Introduction
The health, safety and well-being of all our children are of paramount importance to all the adults who work in our dance school. Our children have the right to protection, regardless of age, gender, race, culture or ability. They have a right to be safe in our dance school.
In our dance school we respect our children. The atmosphere within our dance school is one that encourages all children to do their best. We provide opportunities that enable our children to take and make decisions for themselves.

Aims and objectives
This policy ensures that all staff in our dance school are clear about the actions necessary with regard to a child protection issue. Its aims are:
- to raise the awareness of all staff and identify responsibility in reporting possible cases of abuse;
- to ensure effective communication between all staff when dealing with child protection issues;
- to lay down the correct procedures for those who encounter an issue of child protection.

Procedures
Miss Alison McKerlie, the Principal, is the named person in our school who is the Child Protection Co-ordinator. If any teacher suspects that a child in his/her class may be a victim of abuse, they immediately inform the named person about their concerns. Abuse can be of a sexual, emotional or physical nature. It can also be the result of neglect.
Any action that the named person takes when dealing with an issue of child protection must be in line with procedures advised by the local authority child protection representative.
The school's named co-ordinator works closely with the Social Services department and the Area Child Protection Committee (ACPC) when investigating any allegations of abuse. All parties involved handle such investigations in a sensitive manner, but the interest of the child is of paramount importance.
If a child alleges abuse, the school usually makes a referral without communicating with parents first. In some circumstances we inform parents first.
If a child protection referral is made, a case conference is held within eight working days of the decision. The case conference offers the opportunity to share information and formulate a plan of action. Staff are expected to attend and participate in all case conferences and meetings held under local authority guidelines.

We regard all information relating to individual child protection issues as confidential, and we treat this accordingly. We only pass information on to appropriate persons. We inform the child at all stages of who is involved, and what information we have given them.
We require all adults employed in school to have their application vetted through police records in order to ensure that there is no evidence of offences involving children or abuse.
There may be times when adults in our school, in the course of their duty, use physical intervention to restrain children. The Principal requires the adult involved in any such incident to report this to her immediately, and to record it in the interventions book. There may also be times when teachers in the school use physical intervention in respect of good teaching (adjusting arm lines, for example). It must be understood by all parents and guardians of students that this is deemed necessary in the safe and effective teaching of dance technique. The Principal monitors the level of physical correction on a regular basis. If a parent/guardian is unhappy with this teaching technique, their concerns must be raised with the Principal immediately, who will record the request and ensure it is adhered to.
All adults in the dance school receive regular training to raise their awareness of abuse and their knowledge of agreed local child protection procedures.

Monitoring and review
The Principal regularly reviews any incidents detailed in the interventions book and keeps up-to-date with regard to the child protection procedures. This policy is reviewed bi-annually by the Principal.

Miss A R McKerlie
July 2007