Aragona Martial Arts Child Protection Policy

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Club Child Protection Statement

Aragona Martial Arts acknowledges that the welfare of our students is paramount consideration. Those students who are most vulnerable are at risk and have the right to be protected from abuse, regardless of their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious belief, or sexual identity. We promote and prioritise the safety and well-being of all participants in our activities. It is also our duty to ensure that everyone understands their role and responsibility with respect of safeguarding and is provided with appropriate learning opportunities to recognise, identify, and respond to signs of abuse, neglect and other safeguarding concerns relating to children. young people and adults at risk. We commit to ensuring appropriate action is taken in the event of incidents/concerns of abuse and that support is provided to the individual(s) who raise or disclose the concern and will ensure that confidential, detailed, and accurate records of all safeguarding concerns are maintained and securely stored by the safeguarding designated club officer. 

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Above all, Aragona Martial Arts operates in accordance with the principles set out by FEKO in their SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION POLICY which can be found here http://www.feko.co.uk/policies.html. 

 

The above document sets out the key principles by which our club operates, which applies to all our instructors, coaches, & referees, and all volunteers who support the running of our club.
 

We accept a duty of care to protect and safeguard those who participate in martial arts at Aragona Martial Arts Academy and who represent us. 

Transport, Events and changing rooms
1. Parents are responsible for transporting their children to and from events and club training
location. The club does not partake in organising lifts.
2. Parents are requested to pick children up from the club.
3. Children should arrive and leave events in their club uniform. If a child has to get.
changed at an event in a changing room then the parents should be present in the dressing room or arrange for a trusted guardian to escort them.
4. If child members must travel to an event away from the club (e.g. special training courses,
competitions) then all transport and accommodation must be arranged by the parent / guardian. Instructors and club adult members do not provide supervision for such events.

Physical contact
1. Unnecessary physical contact with young people should be avoided.
2. Typically the club instructor may need to fix the positioning of a student to assist in their correct position of a technique.
3. Where any form of manual/physical support is required it should be provided openly and with
the consent of the young person. Physical contact can be appropriate so long as it is neither intrusive nor disturbing and the young person’s consent has been given, either implied or explicitly.

Supervision
Unnecessarily spending excessive amounts of time alone with young people away from others should be avoided by any adult involved in running the club. Adults should avoid such situations. However, if such a situation arises where one child is left alone with them for any reason, the adult should try to move to a location so that are in public view (e.g. in a reception area).

Parents/guardians are welcomed and encouraged to take an active interest in the club and in the training and promotion of training at our club. We hope that parents encourage their children to participate fully in class through positive reinforcement of their child’s efforts. We welcome and encourage parents to observe the class at any time but request that they do not interfere or distract students during the class. Ideally we would like to have at least one parent sit in the spectators area during class purely to observe the class. This helps to ensure protection for the children and also allows the parent’s to regularly see the child’s  progression in training.

Photography

The following extract is from the NSPCC's Child Protection in Sport Unit "Parents and young people generally welcome opportunities to celebrate or publicise their involvement and achievements when taking part in sport by photographing children at events.

Sports organisations may also want to promote their activities to encourage participation.

The CPSU does not advocate the banning of photography or the use of images and videos of children."

Therefore we have the following photography policy for Aragona Martial Arts:
1. Photographs/videos are to be used sensitively at normal weekly club training sessions.
2. Photography/video is allowed at events such as grading, demonstration or competitions or to celebrate achievements by students.
3. Where a parent does not wish their child to be photographed/videoed it is the parent’s responsibility to remain present at the event to supervise their child in this respect.
4. Photos on the official club website (www.worthingbjj.co.uk), our official facebook page
(https://www.facebook.com/SavioAragonaBJJ/), Official Instagram Page (https://www.instagram.com/aragonamartialarts/) and Official TikTok page (https://www.tiktok.com/@savioaragonabjj) should not associate children’s full names with photos and vice versa.
5. External events, competitions and public events are outside the control of the club and parents should investigate and be aware if there is photography policy in use at the event and satisfy themselves that they wish for their child to attend.

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Mobile Phones
1. Parents/guardians and emergency contact phone numbers only should be held by the club instructors and anyone involved in running the club.
2. Group WhatsApp and private messaging is the preferred form of communication between our club and members.
 

Club Children’s Officer and Designated Person
1. All coaches involved in running the club are aware of, and abide by, our safeguarding policy.
2. Our club has at least one Club Children’s Officer, listed at the bottom of this document.
3. In the absence of an adult member or parent volunteer the Club Instructor will act as the Club’s
Children’s Officer.
4. All members and parents should be notified who the Clubs Children’s officer is and that they may
approach the Children’s Officer with any questions or concerns they may have.
5. Every club/organisation should also have a Designated Person to be responsible for dealing with
any concerns about the protection of children. The designated person is responsible for reporting
allegations or suspicions of child abuse to the local authority and may contact NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.

The current Club's Children's Officer is : Savio Aragona   Mobile: 07824 464148