Guidance for Adult Members
Adult members are asked to bear in mind that the club is a mixed age group which includes children.
It is important that all members feel comfortable and safe in such a group. The coaches all have a duty of care to ensure the safety of the children and to be aware of any behaviour between adults and children that might be of concern. Specifically, all adults should be aware of the risk of people using such situations to groom children and take care to avoid any behaviour which might be construed as such. We ask all adult members to avoid the following:
If you ever feel you may have inadvertently caused distress or upset to a child, or a child appears to have been made uncomfortable by your actions or you have found yourself in a situation which you think might be misconstrued, we ask you to report this to us as quickly as possible.
We are sure that all members join us in wanting Four of Clubs to be as happy and as safe a place as possible. If you have any further concerns, please contact one of our Safeguarding Officers.
Coaches and Helpers
In addition to our lead coaches, we have two fully qualified coaches who teach at occasional sessions and a number of teenage volunteer assistants who help out in our U10 sessions. All of these do so under the supervision of the lead coaches. Under no circumstances would any of these run a session or be left at any time unsupervised by the lead coaches.
All those engage in these roles must bear in mind the possibilities of adults of both sexes using coaching as a means of 'grooming' children in order to abuse them and that they should be very careful not to engage in any behaviour which could give the impression of this.
In particular, coaching assistants must avoid befriending individual children or their families. This includes chatting to children, especially individual children, away from the main group; offering unsolicited advice; asking children personal/family questions of any kind; touching children; approaching parents to chat about the children; giving gifts or cards to children except where these are official club gifts. Those who seek to groom children do start with ‘befriending’ actions and the head coaches have an obligation to take note of any adult who appears to be doing this.
Before and after sessions and during breaks, assistants should avoid socialising with the children. Children should be encouraged always to socialise with their peer group and not sit apart from these talking to lone adults. If a child appears to be upset, assistants should not approach the child but bring this to the attention of the Lead Coach or the Child Protection Officers as appropriate
All coaches should avoid being alone with any child in the club, in particular the pre-teens, and should always have another adult present as witness. Especial care must be taken where changing rooms are being used.
Individual lessons should only be given to pupils designated by the Lead Coach and general supervision and assistance should be under the direction of the Lead Coach If a child requests individual training during the session, this must be cleared with the Lead Coach first.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should a coaching assistant make arrangements to meet up with any child for social or training purposes outside the club. This includes offering to meet up at competitions where Four of Clubs is not providing staff. In any case where this is found to have happened, the membership of the assistant will be terminated.
We ask all parents to support us in this by not encouraging social ties between coaching assistants and children outside the club and by discouraging children from making contact with them via Facebook and other forms of social media. Please do not ask our coaches to provide transportation to club venues or competitions.
It is important that all members feel comfortable and safe in such a group. The coaches all have a duty of care to ensure the safety of the children and to be aware of any behaviour between adults and children that might be of concern. Specifically, all adults should be aware of the risk of people using such situations to groom children and take care to avoid any behaviour which might be construed as such. We ask all adult members to avoid the following:
- ‘Befriending’ a child in the group where no previous connection with the child exists (i.e. not a family member or already a friend of the family).
- Engaging in one on one conversation with a child in an isolated spot or out of the hearing of others
- Attempting to join in with children’s peer groups
- Touching a child in any way, apart from handshakes at the end of a fight
- Assisting a child with personal clothing or fencing gear
- Attempting to adopt a teaching role with any child
- Giving gifts to any child in the club setting
- Attempting to make contact with a child outside the club setting
- Engaging in excessively competitive behaviour while fencing a child
If you ever feel you may have inadvertently caused distress or upset to a child, or a child appears to have been made uncomfortable by your actions or you have found yourself in a situation which you think might be misconstrued, we ask you to report this to us as quickly as possible.
We are sure that all members join us in wanting Four of Clubs to be as happy and as safe a place as possible. If you have any further concerns, please contact one of our Safeguarding Officers.
Coaches and Helpers
In addition to our lead coaches, we have two fully qualified coaches who teach at occasional sessions and a number of teenage volunteer assistants who help out in our U10 sessions. All of these do so under the supervision of the lead coaches. Under no circumstances would any of these run a session or be left at any time unsupervised by the lead coaches.
All those engage in these roles must bear in mind the possibilities of adults of both sexes using coaching as a means of 'grooming' children in order to abuse them and that they should be very careful not to engage in any behaviour which could give the impression of this.
In particular, coaching assistants must avoid befriending individual children or their families. This includes chatting to children, especially individual children, away from the main group; offering unsolicited advice; asking children personal/family questions of any kind; touching children; approaching parents to chat about the children; giving gifts or cards to children except where these are official club gifts. Those who seek to groom children do start with ‘befriending’ actions and the head coaches have an obligation to take note of any adult who appears to be doing this.
Before and after sessions and during breaks, assistants should avoid socialising with the children. Children should be encouraged always to socialise with their peer group and not sit apart from these talking to lone adults. If a child appears to be upset, assistants should not approach the child but bring this to the attention of the Lead Coach or the Child Protection Officers as appropriate
All coaches should avoid being alone with any child in the club, in particular the pre-teens, and should always have another adult present as witness. Especial care must be taken where changing rooms are being used.
Individual lessons should only be given to pupils designated by the Lead Coach and general supervision and assistance should be under the direction of the Lead Coach If a child requests individual training during the session, this must be cleared with the Lead Coach first.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should a coaching assistant make arrangements to meet up with any child for social or training purposes outside the club. This includes offering to meet up at competitions where Four of Clubs is not providing staff. In any case where this is found to have happened, the membership of the assistant will be terminated.
We ask all parents to support us in this by not encouraging social ties between coaching assistants and children outside the club and by discouraging children from making contact with them via Facebook and other forms of social media. Please do not ask our coaches to provide transportation to club venues or competitions.