Policy statement

• We believe everyone has a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.
• We will give equal priority to keeping all children and young people safe regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation”.
• We recognise that some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of discrimination, previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues.

Viva Arts and Community Group will meet the commitment to keeping children safe by:

• listening to children and respecting them
• appointing a nominated child protection lead and a member of the trustee board who takes lead responsibility for safeguarding at the highest level in the organisation
• writing detailed safeguarding and child protection procedures
• making sure all staff and volunteers understand and follow the safeguarding and child protection procedures.
• ensuring children, young people and their families know about the organisation’s safeguarding and child protection policies and what to do if they have a concern.
• building a safeguarding culture where staff, volunteers and children know how they are expected to behave and feel comfortable about sharing concerns.

We will do this by:

• recognising and responding to abuse
• responding to allegations of abuse made against a child
• recruiting the right people to work and volunteer with children
• preventing and responding to bullying
• responding to concerns about online abuse
• ensuring photographs and images of children are taken, stored and shared appropriately
• maintaining a suitable Whistleblowing Policy 

When we provide performing arts activities that involve children, we prioritise their wellbeing. This includes:

• making the environment as safe as possible for children and young people
• ensuring children are properly supervised by the right people.
• following the relevant legislation and guidance for child performers

Creating a safe environment

Performing arts activities may take place in a variety of settings.  We do make the settings safe as possible by providing:

• rehearsal or teaching rooms are open, accessible, and well lit.
• provide separate changing areas for children of each gender and for adults.
• follow health and safety legislation and guidance.

 We also make sure of the following:

• the activity is suitable for children to be involved in (for example no nudity, bad language or sexual content)
• everything we do is appropriate for the youngest or most vulnerable person (this could be due to age or stage of the child’s development)
• any physical contact is appropriate, justifiable, agreed by the child and approached sensitively.

We ask for children’s opinions and encourage them to speak out about anything that’s worrying them.

Working with audiences

 When performing to audiences the front of house team know what to do when:

• a child is taken ill.
• a child in the audience gets lost or goes missing.
• they have a concern about a child’s wellbeing

Working with parents

We will keep parents and carers to be fully informed about:

• the nature of the work you’re doing with their child
• the young person’s role
• the commitment required.

We keep parents up to date with the times of all lessons or rehearsals, especially if plans change. If possible, provide a space where parents can watch unobtrusively.

Supervision

It’s vital that children are appropriately supervised at all times. We will make sure that the adults who work or volunteer with children are the right people to do so, and that the necessary checks have been carried out.

Working with parent supervisors

Parents may volunteer to help out with supervision, but they will be subject to the same checks as for any volunteer. Unless they are only supervising their own children or have a private arrangement with another child’s parents.

Lone working

In most situations we ensure there are at least two adults supervising children.

Guidance for photographing and filming

It’s important that children and young people feel happy with their achievements and have photographs and films of their special moments. Family and friends also want to be able to share the successes of their children when they have been part of a special event or activity.

However, some children, parents or carers may not be comfortable with images of themselves, or their children being shared. For example:

• if a child and/or their family have experienced abuse they may worry about the perpetrator tracing them online.
• children who choose not to have contact with some members of their family may decide to minimise their online presence.
• families may have religious or cultural reasons for choosing not to be photographed.

We are aware of the importance to be aware of child protection and safeguarding issues when taking photos of or filming children and young people and appropriate measures are  in place.

We consider the data protection implications of making, using and storing images of children and young people for our organisation’s use.

If consent to take photographs is not given

If children, parents and/or carers do not consent to photographs being taken, we will respect their wishes. We will agree in advance how they would like to be identified so the photographer knows not to take pictures of them and ensure this is done in a way that does not single out the child or make them feel isolated. We will never exclude a child from an activity because we do not have consent to take their photograph.

Photography and/or filming for wider use

 If people such as local journalists, professional photographers not hired by [VIVA Arts and Community Group] or students wish to record one of our events and share the images professionally or in the wider world, they should seek permission in advance. They should provide:

• the name and address of the person using the camera
• the names of children they wish to take images of (if possible)
• the reason for taking the images and/or what the images will be used for
• a signed declaration that the information provided is valid and that the images will only be used for the reasons given. We  will verify these details and decide whether to grant permission for photographs/films to be taken. We will seek consent from the children who are the intended subjects of the images and their parents and inform the photographer of anyone who does not give consent. At the event we will inform children, parents and carers that an external photographer is present and ensure the photographer is easily identifiable, for example by issuing them with a coloured identification badge. If someone unknown to us is using their sessions for photography or filming purposes, we will ask them to leave and (depending on the nature of the concerns) follow our child protection procedures.

Use of children’s names

Children’s full names will be shown in VIVA show programmes. First names only will be used on everything else that is publicly available (website, promo, press releases etc.) We are happy to make an exception to this rule should parents want their child to be named is they have achieved something really special. These would be exceptional circumstances and dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Storing images

We will store photographs and videos of children securely, in accordance with our safeguarding policy and data protection law. We will keep hard copies of images in a locked drawer and electronic images in a protected folder with restricted access. Images will be stored for a period of 1 year. We will never store images of children on unencrypted portable equipment such as laptops, memory sticks and mobile phones.

Photography and/or filming for personal use

 When children themselves, parents, carers or spectators are taking photographs or filming at our events and the images are for personal use, we will publish guidance about image sharing in the event programmes and/or announce details of our photography policy before the start of the event. This includes:

• reminding parents, carers and children that they need to give consent for VIVA to take and use their images.
• asking for photos taken during the event not to be shared on social media or asking people to gain permission from children, their parents and carers before sharing photographs and videos that include them.
• recommending that people check the privacy settings of their social media account to understand who else will be able to view any images they share.
• reminding children, parents and carers who they can talk to if they have any concerns about images being shared.

Chaperones

If a child is taking part in a performance and they will not be supervised by their parent, they must be supervised by a chaperone. All chaperones need to be approved by Cambridgeshire County Council – whether they are paid or unpaid.