Safeguarding

Our Club Welfare Officer (CWO) is Kerry Gaunt.

The work of the CWO is supported by the Club Accreditation Coordinator (Himant Sharda), who is responsible for checking coach qualifications.

You can contact the CWO via the contact form below or directly by email to welfare.wrekinjuniors@gmail.com.

If you think a child is in immediate danger, call the Police 999 or NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000.

If the Child or Young Person is not in immediate danger, please contact the CWO.

If the Child or Young Person is not in immediate danger, please contact the Club CWO.

It is FA policy that adults involved in football should not have direct contact with a child under the age of 16 years.  For example:

• Managers/coaches should NOT be “friends” with a child on social media, or have the contact details of the player’s own phone or social media profile.
• Players under the age of 16 years should not be in a social media group with adults associated with the club.
• Referees under the age of 16 years can only be contacted via a parent.

If you are concerned about an adult at the club having direct contact with a player under the age of 16 years, please contact our CWO.

If you are worried about online sexual abuse or grooming, CEOP helps any child or young person under the age of 18 who is being pressured, forced or tricked into taking part in sexual activity of any kind. This can be something that has taken place either online or in ‘the real world’, or both. The CEOP Safety Centre has clear information and advice on what can be reported to CEOP, the reporting process and what will happen if you do decide to make a report. You can visit the CEOP Safety Centre and make a report directly to CEOP by clicking the Click CEOP button.

If you are experiencing online bullying or something else online has worried you please speak to an adult you trust, or you can talk to Childline at any time on 0800 1111 or at www.childline.org.uk.

“Whistle-blowing”

Whistle-blowing can be used as an early warning system or when it’s recognised that appropriate actions have not been taken. This approach or policy is adopted in many different walks of life.

It is about revealing and raising concerns over misconduct or malpractice within an organisation or within an independent structure associated with it.

Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague can also use whistle-blowing by calling 0800 169 1863 and asking for The FA’s safeguarding team, or via email on safeguarding@TheFA.com.

Alternatively you can go direct the Police or Children’s Social Care and report your concerns there, or to the Child Protection in Sport Unit via cpsu@nspcc.org.uk or the NSPCC Helpline via 0808 800 5000 or by emailing help@nspcc.org.uk

We have a number of ways in which we help to create a positive environment for our members.  For example:

• The club holds meetings on a regular basis where committee members are on hand to answer questions.
• Safeguarding is always at the top of meeting agendas.
• Between meetings, managers/coaches can approach any committee member, either directly or through our manager chat group.
• The committee are available to support managers at matches.  We aim to send a committee member to at least one match per team per season.
• We encourage the use of Respect Marshalls at matches.
• We welcome feedback from parents.
• We aim to keep parents up to date using our Facebook page, including news about what our teams do outside football.

England Football Accreditation helps clubs develop policies and practices making them proud to provide football in a safe environment where competitive football is fun and open to everyone.  This is your reassurance, as a parent, that we do everything we can to keep your child safe.  Each year we complete an annual health check to ensure we maintain this standard.

To achieve England Football Accreditation the club must:

• have a trained Welfare Officer;
• run Criminal Record Checks, for all volunteers and ensure they are current;
• ensure all volunteers are Safeguarding trained and this qualification is in date;
• have emergency aid-trained volunteers attached to each team and this qualification is in date;
• provide a minimum of one FA Level One coach for each youth team;
• have appropriate club administration in place;
• be signed-up to the FA Respect programme.

As part of the Accreditation process, the club adopted the following FA Safeguarding policies:

Safeguarding Declaration Youth Football Wrekin Juniors FC

FA Safeguarding Children Policy (Youth Teams) Wrekin Juniors FC

Accreditation Certificate

You can find out more about the FA Accreditation here.

The FA Respect Codes of Conduct set out the minimum standards of behaviour for anyone involved in youth football.  This includes players, parents and supporters, team and club officials.

You can download the relevant Code of Conduct using the links below:

Respect_code-of-conduct_YOUTHPLAYERS

Respect_code-of-conduct_PARENTS

Respect_code-of-conduct_COACHES

We all want a record of our child enjoying football.  However, there may be children around who cannot be recorded for reasons such as being in care or being the subject of a court order.  The FA has published guidance regarding photographing and videoing children at football, but we recommend the following to parents:

• Only take photos or videos of your own child.
• If you want to record a video, please check with the managers of both teams that there are no issues with children who cannot be recorded and/or check if there are any issues with all parents present.  If in doubt, do not record videos.
• Only share photos on social media of your own child.  If a photo contains identifiable faces of other players, blur these out before sharing unless you have had consent from the parents of the children in the photo.
• Photos/videos can be shared on private social media groups related to the club, e.g. the team WhatsApp chat, only unless you have consent from the parents of the children in the photo/video.

If you are concerned about someone taking inappropriate photos or videos, please contact our CWO.

Further help and information is just a click away!

Childline 0800 1111

NSPCC 0808 800 5000

The Child Protection in Sport Unit

Safeguarding at Shropshire FA

The FA Safeguarding Documentation

Whistle-blowing