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Child Safe & General Policies 

Purpose

These policies are written to demonstrate the strong commitment of the Committee, coaches, parents and volunteers of the St Andrews Netball Club (SANC) to child safety and to provide an outline of the policies and practices SANC has developed to keep everyone safe from any harm, including abuse.

Commitment to Child Safety

All children who are part of SANC have a right to feel and be safe. The welfare of the children in our care will always be our first priority and SANC has a zero tolerance to child abuse. SANC aims to create a child safe and child friendly environment where children feel safe and have fun, where activities are always carried out in the best interest of the children.

Application of these policies

These policies apply to all individuals in our organisation (paid and volunteer) including, but not limited to:

• Administrators

• Coaches

• Players

• Parents

• Spectators

All the people to whom these policies apply have a role and responsibility in relation to child protection. They must all:

• Understand the indicators and risks of child abuse

• Appropriately act on concerns raised by children; and understand and follow all applicable laws in relation to the protection of children and reporting or management of child safety concerns.

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Child Abuse

Child abuse can take a broad range of forms including physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse and neglect. People to whom this policy applies need to be aware that child St Andrews Netball Club 2 May 2024 abuse can occur whenever there is actual or potential harm to a child, and these are circumstances that SANC is committed to reducing the risk or occurrence.

Fair Play Policy

This includes every player, participant, coach, support person, official, administrator, club member, spectator, parent, volunteer or member of the public involved with sport and recreation in Victoria. All should demonstrate the principles of integrity, respect, responsibility, fairness and safety in relation to sport, recreation, training and club sanctioned activities.

 

Inclusion Policy

Netball Victoria and SANC are committed to being inclusive organisations, where everyone has the opportunity to participate at a level appropriate to their ability. Participation in netball has the power to unite communities, empower individuals and breakdown barriers. All individuals will be treated equally, with dignity and respect to ensure that all people experience a safe and inclusive netball environment.

Anti-bullying Policy

Bullying is deliberately hurting a specific person either physically, verbally, psychologically or socially. It involves a power imbalance where one person has power or strength (e.g. physical, mental, social or financial) over another. It can be carried out by one person or several people who are either actively or passively involved. In a sports context bullying can take many forms, for example:

• a parent telling their child that they are incompetent, hopeless, useless, etc.;

• a coach alienating an athlete (adult or child);

• several people ganging-up on an individual team member;

• spectators verbally abusing players from the opposition; • an athlete calling a referee names and using put-downs; • a parent intimidating a young coach.

 

Bullying can be a 'one-off' incident, but usually involves repeated actions or incidences. It can occur everywhere: at home, school, work, playgrounds, while participating in sport, when using public transport or walking to or from home. An individual may bully their victim face to face or use technology such as a mobile phone or computer.

Cyber Safety Policy

“Cyberbullying is a way of delivering covert psychological bullying. It uses information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated and hostile behaviour, by an individual or group that is intended to harm others.” (Belsey 2007)

Cyberbullying includes, but is not limited to, the following misuses of technology:

(a) harassing, teasing, intimidating or threatening another person by sending or posting inappropriate and hurtful e-mail messages, instant messages, text messages, phone messages, digital pictures or images, or web site postings, irrespective of whether the post or message could be viewed by the wider public; and

(b) sending, receiving and/or possessing naked or sexually explicit images of a person. 

A person should:

(a) be aware that postings, comments and/or messages from their individual ICT account or mobile phone will remain the responsibility of the account owner unless the account owner can prove that their account had been accessed by an unauthorised person and by a method outside of their control;

(b) be vigilant about the security of their account(s) and take all reasonable steps to protect themselves, for example, not sharing passwords or allowing others to log on to their individual accounts.

(c) be aware that where a crime has been committed, they may be subject to a criminal investigation by police over which SANC will have no control. This particularly applies to ‘sexting’ where the person is in possession of an inappropriate sexualised image of a person under the age of 18 years.

Hot Weather Policy

- Trainings: When the temperature reaches 35 degrees or above netball trainings will be cancelled.

- Games: We will follow Mountain District Netball Association (MDNA) Heat Policy and follow their procedures on the day.

 

Smoke/Air Quality Policy

- Trainings: If the Air Quality Index (AQI) reading is above 150, outdoor training should be rescheduled indoors or cancelled. Asthmatics should not train outdoors if the AQI is between 100 and 149.

- Games: We will follow MDNA Air Quality Policy and follow their procedures on the day.

 

Breaches of Child Safe, Fair Play, Inclusion, Anti-bullying and cyber safety policies:

SANC does not condone any form of abuse and the following process has been established to help us deal with such unacceptable behaviour should it occur.

 

Any report of sexual or physical abuse of a child will be reported to the police immediately by the President of SANC. The President to communicate to the Committee a detailed written report of supplied information from the reporter including who, what, when, where & why the incident is of concern. If the alleged perpetrator is a Committee member or a coach, they will be removed from their position until further notice.

 

The interview or investigation process will involve the President, a Committee member and coach at any of the below stages. Parents will be kept informed at all stages of the process.

 

Based on the severity of the incident, a person may commence the investigation at any stage of the below process.

Stage 1

- When concerns are raised regarding a person being bullied, or responsible for bullying, Coaches will manage the response and will seek information to clarify what has happened and report the incident to the Committee.

- All persons involved will be interviewed and if the reported bullying incident is substantiated, the person responsible for bullying will be issued with a written Official Caution from the Committee.

- Following this process, coaches and the Committee will formulate an appropriate response to allow players to move forward.

- The President will inform the parents of children involved in the investigation process.

- If any person believes a child is in immediate risk of abuse, telephone 000.

- If the relevant coach for the team is under the age of 18 years, any concerns of abuse relating to that team should be reported immediately to the Head Coach who will action the required steps.

Stage 2

- When a repeated incident is substantiated the person(s) will be referred to the Committee who will:

o Provide a verbal and written response to the parents of the children involved.

o Request counsellor involvement to assist children involved in the bullying.

o Consult with coaches, children and parents to develop an appropriate, meaningful consequence (Eg: apology/game ban).

Stage 3

- Should a person reach this stage, the Committee will interpret this to indicate that the person has chosen, through his/her actions, to exclude themselves from the SANC.

These policies will be updated every 2 years            

Last reviewed: May 2024

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