Lead Officers for Child Protection Issues -

Kathryn Tayler - 01363 82758 - kathryn.tayler@virgin.net

Sue Bonnett - sueballet@hotmail.co.uk

The safety of children and members of other vulnerable groups is paramount and all, without exception, have the right to protection from abuse. All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously, responded to swiftly and appropriately and all the festival’s trustees, organisers, staff and volunteers have a responsibility to report concerns.

PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF ORGANISATION

Exeter Dance Festival is a voluntary body, constituted to promote the many forms of dance by offering a platform for amateur performance combined with an educational element provided by professional dancers.

THE FESTIVAL ENVIRONMENT

Exeter Dance Festival is a charitable organisation run by volunteers. It is held in a large performance space situated in the very busy Exeter City Centre. It is important that parents, those with parental responsibility or other carers are aware that the festival performances are open to general public and therefore are present in the building. Whilst our volunteers carry out stewarding duties and assist wherever possible, we remind parents and other carers that they must ensure adequate supervision and assume responsibility for their children and other vulnerable groups whilst they are at the venue. As set out in our rules of entry, children should not be left at the venue attended at any time. It is the policy of our festival to inform and involve parents, guardians, carers

and teachers in partnership with you in order to ensure, as far as it is reasonably practicable, a safe environment at our festival. We do this by ensuring that you receive a copy of this policy at the time you are making arrangements to attend our festival.

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 whose needs are identifed to the festival organisers by parents, those with parental responsibility, carers and/or teachers prior to their arrival at the festival. This should be done by contacting the address or telephone number at the foot of this document. Our festival actively seeks, wherever possible, to meet these needs, but must know beforehand in order to prepare support - or to let you know we are unable to help.

FESTIVAL PERSONNEL

All members of the committee are subject to an enhanced CRB check and during the festival only those volunteers who have undergone a CRB check perform tasks which involve the likelihood of prolonged contact with children or other vulnerable groups. All volunteers are required to provide their own contact details and those of 2 referees. 2 committee members organise and supervise staffng for the festival. All festival volunteers wear clearly identifable white and yellow uniforms whilst on duty. A qualifed frst-aider is always on duty. Venue staff wear badges to identify themselves and are aware of the whereabouts of festival volunteers. A private area is available to discuss any concerns which you have and all issues raised will be taken seriously, documented and dated.

PREPARATION FOR ATTENDANCE AT THE FESTIVAL

This policy is sent to all schools and private entrants at the time of entry. Teachers are required to confrm in writing that they have distributed the policy to all parents, others with parental responsibility and carers who have children or vulnerable adults participating in our festival. This is sent to those mentioned to ensure that parents and others concerned with participants understand how we all work together to safeguard. The safeguarding policy is important to the festival and those who fail to meet our requirements with regard to distribution may not be permitted to enter or perform.

Where parents, those with parental responsibility and carers are not personally attending with their children, this Policy requires them to be satisfed that their children will be accompanied to the festival and adequately supervised by responsible adults acting on their behalf. Exeter Dance Festival cannot accept responsibility for supervising children who are left unattended.

PERFORMANCE AREAS AND CHANGING AREAS

Changing areas are allocated to each participating school or for private entries, with signs on all dressing room doors. Separate changing facilities are provided for male participants. Changing in the toilet facilities is prohibited. Whilst festival staff regularly patrol the backstage area, changing rooms, toilets and corridors are not supervised by festival staff. Parents and others are asked to bear in mind that the venue is open to the public whilst the festival is taking place.

CONSENT FOR ENTRY

By completing and signing the entry form, all parents/guardians/carers and teachers of competitors under 18, or vulnerable adults of any age, confirm that they give or have obtained the necessary consents for the competitor to take part in the festival.

PHOTOGRAPHS, VIDEOTAPES AND PRESS PHOTOGRAPHY

No photographic or video recording equipment (including mobile telephones, ipods etc) is allowed in the auditorium or backstage. An offcial photographer (holding a valid CRB check) will be available to take photographs during the festival. Press photography is by prior appointment only. Those who do not wish their child/ren to participate should inform the secretary or another committee member.

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. The Safer Festivals Statement 2018, in their support in creating safer festivals for everyone, and 2018 Safer Festivals Guidelines produced by the BIFF.

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.

From 25th May 2018 new regulations came into force which gives individuals greater control over the collection and use of their personal data. One of the key principles of the legislation is that data must be processed fairly and that consent must be given unconditionally, with the choice to opt-out if so wished.

Under this new regulation, the Exeter Dance Festival is the data controller and can be contacted by ringing or emailing Sue Bonnett or Kathryn Tayler. In order to run the organisation, we hold names, addresses, email contact details and telephone numbers. This information is held securely on the personal computers of the relevant secretaries and is password protected.

The records we have are used only for the general administration of the Festival and no third party will be given access to any information we hold without prior consent.

Below is a copy of the Festival's Privacy Policy

The Exeter Dance Festival is a performing arts organisation run entirely by volunteers and registered with the charity commission No. 1115451. It is a member of the British & International Federation of Festivals.

What information do we collect about you?

We collect information about you when you, or the person responsible for you, or your teacher, makes a request for you to take part in the Festival. We will only ask for the information that we need to make that entry.

How will we use the information about you?

We collect information about you in order to sort your entry into classes in the Festival and for some other administrative functions.

Access to your data and correction

You can ask for a copy of the information that we hold about you. You can get this free by writing to Sue Bonnett (sueballet@hotmail.co.uk). We want to make sure that your personal information is correct and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is not right.

Do we share this information with anyone else?

We will not tell anyone outside the Festival about the information that we collect about you unless we have to do so by law, but names (only) of people taking part in the Festival will appear in the Festival programme.

Transfer of Data

The Festival will always ensure that your personal information is looked after properly.

If you wish for a copy of our Privacy Policy, please contact the Festival Secretary.