Child Safeguarding Statement

Katie Gartland School of Music (KGSM) provide the following services:

Music lessons, music tuition and coaching, recitals, courses & camps.

KGSM provides music tuition, educational courses & recitals to children and young people. KGSM recognises that the safety and welfare of children and young people is of paramount importance and is committed to taking every appropriate step to ensure the safety and well-being of the children and young people with whom we engage, regardless of class, gender, race, creed, age or ability. We practice a 'zero- tolerance' policy with regard to abuse, intimidation, bullying (physical or emotional), racism, and sexist behaviour directed towards children and young people. We acknowledge the right of children and young people to be treated with respect at all times, to be listened to and to have their views taken into consideration in matters that affect them.

1. 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 identified: Risk of harm from Institute Staff

Risk of harm 2: during one-to-one tuition

Procedure in place to manage identified risk

All KGSM tutors & Staff must be fully Garda vetted before engaging in lessons with students

Tutors must never position themselves between the student the exit to the room.

Risk of harm from 3 communication staff

Risk of harm from social media

Risk of harm from 5 video and photography

Tutors and staff must never contact students via phone or online without parental condent. All correspondence should be sent to parent/guardian.

Under no circumstances should staff contact students via social media. Tutors & staff should not engage directly with students on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok or any other social media websites/applications.

KGSM obtain parent/guardian consent at the beginning of each year regarding the use of images captured of students. Images must only be used for promotional purposes. Students must not capture images of fellow students without explicit consent.

When recording videos and/or taking photos, teachers should ensure all identifiable children have consented to the photo. This can be done by asking their permission before using the phone ("Can I take your photo?'') In a group photograph scenario, it must be made clear by the photographer children who do not wish to be photographed have the option to opt out of and stand behind the camera.

We are bound by Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children and the Children First Act 2015 to record any matters of serious concern to Tusla, the National Agency for Child Protection in Ireland.

https://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/Publications/ChildrenFirst.pdf

2. 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;

• KGSM follows the Children First Act 2015 & Tusla guidelines. Procedure for the safe recruitment and selection of workers and volunteers to work with children;

• All staff and volunteers are subject to full Garda Vetting before commencing with KGSM.

Procedure for provision of and access to child safeguarding training and information, including the identification of the occurrence of harm;

Training is carried out yearly for teaching staff .
Staff Members & Music Tutors must complete Tusla’s ‘Children First E-Learning

Programme’.
Procedure for the reporting of child protection or welfare concerns to Tusla;

• Mandated concerns are reported to Tusla as soon as possible in accordance with the Children First Act.

Procedure for maintaining a list of the persons (if any) in the relevant service who are mandated persons;

• The mandated persons are listed in our Safeguarding documents and staff are made aware of them.

KGSM Meetings & Training

• Tutors & staff must attend KGSM meetings for training & review of the Child Protection Policy.

First Aid

There must be a first aid kit on site at all times.

There must be a first aid officer on site at all times.

Disclosure

If a child makes a disclosure, it should be reported in detail including times, dates and witnesses in an "Incident Book".

Senior leadership & Parents/Guardians should be informed as soon as possible.

Reporting to Tusla should be done by the mandated person as soon as possible as per the Children First Act.

If a child is at risk of immediate danger, the tutor or staff member must report this immediately to An Garda Síochána.

3. 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 in September 2023 or as soon as practicable after there has been a material change in any matter to which the statement refers.

For voicing concerns, making reports and obtaining information related to Child Protection, staff & parents should contact Katie Gartland.

Where time is a factor or whenever deemed necessary, contact An Gardaí Síochána.

Katie Gartland

Katiegartlandmusic@gmail.com
0861685015