Safeguarding Policy

SAFEGUARDING POLICY FOR MUSIC LESSONS

 

The purpose of this policy statement is: 

· To protect children and young people from harm while receiving music lessons

 · To provide overarching principles that guide my approach to child protection. This policy statement should be read alongside further safeguarding policies and procedures, guidance and other related documents, including:

· Dealing with disclosures and concerns about a child or young person

· Recording concerns and information sharing

· Behaviour codes for children and young people

· Photography and sharing images guidance

· Online safety

· Anti-bullying

· Whistleblowing

· Health and safety

Furthermore:

· abuse of any kind should never be tolerated

· promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

It is recognised that: 

· the welfare of children is paramount in all the work I do and in all the decisions I take

· all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have an equal right to protection from all types of harm or abuse

· some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues

· working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.

To keep children and young people safe by:

· valuing, listening to and respecting them

· adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through policies, procedures and code of conduct

· developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures

· making DBS certificate available

 · recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation

· making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern

· using safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately

· creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring a policy and procedure which helps deal effectively with any bullying that does arise

· ensuring that a safe physical environment is provided for children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance

· building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.

 

Online Learning Safeguarding and Code of Conduct:

 

Teachers, parents/carers and pupils must:

 

• only agree lessons at times mutually agreed by the teacher and parent/carer

• begin and end each lesson with a conversation between myself and parent/carer. On no account can the lesson take place without a direct conversation with the parent/carer at the outset.

 

Please ensure that:

• parents remain in lessons at all times with primary pupils (key stage 1 – 2).

• should they need to leave the room at any point the lesson will be terminated

• parents use their own discretion whether to remain with secondary school

   pupils (key stage 3 – 4) after the initial conversation

• parents are aware that there is no need to remain with pupils age 16+ after the

   initial conversation (key stage 5)

• the lesson is conducted in a public setting i.e. the lounge, dining room or common use area in the house, not giving away the location of the house. Pupil's bedrooms must never be used for an online lesson

• ensure only parent/carer email addresses are used for setting up lessons online with a teacher. Pupil email addresses must not be used

• you use an appropriate profile picture

• ensure that the chosen online learning platform is not used for any other contact, eg.

sharing photos or general messaging

• dress appropriately and use a neutral background.

• take care that the frame is well chosen and appropriate - it may be necessary to

widen the frame depending on your instrument

• not make recordings of lessons/ rehearsals other than those sessions recorded for

educational or training purposes

 

If I am uncomfortable with the way the lesson is progressing, or the parent/carer is

not in the room, I will terminate the lesson.

 

These policies, codes of conduct and procedures will be reviewed annually.