Code of Conduct & Safeguarding

Safeguarding

At Dance with Jodie we make a positive contribution to ensuring a strong and safe environment and recognises the right of every individual to stay safe.

Dance with Jodie encourages dance participation from all age groups, abilities, nationalities and religions. We aim to provide a fun, friendly, environment with high standard services where all students can achieve their individual goals. We aim to nurture talent and guide those correctly if considering a career in the Performing Arts industry. At Dance with Jodie we aim to encourage all individuals who love to dance, to enjoy every minute spent engaging with the art of dance.

Dance with Jodie aim to provide high quality teaching, making sure all staff are DBS checked, first aid trained and safeguard trained.

This policy seeks to ensure that Dance with Jodie undertakes all responsibilities with regard to protection of children and/or vulnerable adults and will respond to concerns appropriately. The policy establishes a framework to support paid and unpaid staff in their practices and clarifies the organisation’s expectations.

The principal pieces of legislation governing this policy are:

Working together to safeguard Children 2010
The Children Act 1989
The Adoption and Children Act 2002:
The Children act 2004
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
Care Standards Act 2000
Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998
The Police Act – CRB 1997
Mental Health Act 1983
NHS and Community Care Act 1990
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974

Safeguarding is about embedding practices throughout the organisation to ensure the protection of children and/or vulnerable adults wherever possible. In contrast, child and adult protection is about responding to circumstances that arise.

Abuse is a selfish act of oppression and injustice, exploitation and manipulation of power by those in a position of authority. This can be caused by those inflicting harm or those who fail to act to prevent harm. Abuse is not restricted to any socio-economic group, gender or culture.

It can take a number of forms, including the following:

Physical abuse
Sexual abuse
Emotional abuse
Bullying
Neglect
Financial (or material) abuse

Definition of a child

A child is under the age of 18 (as defined in the United Nations convention on the Rights of a Child).

Definition of Vulnerable Adults

A vulnerable adult is a person aged 18 years or over who may be unable to take care of themselves or protect themselves from harm or from being exploited.

This may include a person who:

Is elderly and frail
Has a mental illness including dementia
Has a physical or sensory disability
Has a learning disability
Has a severe physical illness
Is a substance misuser
Is homeless

All staff (paid or unpaid) have responsibility to follow the guidance laid out in this policy and related policies, and to pass on any welfare concerns using the required procedures.

We expect all staff (paid or unpaid) to promote good practice by being an excellent role model, contribute to discussions about safeguarding and to positively involve people in developing safe practices.

Code of Conduct

All students must complete the following forms: Survey monkey registration form, Photo consent form needs to be printed out and handed into their teacher at their first class.

- All students must wear the correct uniform during class, with hair tied back and no jewellery.

-Respect must be shown to the teacher. Any disruptive behaviour will result in removal from class.

- No food or drink is allowed in the studio.

- No children under 16yrs are allowed in the kitchen area without adult supervision.

- If your child is away during term time due to illness or holidays you must inform us. After 2 weeks of non-attendance and no contact, your space will be offered to perspective students and you will be issued with a £20 termination fee.

- A 2 weeks written notice of leave will need to be given prior to the start of a new term. If not, the next term will need to be paid for in full. This is due to your child now taking up a place within the new term.

- Please come to classes changed and in the appropriate dance wear. This ensures a smooth quick transition between classes.

- The management hold the right to refuse entry to any student/parent they feel will not comply with the rules and will disrupt the studios activities.

In accordance with the GPDR Statement

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and replaces the previous Data Protection. It was approved by the EU Parliament in 2016 and comes into effect on 25th May 2018. GDPR states that personal data should be ‘processed fairly & lawfully’ and ‘collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes’ and that individuals data is not processed without their knowledge and are only processed with their ‘explicit’ consent. GDPR covers personal data relating to individuals. Dance Sensation is committed to protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals with respect to the processing of children’s, parents, visitors and staff personal data. The Data Protection Act gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them. It provides a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly.

What we do at Dance Sensation:

We do not disclose or sell personal data to third parties.
We do not disclose personal data to other members of the School and their families.
The School uses contact numbers and emails for newsletters, updates, whole school and individual communication, invoices and general information.
Emergency Parent contact numbers are given to teachers termly for the sole use of emergency contact only.
Personal data is stored in a password protected document
Paper registration forms are stored in a secured filing cabinet at the Principal’s office.
Hard copy information is destroyed.

Information about individual children is used in certain documents, such as, a weekly register, medication forms and examination documentations. These documents include data such as children’s names, date of birth and emergency contact numbers. These records are shredded after the relevant retention period.

Dance Sensation collects a large amount of personal data every year including; names and addresses of those on the waiting list. These records are shredded if the child does not attend or added to the child’s file and stored appropriately.

Dance Sensation stores personal data held visually in photographs or video clips or as sound recordings. No names are stored with images in photo albums, displays, on the website or on the Dance Sensation social media sites, unless agreed with the pupil(s) parent/carer.

Access to School Email account, Website, personal Data, Social Media Accounts, Newsletters and Examination Details is password protected and is not available to members of the Public, members of the School and or it’s staff. The Principal has sole access to all this data. When a member of staff leaves The School these passwords are changed in line with this policy and our Safeguarding policy. Any portable data storage used to store personal data, e.g. USB memory stick, are password protected and/or stored in a locked filing cabinet.

GDPR includes 7 rights for individuals

1) The right to be informed

Dance Sensation is registered with the Imperial Society of Teachers in Dance (ISTD) and as so, is required to collect and manage certain data. The School collects parent’s and or guardian’s names, addresses, emergency telephone numbers and email addresses. We also collect children’s’ full names, addresses, date of birth along with any SEN requirements and are stored securely and paper registration forms are stored in a secured filing cabinet in the Principal’s office.

This is in respect of our Health and Safety and Safeguarding Policies.

As an Employer of Self Employed practitioners, Dance Sensation is required to hold data on its Teachers such as names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers and bank details. Information such as Disclosure and Barring Service checks (DBS), personal Public Liability insurance, First Aid, Membership details and any qualification’s. This information stored securely and paper forms are stored in a secured filing cabinet at the School’s office.

2) The right of access

At any point an individual can make a request relating to their data and Dance Sensation will need to provide a response (within 1 month). Dance Sensation can refuse a request, if we have a lawful obligation to retain data but we will inform the individual of the reasons for the rejection.

3) The right to erasure

You have the right to request the deletion of your data where there is no compelling reason for its continued use. However Dance Sensation has a legal duty to keep student and parents details for a reasonable time*. Dance Sensation retain records relating to student’s accident and injury records for 19 years (or until the child reaches 21 years), and 22 years (or until the child reaches 24 years) for Child Protection records. Self Employed Teaching records will be erased when the member of leaves their position. All hard copy information is destroyed.

* Dance Sensation holds personal data while the student is registered at the School. The School requires a written notice to leave the School to put into action the erasure of your data. If records of this is not found, The School will continue to use your data for School purposes only.

4) The right to restrict processing

Parents, visitors and staff can object to Dance Sensation processing their data. This means that records can be stored but must not be used in any way, for example School Newsletters, General Emails about School news and updates and text service. In this situation, The School has no obligation to refund any classes missed or cancelled due to ‘lack of communication’. It will be the parents responsibility to ensure they are informed about the Termly event’s happening at the School.

5) The right to data portability

Dance Sensation requires data, for example registration forms to be transferred from student, to teacher, to School Principal. The School also requires to provide data such as student DOB and exam pin number’s to be able to enter students in ISTD Exams. In this case recipients use secure file transfer systems and have their own policies and procedures in place in relation to GDPR.

6) The right to object

Parents, visitors and staff can object to their data being used for certain activities like marketing or research. Dance Sensation does not use personal data for such purposes.

7) The right not to be subject to automated decision-making including profiling.

Automated decisions and profiling are used for marketing based organisations. Dance Sensation does not use personal data for such purposes.

This Policy was issued by the Principal Marie Beazley, Principal/Owner of Dance Sensation in May 2018.

Policy review date: May 2019