranteed a place should you not hear anything from us.
Should your child/children not turn up there will be no refund made (unless agreed otherwise) but a voucher will be issued which must be used within six months of issue date
Cancelling Events
In the event that we have to cancel an event due to insufficient numbers, parents / guardians will be notified at least 24 hours before the event and a full refund will be issued.
Personal Property
We cannot be held responsible for loss or damage to anyone’s property during an event. We strongly recommend that NO valuables are taken to the course with your child.
Photography / Film
We may take photographs or films of our events from time which will be used by us for media or marketing, should you wish for your child/children not to be in these please do tick the objection box.
Health & Safety
All coaches are First Aid trained and CRB checked and will carry there CRB form and First Aid Box/Bag with them at ALL times.
ALL venues we use have had one of our full rick assessments done on it.