Name of service being provided:
The Colour Club – Creativity and Wellness Centre
Address:
Ballyraine Campus, Vale Road, Arklow, Co. Wicklow
Nature of service and principles to safeguard children from harm:
We offer a range of activities and classes for children and adults to promote positive mental health. These include:
Yoga, art, crafts, design, fun movement, relaxation and meditation.
We offer classes, workshops, events, parties and camps to children and adults from our community.
The Colour Club agrees that
The protection and welfare of children is of utmost importance.
We will fully comply with our obligations under the Children First Act 2015, and other relevant legislation relating to the protection and welfare of children.
We will fully co-operate with the relevant statutory authorities in relation to child safeguarding measures.
We promote safe practices to mitigate the possibility of harm to children and protect our staff from the necessity to take unnecessary risks that may leave themselves open to accusations of abuse or neglect.
Confidentiality requirements when dealing with child protection matters will be respected and carried out accordingly.
The Colour Club believes that the safety and welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility,
and we are committed to safeguarding children through the following processes:
Risk Assessment
We have carried out an assessment of any potential for harm to a child while availing of our services. Below is a list of the areas of risk identified and the list of procedures for managing these risks.
| Risk of harm due to lack of awareness & training. | Ensure that all facilitators/trainers have read and understand this statement and have completed Children First Training. |
| The child may be subject to harm from staff or work experience students | Make sure that everyone in contact with children is Garda vetted, and has read this statement. |
| Collection by an unauthorised adult | Only the named adult when booking the child will be authorised to collect the child unless otherwise agreed. |
| Children may be at harm from other children | Ensure that children are fully supervised at all times. Make sure all children are aware of our code of behaviour. |
| A child may wander off and be at risk | Make sure that children are in view and supervised at all times. |
| A child may be at risk of harm due to bullying. | Ensure that children are fully supervised at all times. Make sure all children are aware of our code of behaviour, which includes anti bullying policy. |
| Risk of harm to child due to lack of knowledge about medical conditions or special needs. | Follow all general safety and management practices. fact find using registration forms. Provision of Special Needs Assistant. Risk Assessment of Needs. |
Procedures
Our Child Safeguarding Statement has been developed in line with requirements under the Children First Act 2015, Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children (2017), and Tusla’s Child Safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, Procedure and Practice. In addition to the procedures listed in our risk assessment, the following procedures support our intention to safeguard children while they are availing of our service:
- Procedure for the management of allegations of abuse or misconduct against workers/volunteers of a child availing of our service;
- Procedure for the safe recruitment and selection of workers and volunteers to work with children;
- Procedure for provision of and access to child safeguarding training and information, including the identification of the occurrence of harm;
- Procedure for the reporting of child protection or welfare concerns to Tusla;
- Procedure for maintaining a list of the persons (if any) in the relevant service who are mandated persons;
- Procedure for appointing a relevant person.
All procedures listed are available upon request.
Implementation
We recognise that implementation is an on-going process. Our service is committed to the implementation of this Child Safeguarding Statement and the procedures that support our intention to keep children safe from harm while availing of our service.
This Child Safeguarding Statement will be reviewed on 28th March 2023 or as soon as practicable after there has been a material change in any matter to which the statement refers.
Signed: Rachel Tyrrell
The Colour Club, Ballyraine Campus, Vale Road, Arklow, Co. Wicklow.
rachel@thecolourclub.ie
For queries, please contact Rachel Tyrrell – Relevant Person under the Children First Act 2015.