ALL clubs require:
a Club Safeguarding Officer (CSO) or Welfare officer.
Ideally this person should not be a club chair or a coach. This person should be assigned the role on ENgage. CSO's need a minimum Social/Supporting membership.
a Club Safeguarding Policy
(listed here: England Netball | Safeguarding Policies and Guidance)(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
L2 coaches, the club safeguarding officer and other people involved in regular contact with children or adults at risk should have the relevant training (more information here: England Netball | Training and Education.(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
Coaches and anyone having regular contact with children and adults at risk should have an up-to-date enhanced DBS check via England Netball (more information here: England Netball | DBS). (Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)We don’t accept DBS certificates via work or other volunteer roles
If your club has under 18 members the Club Safeguarding Officer must have a DBS check carried out via England Netball.
The Club Safeguarding Officer should ensure their details are publicly available and shared with players, parents, volunteers and coaches.
The Club Safeguarding Officer should keep an up-to-date record of the training and DBS checks mentioned above and ensure people renew these every 3 years
Going beyond the minimum requirements
A useful checklist for the start of each season England Netball | Club Start of Season Support(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
Useful pages to assess your club’s safeguarding effectiveness: Sports safeguarding tools (thecpsu.org.uk) or Culture in Clubs & Groups Self Evaluation – Ann Craft Trust
Information on age bands, including young players ‘playing-up’ into adult teams: England Netball | Competition Governance (Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
Connect with your local Sport Welfare Officer (Active Partnerships) here: Sport Welfare Officer Network – Active Partnerships
Do you have following in place?
Posters or information about safeguarding, safety, inclusion, mental health, online safety and raising concerns at the club visible in club venues, websites and social media platforms (see BeSafe Posters at the bottom of this page). Useful resources here: Encouraging Parents to be Part of the Team – UK Coaching and Communicating with Parents – UK Coaching
Regular communication with parents, carers, players and coaches about these issues
A kind, inclusive environment in your club, your teams and into the wider netball family. Do you encourage people to challenge inappropriate or poor behaviour whoever is responsible – even if it is the coach. More information on this on our pages called – “I’m a child or young person… Adult with additional needs, Parent and Coach.” Or here: Preventing bullying in sport | CPSU (thecpsu.org.uk)
Safe recruitment practices for coaches and volunteers (not just a DBS check) see our Safe Recruitment document at the bottom of this page
Safe spaces and events. Click here: England Netball – Duty of Care(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence) and here: Safe sport events, activities and competitions | CPSU
Promotion of general wellbeing for players and the netball family (Examples here: England Netball | Wellbeing or Home – NetballHer)(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
Involving parents and carers
The best clubs ensure parents know how to support their children and keep them safe. They also communicate regularly with parents and carers about safeguarding matters. Some ideas here on how to do this. Encouraging Parents to be Part of the Team – UK Coaching and Communicating with Parents – UK Coaching.(Link 404 error)
Parents are encouraged to ask questions and to contribute ideas to the club. The club should have clear expectations of parents’ behaviour towards players and coaches during matches.
This page has some more ideas on. How to improve parental involvement in your club: recommendations for coaches | CPSU.
Or see ‘Guide for managing parent behaviour – an exercise for clubs’ in the documents below.
This 3 minute video is really impactive too: My Magic Sports Kit (youtube.com)
The following page has advice for parents involved in netball. England Netball | I’m a netball Parent or Carer(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
Involving children/young people and adults at risk
Safeguarding should be a subject that children, young people and adults at risk are familiar with in your club – not just who the Safeguarding Officer is, but where to find out more information. Young people and adults at risk should be consulted with and listened to. You could consider regularly seeking feedback via meetings, 1:1 chats or surveys about how the club is run, opinions on the coaching style etc. See here for more ideas:
Players should be encouraged to ask questions and to contribute ideas to the club. The club should have clear expectations of players’ behaviour.
The following pages have advice for Young People(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence), and for Adults at Risk(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
Considering the role of coaches
Coaches are there to facilitate sessions that are fun and involve everyone, as well as improve technique and performance. Clubs, volunteers, parents and players should look out for coach practices that fall below what is expected, develop into poor practice or present safeguarding issues. Coaches should involve players and parents/carers; encouraging them to ask questions, to support the coach and the players and to get involved.
The following page has advice for coaches: England Netball | I’m a netball Coach(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
If your club uses an external Strength and Conditioning or other coach the club should check they are DBS checked and suitably qualified
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Guidance on the following is available via the document links at the bottom of this page:
recognising, responding to and preventing abuse and poor practice
some typical case examples and what to do
safe recruitment
adult to child ratios
day, overnight and foreign trips
extreme weather
printable safeguarding posters
codes of conduct
medical and photographic consent forms
social media, photography and live streaming
for all other policies and guidance documents click here: England Netball | Safeguarding Policies and Guidance(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
And for when you have a concern
The documents below might help you (hit the LOAD MORE + button for more documents):
“Example Concerns and what to do”
“Recognising, Responding to and Preventing Abuse”
“Recognising, Responding to and Preventing Poor Practice”
Let children know you’re listening | NSPCC Learning
NSPCC ‘Say Something’ (1 minute)
Responding to a Child’s Disclosure of Abuse | NSPCC (youtube.com) (2.5 minutes)
And for Adults: What should I say…? Advice for Starting Difficult Conversations – Ann Craft Trust
For advice you can contact us on 01509 277911 or besafe@englandnetball.co.uk.
To raise a concern please click here: England Netball | I want to report a Safeguarding Concern(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
For our newsletters click here: England Netball | Safeguarding Communications(Links to EN Website, needs to be confluence)
