Child Protection

CHILD PROTECTION POLICY – reviewed October 2020

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT: The safety of children and members of other vulnerable groups is paramount and all, without exception, have the right to protection from abuse. All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately and all the Festival’s trustees, organisers, staff and volunteers have a responsibility to report concerns.

1. PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF ORGANISATION:

The object of the Festival is to advance the education of the public in the Arts. It provides a platform for amateur performance combined with an educational element from professional musicians.

2. THE FESTIVAL ENVIRONMENT:

The Festival is a charity run entirely by dedicated volunteers who aim to provide, as far as is reasonably practicable, a safe environment at each of the Festival venues, namely the church building of ChristChurch, Finkin Street, or any other venue as required.

It is the policy of our Festival to inform and involve parents/guardians/carers and teachers in partnership with you in order to ensure, as far as it is reasonably practicable, a safe environment at our Festival. We do this by ensuring that you receive a copy of this policy at the time you are making arrangements to attend our Festival.

3. TO WHOM DOES THIS POLICY APPLY?

This policy relates to children under the age of 18 years and members of vulnerable groups of any age whose needs are identified to the Festival organisers by parents/guardians/carers and/or teachers prior to their arrival at the Festival. This should be done by contacting the address or email at the head of this document. Our Festival actively seeks, wherever possible, to meet these needs, but must know beforehand in order to prepare support - or to let you know we are unable to help.

4. FESTIVAL PERSONNEL:

All Festival helpers are volunteers and are recruited by personal recommendation or are teachers in the area. Festival roles are considered during recruitment. The Festival secretary holds contact details for all personnel, and where they are working in contact with children and vulnerable adults, holds references and declarations. Furthermore, all Festival helpers are aware of and support the Child Protection Policy.

All Festival personnel are informed how to direct children and vulnerable adults with a problem to the designated person. Every concern raised will be taken seriously, documented and dated. Festival personnel are easily identified by their official Festival badge.

5. PREPARATION FOR ATTENDANCE AT THE FESTIVAL:

All competitors under the age of 18 years, and vulnerable adults of any age, must be supervised by a parent, guardian or carer. Where a parent, guardian or carer is not personally attending with their child/vulnerable adult, this Policy requires them to be satisfied that the child/vulnerable adult will be accompanied to the Festival and adequately supervised by a responsible adult acting on their behalf.

Teachers of larger group entries or with multiple entries will be expected to distribute the information to parents/carers of participating children/vulnerable adults and return a signed letter stating the information has been passed on.

Where parents/guardians/carers are not personally attending with their children, this Policy requires them to be satisfied that their children will be accompanied to the Festival and adequately supervised by responsible adults acting on their behalf.

6. PERFORMANCE AREAS AND CHANGING AREAS:

The Festival does not offer supervised changing facilities. The toilet facility is a public area and is not supervised.

7. PHOTOGRAPHS, VIDEOTAPES AND PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY:

No unauthorised photography, audio or video recording is allowed at the Grantham Music Festival, including Trophy Winners concert and other events during the Festival year. The Grantham Journal photographer is invited to attend the Festival during certain classes and the Grantham Music Festival Committee will have a designated photographer taking pictures for publicity purposes. Parents/guardians/carers, who DO NOT wish photographs of their child /vulnerable adult to be taken by the Festival’s official photographers, must make this known to the Festival staff either prior to the Festival or upon arrival for your class. Festival Staff can be identified by their official Festival badge.

8. THE LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE THAT SUPPORTS THIS POLICY:

The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974; The Children Act 1989; The Police Act 1997;

The Data Protection Act 1998; The Human Rights Act 1998; The Protection of Children Act 1999;

The Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000; The Children Act 2004;

The Protection of Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.