The safety of children and members of other vulnerable groups is paramount and all, without exception, have the right to protection from abuse. Any suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately and all the charity’s trustees, staff and volunteers have a responsibility to report concerns.
Throughout this Policy, where “children” are mentioned, this also includes members of other vulnerable groups.
1 PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF ORGANISATION:
The Buckingham Festival of Music and Drama provides a platform for amateur performance with a view to further education in the Arts. It involves professional musicians and speakers but is organised and run primarily by volunteers.
2 THE FESTIVAL ENVIRONMENT:
The festival is held over 4 venues - a School, a University, a Chapel and a Church so children may have to go from one venue to another for different classes and should be accompanied by an appropriate person. All venues are also open to people not attending the Festival; however the volunteers running the Festival will do everything practically possible to ensure a safe environment for all entrants at all venues. Your attention is drawn to paragraph 5 in this regard.
3 TO WHOM DOES THIS POLICY APPLY?
This policy relates to children under the age of 18 years and members of vulnerable groups of any age who are identified to the organisers prior to their arrival at the festival. This should be done by contacting the address or telephone number at the foot of this document. In recognising the needs of children from all ethnic groups and children who are disabled, the festival actively seeks to meet needs notified to the festival by parents / guardians / carers and/or teachers.
4 FESTIVAL PERSONNEL:
All of the trustees who run the Festival have enhanced disclosures from the Criminal Record Bureau. Other helpers and friends of the festival are carefully selected and thoroughly briefed on their duties during the festival. Full names and addresses of these helpers are held by the organisers.
All the helper’s activities are carefully reviewed to ascertain if they require an enhanced disclosure by the Criminal Records Bureau and, where this is the case, the disclosure is processed by our parent body, The British & International Federation of Festivals.
All trustees can be identified by their named badges and can be approached with any problems. Any complaints or concerns will be discussed in a private area and dealt with appropriately and correctly documented.
5 PREPARATION FOR ATTENDANCE AT THE FESTIVAL:
This Child Protection Policy has been published and sent to you in order to make it clear the responsibilities of both the Festival and parents/guardians/teachers towards the safety of the entrants. In doing this the Festival advises you that, where parents/ guardians/ teachers cannot attend the festival themselves, it is their responsibility to ensure that a suitable adult accompanies the entrants and is responsible for their supervision.
6 PERFORMANCE AREAS AND CHANGING AREAS:
All performance and changing areas are supervised by Festival trustees who have undertaken an enhanced CRB check.
7 PHOTOGRAPHS, VIDEOTAPES and PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY:
No still or video photography or audio recording is allowed.
8 THE LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE THAT SUPPORTS THIS POLICY:
The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974; The Children Act 1989; The Police Act 1997; The Data
Protection Act 1998; The Human Rights Act 1998; The Protection of Children Act 1999; The Criminal
Justice and Court Services Act 2000, The Children Act 2004, The Protection of Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.
9 POLICY REVIEW
The organisers will constantly review their policy revising and enhancing it as necessary. In doing this they
will look to The British & International Federation of Festivals for support and that body, in turn will look
to other agencies for good practice, most notably the NSPCC and Arts Council of England policy guidelines.
More information is available from The Buckingham Festival of Music & Drama,
11 Cromwell Court, Buckingham, MK18 1TX
Tel: 01280 824357
Implemented from 1st May 2008
Teachers. Please ensure that parents and guardians receive a copy of our Child Protection Policy
Download our Child Protection Policy cpp-08