This Child Safe Policy has been prepared by Leaps N Beats Dance to demonstrate our commitment to child safety and to promote the importance of ensuring a safe environment for the children in our care.
The safety of children is of fundamental importance to Leaps N Beats Dance. We have zero tolerance for all forms of child abuse.
Our dancing school is committed to the safety of all children in our care.
All children in our care have the right to be protected from any activity that may harm their health, development or wellbeing. We have a zero tolerance approach to child abuse and we actively look into ways to continuously improve the protection of children in our care. We will report to the authorities where we are concerned about the safety, abuse or potential abuse of children in our care.
We understand the importance of providing a safe, happy and fun environment for all the children in our care and we aim to create an environment where children can learn, grow and thrive.
We work together with the children we care for and their parents to provide a safe, inclusive and open environment.
We listen to all suggestions and ideas that are raised by children and parents who use our services. We have a transparent and confidential feedback system that enables children and parents to speak up about issues that are important to them. We respect all views and opinions and acct to address concerns raised by children or their parents.
We are committed to seeking to prevent all forms of child abuse and have implemented practices to identify and remove risks relating the abuse of children in our care.
We are committed to supporting and encouraging the cultural safety of aboriginal children or children from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds. We are also committed to supporting and encouraging children or parents with a disability.
Our Values;
Our dancing school’s values include:
- Caring for others
- Welcoming children from Aboriginal and culturally diverse backgrounds
- Welcoming children with disabilities
- Acting in the best interests of children in our care
- Respect;
- Creating a sense of trust
Our values underpin the work of Leaps N Beats Dance and our commitment to providing a safe environment for all children in our care. We aim to provide a caring and nurturing environment that is welcoming to all, inclusive and allows all children to feel valued and safe.
We encourage parents, children, staff, volunteers or others to speak our if they witness behaviour or practices which are inconsistent with these values.
Our Staff and Volunteers
Our staff and volunteers are required to provide a safe environment for all children under their supervision, including by complying with this policy and our code of conduct regarding child safety.
We encourage our staff and volunteers to attend regular training on this policy, our dancing school’s values and children safety so that everyone that works with us understands that Leaps N Beats Dance takes child safety seriously.
We aim to recruit staff that are suitably skilled to work with children. We interview and conduct referee checks on all our staff and volunteers before they start working with us. We conduct police checks and Working with Children check on staff and volunteers who engage in child related work with us.
Our Code of Conduct
All staff and volunteers must abide by our Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct sets out out dance school’s expectations for appropriate behaviour with children. We require all of our staff and volunteers to act in accordance with our Code of Conduct.
A copy of our code of conduct is located on the website.
Risk Management:
Leaps N Beats Dance proactively manages risks and has a risk management framework and policies in place to identify, assess and mitigate risks to children in our care. Our risk management policies cover the management of risks, such as occupational health and safety risks of child abuse to children.
Reporting a safety complaint, allegation or concern:
We take child safety very seriously. Anyone is able to raise a complaint, allegation or concern about our organisation child safety practices. We treat all complaints, allegations or concerns raised with our organisation very seriously and respectfully.
Nominated staff members have been trained to deal with allegations of abuse. If Leaps N Beats Dance receives an allegation of abuse, our trained staff will investigate that allegation thoroughly and in a professional manner.
We are committed to ensuring that the appropriate authorities are notified where we are concerned about the safety, abuse or potential abuse of children.
Review:
Leaps N Beats Dance regularly reviews our practices and procedures in relation to child safety. Where possible, we will involve children and their parents in these reviews and ensure that the review considers issues regarding Aboriginal children children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and children with a disability.
Where the review results in this policy are being updates, we will make the updated policy available, including on our website.