Harlow Hawks Safeguarding Policy Statement

• Issued Aug 2021
• Review Aug 2024

Harlow Hawks Basketball Club is committed to working in partnership with all agencies to ensure that information and training opportunities are available to ensure best practice when working with children and young people. Adopting best practice will help to safeguard participants from potential abuse and neglect as well as reducing the likelihood of allegations being made about coaches and other adults in positions of responsibility in basketball.

All personnel at Harlow Hawks must be committed to the safeguarding of every child that attends any of our sessions with the prevention, identification and consideration of abuse and our response to it.

Any adult working with children must agree to endorse and adopt the best working practices contained within the Harlow Hawks child safeguarding policy and procedures. A child is anyone under the age of 18.

The key points of the safeguarding policy are that:

• The child’s welfare is, and must always be, the paramount consideration
• All children have a right to be protected from abuse
• All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to appropriately
• Every child who is involved in Harlow Hawks activities should be able to do so in an enjoyable and safe environment with staff and volunteers who are fully aware of good practice and are confident in safeguarding issues

The safeguarding policy applies to everyone involved with working with children in a Harlow Hawks context, whether in a voluntary or paid capacity. This includes all staff, coaches, parents and volunteers working with children, volunteers and helpers.

All coaching staff and relevant volunteer positions which require it, will have the following as best practice.

• CRB check which is current and upto date
• Safeguarding training  which is current and upto date
• Any other training\checks that may be required for the relevant role

Harlow Hawks are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe
environment for all children and adults so they can develop in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable within Hawks. If bullying does occur, all children and adults should be able to tell about it and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly and effectively. This means that anyone who knows that bullying is happening is expected to inform the Club Welfare Officer.