SAFEGUARDING POLICY
1. The purpose and scope of this policy statement
Jolly Josh works with children and families as part of its activities. These include sessions that are planned and delivered by Jolly Josh staff, such as ‘play and stay’ for younger children and after school clubs for older children and young people. Activities may also include sessions planned and delivered by external providers such as sibling support groups. Families may also access our hydrotherapy pool. It is widely researched and acknowledged that children who are disabled and live with disabilities are more likely to experience violence and abuse than non-disabled children. Our approach to safeguarding at Jolly Josh is that of extra vigilance and support for our Jolly Josh children, young people, and their families.
Further support and guidance can be found at NSPCC https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection/deaf-and-disabled-children
The purpose of this policy statement is:
- To protect children and young people who receive Jolly Josh’s services from harm. This includes the children of adults who use our services.
- To provide staff and volunteers, as well as children and young people and their families, with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.
This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of Jolly Josh, including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff and students
2. Legal framework
This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. Summaries of key legislation and guidance is available on NSPCC Learning website:
3. Related policies and procedures
This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies and procedures, including:
- Code of conduct for staff and volunteers.
- Behaviour codes for children and young people.
- Photography and sharing images guidance.
- Anti-bullying.
- Whistleblowing.
- Health and safety.
4. We believe that:
- Children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind.
- We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.
5. We recognise that:
- The welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we take.
- Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers, and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.
- 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.
- Extra safeguards may be needed to keep children who are additionally vulnerable safe from abuse.
Further guidance can be found at:- Safeguarding children from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities | NSPCC Learning
- Safeguarding d/Deaf and disabled children | NSPCC Learning
- Safeguarding LGBTQ+ children and young people | NSPCC Learning
- https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection-schools/safeguarding-children-with-special-educational-needs-and-disabilities-send
6. We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:
- Valuing, listening to and respecting them.
- Being extra vigilant of both the child/young person and parents due to the complex needs of the service users.
- Appointing a nominated child protection lead for children and young people, a deputy, and a lead trustee/board member for safeguarding.
- Adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures, and code of conduct for staff and volunteers.
- Developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures.
- Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training, and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures, and behaviour codes, confidently and competently.
- Recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made.
- Recording and storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with General Data Protection Regulation and legislation and guidance.
- Sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families via leaflets, posters, group work and one-to-one discussions.
- Making sure that children, young people, and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern.
- Using our 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
- Using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately.
- Creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise.
- Ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place.
- Ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our 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.
Senior lead for safeguarding and child protection | Deputy lead for safeguarding and child protection |
Name: Liz Dodd Phone: 01706 399141 Email: Liz@jollyjosh.co.uk | Name: Anna Schofield Phone: 01706 399141 Email: Anna@jollyjosh.co.uk |
NSPCC helpline
0808 800 5000
We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.
This policy was implemented on: …May 2022………………………………………………………………………(date) This policy was last reviewed on: ……May 2025……………………………………………………………………(date) Signed: ERDodd [this should be signed by the most senior person with responsibility for safeguarding in your organisation, for example the safeguarding lead on your board of trustees]. Date: …January 2026………………………………………………………………………
DOCUMENT CONTROL:
Version: 3
Date issued: May 2022
Reviewed date: May 2025
Review date: May 2026
Target Audience: All Jolly Josh employees and volunteers
