Safeguarding Children & Young People

Safeguarding & Protecting Children and Young People in Sport

Welcome to the Safeguarding and Protecting Children, Young People Resource Section.

Get Berkshire Active is committed to working in partnership with organisations delivering sport and physical activity within the County, to promote and deliver best practice when working with children, young people and adults. All children and adults are entitled to protection from harm and have the right to take part in sport and physical activity in a safe, positive and enjoyable environment. GBA and its partners have a duty of care to safeguard all children and adults involved in sport and physical activity from harm. All children, adults and others who may be particularly vulnerable must be taken into account. GBA recognises that it is not appropriate to operate combined policies regarding the safeguarding of children and of adults, due to the vast differences in legal and statutory requirements. Therefore, the information on this page only applies to the safeguarding of children and young people.

Please see our Safeguarding Adults page for information relating to adults.

Children and Young People Lead Safeguarding Officer: James Craggs | james.craggs@getberkshireactive.org | 07725654781

Children and Young People Deputy Safeguarding Officer: Callum Kwasnik |callum.kwasnik@getberkshireactive.org 07596 886105

Guides and Resources

Keeping your Child Safe in Sport 2024 - Information and resources for parents

Duty of Care - Guidance on what duty of care entails and steps that can be taken to demonstrate its being met.

CPSU Resource Library- Further best practice for safeguarding children can be found in the Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU) Resource Library

A Guide for Deaf and Disabled Children and Young People - Includes resources to help you in putting extra measures to safeguard vulnerable children with higher needs.

A Guide for Talented/ Elite Athletes- This guide looks at the physical and emotional impact on talented/ elite athletes and signs of an unhealthy athlete-coach relationship.

A Guide to LGBTQ+- A great resource with information on how to support lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender young people in sport.

A Guide to Anti-Bullying- Here is a link to a variety of resources to combat bullying, whether this occurs within sport or off the playing field.

A Guide to Online Safety- These forms of digital media and communication can provide great benefits. However, they can also pose potential safeguarding risks to children and young people.

A Guide to Photography- This guidance will help you ensure you're taking all necessary steps to protect children and young people from the inappropriate use of their images in resources and media publications, on the internet and elsewhere.

A Guide to Managing Challenging Behaviour- click here for practical guidelines for managing challenging behaviour from children and young people.

A Guide to Safe Sports Events, Activities and Competitions- A comprehensive review on how to keep volunteers, officials and coaches safe as well as the players participating. This includes children and young people representing their local club, school, county and county events.

A Guide to Virtual Events and Competitions for Children- A useful guide discussing how to protect children whilst hosting online virtual events.

A Guide to Away Trips and Hosting- This briefing highlights things that should be considered when taking children and young people away on trips – such as travel, ratios and insurance – and also best safeguarding practice for when acting as a host family.

Safeguarding Code for Martial Arts- The Safeguarding Code has been developed through close consultation between Sport England, representatives from martial arts governing bodies and those with years of expertise in safeguarding. Support was also provided by the Child Protection in Sport Unit, the Ann Craft Trust and NWG Network.

Safe Recruitment- A useful document explaining the importance of DBS checks when working with children.

Youth Insight- A helpful case study and resource explaining the importance of youth insight in sport.

Annual Survey 2018/2019 Diversity in Sport Governance

Anti- Bullying Alliance- a free online website which provides various resources and support for victims of bullying.

Sporting Equals- independent body that promote ethnic diversity through sporting community. The website shows the various programmes that they run and have variety of resources.

Activity Alliance- focuses on inclusion to be at the heart of all plans in sport, making disabled people be prioritised, locally and nationally. Website provides further information and resources.

Stonewall- is a charity who support the LGBTQ+ Community, website provides further support and resources.

Who you can speak to?

Child Line- a free, private and confidential service where you can talk about anything, available 24/7. You can call 08001111 or to text/email click here to make an account.

Switchboard- the LGBT+ helpline - 0300 330 0630, open 10am–10pm every day. Online chat is also available through their homepage.

MindLine Trans+ - is a confidential emotional, mental health support helpline for people who identify as transgender, agender, gender fluid and non-binary. Call them on 0300 330 5468. Available Friday evenings 8pm-11pm.

Tools and Templates

It is important that your clubs use codes of conduct for each of these audiences. This will help to promote positive behaviour and manage poor behaviour in your sport. You can use these templates, produces by The CPSU to tailor a code of conduct for your club.

Code of Conduct Templates

Sample Code of Conduct for Parents and Carers

Sample Code of Conduct for Children and Young People

Sample Code of Conduct for Staff and Volunteers

Safeguarding Courses and Workshops

GBA regularly organises a range of Safeguarding courses for large clubs or groups.

If you would like to register an interest in future Safeguarding & Protecting Children courses please contact james.craggs@getberkshireactive.org

Other training available:

Children Protection in Sport unit have free online learning about how to protect your child in sport.

UK Coaching host Safeguarding and Protecting Children workhops which can be face to face or online. To book on click here.

Get Berkshire Active are committed to ensuring all our programmes are operated in a safe manner, with safeguarding embedded throughout the organisation. To view our staff structure including those with a lead on safeguarding and our policies please click below.