POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

West Dunbartonshire Gymnastics Club fully endorses Scottish Gymnastics Equity Policy, Child Protection Policy, and Disciplinary Code of Practice and Safe Recruitment. For more information on these policies please visit the Scottish Gymnastics website online at – http://www.scottishgymnastics.org/.

First Aid and Emergency Procedures

West Dunbartonshire Gymnastics Club will ensure the safety of all its members during all training and events. In the rare occasion of an accident/injury the Club will follow the First Aid and Emergency Procedures which are set by Scottish Gymnastics. In the event of an injury we will obey the following rules

• At least one member of staff on the premises will be qualified in first aid to the correct level (Meadow Centre/OLSP High School).

• A first aid kit will be available at all sessions.

• The club will keep a record (up to 3 years) of accidents/injuries of gymnasts in an accident book.

In the event of an injury at training coaches must

• Seek first aid from centre

• Complete an accident report form for both Meadow Centre/OLSP High School and West Dunbartonshire Gymnastics Club for own records.

• Inform the child’s parents of any injury and action taken:

• • at the end of the session (small injuries)

  • immediately (serious injuries)

• Access to a telephone must always be available in case emergency services are required

In event of an injury at a competition

At all competitions the organiser (Scottish Gymnastics) will ensure that first aid provision is in place in all circumstances. The club will ensure emergency contact details are taken in case of an incident taking place while attending outside events/competitions. The club will also ensure a copy of the accident report is kept in club records and copy given to the parent.

Emergency Procedures in the event of a fire

All coaches must ensure they are familiar with the emergency procedures for the venue (Meadow Centre and Our Lady and St Patrick’s High School) where training takes place and the competition venue when attending competitions. Coaches are responsible for taking a register at each event ensuring all gymnasts are accounted for in an emergency.

Behaviour during club training sessions and competitions

 West Dunbartonshire Gymnastics club, as a family and fun orientated club, expect that all our members (coaches, volunteers, gymnasts, parents etc) behave in a professional and appropriate manner at all times whilst associated with the club. This expectation is carried through all club training, any competitions / events we take part in or in any fundraising events / meetings that the club attends. Any member of our club who behaves in an inappropriate manner will be subject to the procedures below for the associated category of member:

Procedure for Inappropriate Behaviour Shown by Gymnast

• If a coach feels a gymnast has displayed inappropriate behaviour they will be given a verbal warning. They will have two chances of a verbal warning. On the third occasion of inappropriate behaviour the gymnast will be asked to sit at the side of the session for a length of time deemed appropriate by the coach. The coach is responsible for explaining to the gymnast why they have been told to sit out.

•  At the end of the class the appropriate coach will inform the parent as to why the gymnast was asked to sit out of the session. Parents will be given the chance to discuss their child’s behaviour with the appropriate coach and head coach.

• The coaching team will try to resolve any difficulties by developing joint strategies with parents/guardians concerned.

• Should the coaching team be of the opinion that there has been no improvement in a gymnast’s behaviour then this will be reported to Club committee and Safeguarding officer who will agree with the coaching team on an appropriate course of action.

• The final decision to remove a gymnast from the club altogether can only be taken by the SO, Head Coach and Committee of the club.

WDGC Complaints procedure

Step One – Making a complaint:

Any complaint must be made in writing and must contain specific details including dates and times, the issue and names of any witnesses. This can be completed by letter or email.

• Complaints surrounding bad practice or safeguarding should be addressed to the Safeguarding Officer (SO). Gillian Dougan at safeguarding.wdgc@outlook.com

• Complaints not connected with bad practice/child welfare should be directed to the chairperson/club secretary

• Written documentation should be sent to the following address:

FAO West Dunbartonshire GC
West Dumbarton Activity Centre
73 Ardoch Crescent
Dumbarton
Email: westdunbartonshiregc@gmail.com

Step Two – Responding to a complaint:

• The SO will respond to the complainant within 7 working days, acknowledging receipt of the letter, explaining the process and confirm the timescales which will be followed

• Gather evidence: The SO will arrange to interview all those involved in the complaint. A list of questions specific to the complaint should be compiled and should be adhered to.

• Responses to the questions will be recorded and the witness will then be given the notes to read, agree as a true record, sign, and date.

• Arrange to meet with the person against whom the complaint is being made, a copy of the complaint along with the evidence should be provided. He/she will be asked to comment and all details of the interview will be recorded, agreed signed and dated.

Note: Interviews should be conducted in an objective and fair manner giving all parties an opportunity to respond to an allegation.

Step Three: – Review evidence:

•  All correspondence and evidence will then be considered either by the SO and one other or by an independent person from outwith the club.

Step Four – The decision:

Example: complaint against a coach – minor breach of club rules or poor practice:

• An interview will be conducted with the coach to go over the code of practice and expected standards of behaviour.

• A caution or warning as to future conduct should be issued.

• The interview will be recorded and kept on file.

• The decision made and the action taken shall be notified in writing to all interested parties

WDGC Safeguarding Policy

Contact information

safeguarding.wdgc@outlook.com

Scottish Gymnastics:

Scottish Gymnastics Confidential Email – safegym@scottishgymnastics.org

Ethics Welfare & Conduct Manager Email:

lorna@scottishgymnastics.org

General Information

West Dunbartonshire Gymnastics acknowledges the duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, vulnerable adults and coaches, and is committed to ensuring safeguarding practice reflects statutory responsibilities, government guidance and complies with best practice and Scottish Gymnastics requirements.

The Club recognises that the welfare and interests of children are paramount in all circumstances.

The Safeguarding Officer will:

• regardless of age, gender, religion or beliefs, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or socioeconomic background, ensure all children have a positive and enjoyable experience of Gymnastics in a safe and child centred environment.
• As part of our safeguarding policy West Dunbartonshire Gymnastics will promote and prioritise the safety and wellbeing of children and young people and ensure children and young people are protected from abuse whilst participating in Gymnastics or to the best of our control out with the sport
• Ensure everyone understands their roles and responsibilities in respect of safeguarding and that all relevant people are provided with appropriate learning opportunities to recognise, identify and respond to signs of abuse, neglect and other safeguarding concerns relating to children and young people
• Ensure appropriate action is taken in the event of incidents or concerns of abuse and support provided to the individual/s who raise or disclose the concern
• Ensure that confidential, detailed and accurate records of all safeguarding concerns are maintained and securely stored
• Prevent the employment of unsuitable individuals within the Club
• Ensure robust safeguarding arrangements and procedures are in operation.

The policy and procedures is widely promoted and is mandatory for everyone involved in West Dunbartonshire Gymnastics. Any failure to comply with the policy and procedures will be addressed without delay and may ultimately result in dismissal/exclusion from the Club. Monitoring the policy will be reviewed accordingly when advised by the national governing body, Scottish Gymnastics.

In the event of a Safeguarding mater arising the following procedure should be adhered to:

What to do if you have a safeguarding concern?

1. Notify the safeguarding officer as soon as possible.
2. Complete the required incident report form and submit to the Safeguarding officer (forms can be found in all registers)
3. The safeguarding offer will deal with the matter accordingly and may contact Scottish Gymnastics for further information
4. If the matter cannot be resolved within the club, Scottish Gymnastics will support and manage the matter in order for it to be resolved accordingly
5. All safeguarding incidents and other supporting documents will be kept confidential

Safeguarding and protecting gymnasts and coaches within our club is EVERYONE’S responsibility. If you have any concerns please ask questions.

WDGC Arrival Policy

The safety and wellbeing of all the children is of paramount importance to West Dunbartonshire gymnastics club. It is also expected that parents and carers of the children within the club share in the overall duty of care and responsibility for the safety and security of the children at our club. On arrival at the club, it’s the parents/ guardians/ carers responsibility to ensure the club member is taken through to the sports hall. Coaches are not responsible for the child until they are signed in to the club by register. Coach responsibility will commence at the following times and venues:

Tuesday 6pm, Wednesday 4pm, Friday 5pm, Saturday 9am

Any additional training sessions, the policy will apply according to the training venue, start and finish time.

WDGC Sign out Policy

At the end of a training session, WDGC are responsible for ensuing your child leaves each session with a responsible adult. With that being said, your child must be signed out of every session by completing the following:

• Print and sign your name on the sign out sheet provided in each session

• If you are not collecting your child, at the start of a session you should write this on the sign out sheet against your child’s name. Also, make at least one coach in the session know who will be collecting your child

WDGC Abandon Child Policy

WDGC have a responsibility to your child’s care within the training sessions, with that being said in the event of a child being left at the end of a training session without a responsible adult to collect them, the following steps will be executed:

1. After 15 minutes of being uncollected, parent/ guardian will be contacted on the emergency numbers given to the club

2. After 30 minutes of being uncollected, the police will be contacted to raise awareness of the situation

3. After 45 minutes, if there has been no correspondence or the child has still not been collected by the parent/ guardian or responsible adult the police will be contacted and the club will legally transfer the child over to the police

By law, the club can only transfer legal care of a child to the police, social services or their parent/ guardian/ carer. Our coaching team and any other club representative must comply with the above policy.

Privacy Policy

West Dunbartonshire Gymnastics Club (WDGC) takes your privacy seriously. We are a “controller” of the personal information that you provide to us and this privacy policy sets out how, why and for how long we will use your personal data, as well as who it is shared with. It also explains your legal rights as a data subject and how to exercise them.

What we need from you

When you register as a member of WDGC or renew your membership (including if you are registering or renewing on behalf of a young person aged 18 or under), or you become a volunteer with WDGC, we will ask you for some or all of the following personal information:

• Contact details – e.g. name, address, email address and phone number;
• Date of birth – to calculate eligibility for events;
• Equality information – disability (if any) and gender identity; and
• Safety and emergency details – e.g. emergency contact information, relevant medical conditions, GP surgery details

If you do not provide us with all the personal information that we need this may affect our ability to offer you membership services and benefits or, in respect of volunteers, to allow you to volunteer.

Why we need your personal information – contractual purposes

We need to collect our members’ personal information so that we can manage your membership. We will use our members’ personal information to:

• provide you with core member services, including voting; and

• send you membership communications by post or email in relation to essential membership services, including but not limited to, general meeting notices, membership renewals and membership fees information.

If you do not provide us with all the personal information that we need to collect then this may affect our ability to offer the above membership services and benefits.

Why we need your personal information – legitimate purposes

We also process our members’ and volunteers’ personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interests to:

• promote and encourage participation in the sport of gymnastics by sending members’ communications and booking information for upcoming competitions and events. Our competitions and events may be filmed or photographed and your personal information may also be used in images captured from our competitions and events, which we use for promotional, education and development purposes;
• provide competition in the sport of gymnastics by accepting and managing entries for our competitions and checking your personal information to ensure you are entered into the correct category;
• develop and maintain our coaches’ and other volunteers’ qualifications, including sending email communications to volunteers to inform you of upcoming courses, renewal requirements and verify that you have completed any mandatory training and PVG / child protection requirements;
• in respect of medical information of any kind (including mental or physical), facilitate communication with gymnasts, tailor coaching styles, provide an understanding of gymnast behaviour in certain circumstances and to be able to react appropriately in the event of medical emergencies; and
• respond to and communicate with members/volunteers regarding your questions, comments, support needs or complaints, concerns or allegations in relation to the sport of gymnastics. We will use your personal information to investigate your complaint, suspend membership and take disciplinary action where appropriate.

In respect of volunteers, we will need to collect personal information relating to criminal convictions or alleged commission of criminal offences where you are required to complete a PVG check under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. This information will include your PVG certificate number, PVG membership number, date of issue and any relevant information in relation to your membership of the PVG Scheme.

If your PVG certificate is not clear, we will have a legitimate interest to collect references and any other applicable information to allow us to consider whether or not you can volunteer in a regulated role with children and/or vulnerable adults.

Where we process your personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interests, you have the right to object to us using your personal information for the above purposes. If you wish to object to any of the above processing, please contact us on safeguarding.wdgc@outlook.com. If we agree and comply with your objection, this may affect our ability to undertake the tasks above for the benefit of you as a member or volunteer.

Why we need your personal information – legal obligations

We are under a legal obligation to process certain personal information relating to our coaches and other volunteers for the purposes of complying with our obligations under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 to check that our coaches and other volunteers are able to undertake regulated work with children and vulnerable adults.

Other uses of your personal information

We may ask you if we can process your personal information for additional purposes. Where we do so, we will provide you with an additional privacy notice with information on how we will use your information for these additional purposes.

Who we share your personal information with

We may be required to share personal information with statutory or regulatory authorities and organisations to comply with statutory obligations. Such organisations include the Health & Safety Executive, Disclosure Scotland, and Police Scotland for the purposes of safeguarding children.

We may also share personal information with our professional and legal advisors for the purposes of taking advice.

As an affiliated club of British Gymnastics we are required to ensure that all our members and volunteers are members of British Gymnastics as a condition of affiliation. We will share your personal information with Scottish Swimming who will become a controller of your personal information when they receive it. Scottish Gymnastics privacy notice explains how they use your personal information and can be accessed here:

https://www.scottishgymnastics.org/privacy

If your personal information is included in any images or videos taken by us at our competitions and events, we may share this with Scottish and/or British Gymnastics for promotional and/or journalistic purposes.

We publish the results of competitions on our website and on our poolside noticeboard. This includes competitors’ name, age and result.

In the event that we do share personal information with external third parties, we will only share such personal information strictly required for the specific purposes and take reasonable steps to ensure that recipients shall only process the disclosed personal information in accordance with those purposes.

How we protect your personal information

Your personal information is accessed by our President, Development Coordinator, Vice-President, Membership Secretary, Secretary, Treasurer, Head Coach, Coaches and others only for the purposes set out above. It is stored on web storage systems which have Privacy Shield certification, and in paper and electronic records maintained by the Membership Secretary and Development Coordinator. Electronic data is protected by password-controlled systems, and paper records are held securely away from the club premises.

How long we keep your personal information

We will only keep your personal information for as long as necessary to provide you with membership services. Unless you ask us not to, we will review and possibly delete your personal information where you have not renewed your membership with us for six years.

Your rights

You can exercise any of the following rights by writing to us at westdunbartonshiregc@gmail.com

Your rights in relation to your personal information are:

• you have a right to request access to the personal information that we hold about you by making a “subject access request”;
• if you believe that any of your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, you have a right to request that we correct or complete your personal information;
• you have a right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information for specific purposes; and
• if you wish us to delete your personal information, you may request that we do so.

Any requests received by WDGC will be considered under applicable data protection legislation. If you remain dissatisfied, you have a right to raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk.