Isle of Wight Music, Dance and Drama Festival (IWMDDF)

Child Protection Policy

The British and International Federation of Festivals (BIFF) will review their policy each year in November in line with Safe Network guidance or sooner in light of any changes in legislation or guidance.  All changes will be communicated to festivals in time for the start of the new festival year.

The IWMDDF policy is reviewed annually.

The IWMDDF policy was last reviewed on 12th February 2023

Signed: Oswald  Hoskyns, Safeguarding Officer, Isle of Wight Music Dance and Drama Festival.

Date: 12.03.2023

The British and International Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance and Speech work for amateur festivals everywhere to help create thousands of educational performance opportunities for children and young people each year.

The IWMDDF is committed to ensuring safe environments for children and young people and believe that it is always unacceptable for a child or young person to experience abuse of any kind.  We recognise our responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people by a commitment to recommend best practice which protects them.

This policy applies to our Executive Committee, paid staff, adjudicator members, volunteers, students or anyone working on behalf of the IWMDDF.

We recognise that:
  • the welfare of the child/young person is paramount;
  • all children, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse;
  • working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.
  • all children, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse;
  • working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.
The purpose of the policy:
  • to provide protection for the children and young people who participate in our festivals, including the children of festival members;
  • to provide staff and volunteers with guidance on procedures they should adopt in the event that they suspect a child or young person may be experiencing, or be at risk of, harm.
We will seek to safeguard children and young people by:
  • valuing them, listening to and respecting them;
  • adopting child protection guidelines through procedures and safe working practice for staff and volunteers;
  • recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made;
  • sharing information about child protection and safe working practice with children, parents, staff and volunteers;
  • sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving parents and children appropriately;
  • providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support and training. Training will take the form of a plenary session for new stewards held prior to the festival and one to one input for any who miss that session.
Creating Safer Festivals for Everyone

The Federation and its member Festivals, including the IWMDDF, use the following policies and procedures to create Safer Festivals for everyone:

  1. A single, definitive Child Protection Policy adopted by all Federation Festivals.
  1. A designated Festival Safeguarding Officer (FSO) appointed for the Festival. Name:  OSWALD HOSKYNS, 01983 730332.
  1. Best practice advice in the form of Safe Working Practice and Festival Child Protection leaflets, with support and training for all Festival staff and volunteers, including clear reporting procedures for anyone with a concern about a child. These procedures are to be found in the document ‘Child Protection Procedures’ an extract of which is at the end of this policy document.
  1. Appropriate recruitment and induction procedures for all new Festival staff and volunteers responsible for providing safe environments for everyone attending/performing at a Federation Festival.
  1. All Festival personnel wear a special IWMDDF badge, which bears those letters and the Federation logo. All teachers/parents/guardians/carers are asked to report all incidents of any nature to anyone wearing an IWMDDF badge.  All reported incidents will be handled in accordance with the Safe Working Practice and Festival Child Protection best practice advice.  Copies of these documents can be found on the IWMDDF website or are available from the Festival Safeguarding Officer.  In addition each Festival will ensure the availability of a quiet area/room where concerns can be expressed in private.
  1. For the duration of the Festival all teachers/parents/guardians/carers are responsible for the continuous care and supervision of the children/pupils/vulnerable adults in their care. This includes supervision throughout all Festival venues, performance, practice and changing areas that may be provided.
  1. If parents are unable to attend personally, they must delegate their responsibilities to an Approved Chaperone. A child competing at the IWMDDF can only be chaperoned by a ‘parent’ (as defined) or an Approved Chaperone.  Aunts, uncles, family friends and grandparents are not able to have the sole care of a child in performance.  It has to be the person with Parental Responsibility.  Step-parents can chaperone IF they have Parental Responsibility.
  1. Changing rooms are to be considered as ‘closed areas’ and only accessible to the child and their parent or chaperone. Children aged 5 years and over MUST have single-gender changing room areas.  Changing room arrangements are available for children who do not identify as either male or female.
  1. No unauthorised photography, audio or video recording is allowed at our Festival. Where teachers/parents/guardians/carers do not wish photos to be taken at all, then they should ensure that their child/pupil/vulnerable adult is not included in official authorised photos by informing the official photographer and the IWMDDF organiser.  Announcements to that end will be made at the beginning of each session.
  1. The names of all competitors are usually printed in the Report of Results in the local press. Where teachers/parents/guardians/carers do not wish a name to be reported, then they should ensure that their child/pupil/vulnerable adult is not included in press reports of results by communicating their wishes to the IWMDDF organiser.
  1. Some children and vulnerable adults may have specific needs in order to take part. If this is the case we ask the teachers/parents/guardians/carers to contact the Festival prior to arrival.  The Festival actively seeks wherever possible to meet these needs, but must know beforehand in order to prepare support – or to advise that help cannot be provided on this occasion.
  1. The Festival’s Child Protection Policy and approach to Creating Safer Festivals for Everyone is published explicitly in our Syllabus, Programmes and on our website. By completing and signing the entry form all teachers/parents/guardians/carers of entrants under 18 (or vulnerable adults of any age) confirm that they give (or have obtained) the necessary consents for the entrants to take part in the Festival. Without consent the entry to the Festival cannot be accepted.

Extract from ‘Child Protection Procedures’

Reporting an allegation or concern
If you have concerns about a child you must:
  • Report any concern about the safety of a child immediately to your FSO.
  • Record what has been noticed or said on the Festival’s Reporting Concerns Form.
  • Sign and date the form and give it to your FSO.
  • Keep what has happened confidential to as few people as possible who need to know.
  • Be aware that it is not your role to investigate or talk to any parents/carers that may be involved.
If a child tells you about abuse you must:
  • Treat what the child tells you seriously.
  • Reassure the child they have done the right thing by telling you.
  • Not question the child or put words in their mouth.
  • Not promise to keep what they have said a secret.
  • Tell the child you will have to pass on what they have said.
  • Not speak to the child’s parents.
  • Immediately report the information to the FSO.
  • Record what the child has said in their own words as far as possible on the Festival’s Reporting Concerns Form. sign it, date it and give it to your FSO.
What happens next? 
  • The FSO will decide whether to refer to Children’s Social Care/Local
  • Authority Designated Officer and will make the referral if this is the decision.
  • The Social Work team / Local Authority will then decide on further action
  • The FSO should let you have some feedback.
  • If you feel you cannot report the concern to the FSO you must still take action and report your concerns to the HoS at the Federation.
  • The HoS is available to provide support and advice to the FSO.
If you have concerns about the conduct of a member of staff or volunteer, you must:
  • Report any concerns that indicate that a member of staff or volunteer may be a risk to children to the Head of Safeguarding at the Federation.
  • Be aware that if the concern is about the Head of Safeguarding then you must report your concerns to the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Federation.
The Festival Reporting Concerns Form
  • Use the Festival Reporting Concerns Form to record any concern and how it is dealt with. The relevant sections of the form should be completed and signed at each stage of the procedure.  It can be used to forward information to the Head of Safeguarding and statutory child protection authorities where necessary.
  • The form should be signed and dated by all those involved in its completion and kept confidentially. The name of the person making the notes should be written alongside each entry.
Helping a child in immediate danger or in need of emergency medical attention

In an urgent situation you may initiate contact to prevent an accident or harm to a child:

  • If the child is in immediate danger and is with you, remain with him/her and call the police.
  • If the child is elsewhere, contact the police and explain the situation to them.
  • If he/she needs emergency medical attention, call an ambulance and, while you are waiting for it to arrive, get help from the Festival’s first aider.
  • If the first aider is not available, use any first aid knowledge that you may have yourself to help the child.

Once any immediate danger or emergency medical need has been dealt with you must contact the FSO to let them know what is happening and to report any child protection concerns that may be related to the incident. The FSO will then onward refer to Head of Safeguarding and/or statutory child protection agencies as appropriate.

Definitions and signs of child abuse

What is Child Abuse 

Child abuse is the term used when an adult harms a child or a young person under the age of 18.  There are four main kinds of abuse, all of which can cause long term damage to a child.

1 Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.

2 Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development.

It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless and unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person.

It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them, ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children.  These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another.

It may involve serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children.  Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, although it may occur alone.

3. Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of material substance abuse.

 Once a child is born it may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, clothing, and shelter, including exclusion from home or abandonment; failure to protect a child from physical harm or danger; failure to ensure adequate supervision, including the use of adequate care takers; or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

4. Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or children to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening.

The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts, such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, pornographic material or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet).

Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males.  Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.  Staff and volunteers should, in addition, be aware of new and emerging methods of abuse such as sexual exploitation, child trafficking and abuse linked to culture or belief.  Bullying and different types of discrimination are also forms of child abuse.  Like other kinds of abuse they can harm a child physically and emotionally.

 

How to recognise abuse

Signs of abuse may be obvious and sudden:
  • An injury.
  • A child tells you they have been ill-treated.
  • A child is showing concern about the way an adult is behaving towards them.
  • A child tells you about another child who is being mistreated.
  • An adult tells you they are concerned about the abuse of a child.
Or may be more subtle and part of a bigger picture:
  • A child who is regularly dirty, unsuitably clothed or hungry
  • A child who is showing unusual behaviour for their age.
  • A child who is isolated, distressed or angry.