Safeguarding

EAST OF SCOTLAND JAZZ EDUCATION SAFEGUARDING POLICY (Revised Dec 2025)

East of Scotland Jazz Education is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), charity number SC045686.

AIMS East of Scotland Jazz Education (ESJE) is committed to the safety and well-being of the children, young people and adults at risk who take part in its activities. It recognises its responsibility to take reasonable steps to ensure best practice. The aim of this policy is to ensure that tutors, support staff, adult participants, parents and young people are familiar with this policy. This explicitly includes all participants in ESJE activities, including the Richard Michael Jazz Summer Course (RMJSC).  The policy has been written with consideration to Volunteer Scotland (VS) and the Office of the Scottish Charity Register (OSCR) guidance.

KEY PRINCIPLES

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) underpins Scottish Law which has been used to guide policy on Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) and Scottish Government National Guidance on Child Protection (2021).
The best interests of the child must always be the primary consideration.

  1. All children and young people should be treated fairly and with dignity and respect.
  2. All children and young people have the right to protection from all forms of harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation.
  3. All children and young people have the right to express their views on matters that
    affect them.

DEFINITIONS

Safeguarding is the action that an organisation takes to promote the welfare of children and adults at risk to protect them from harm. This includes making sure that the appropriate policies and procedures are put in place. Safeguarding includes child protection but goes further and extends to all vulnerable beneficiaries.

Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.

A child is defined in this document as someone under the age of 18 years, as set out in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

An adult at risk is defined as someone who meets all three of the following criteria, as set out in the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007:

  • they are unable to safeguard their own well-being, property, rights or other interests;
  • they are at risk of harm; and 
  • because they are affected by disability, mental disorder, illness or physical or mental infirmity they are more vulnerable to being harmed than adults who are not so affected. 

For the purposes of this document, an adult is defined as being 18 years old or above, although the Act defines an adult as 16-plus.

TUTORS, HOUSEPARENTS AND ADMINISTRATOR ROLES

  1. All course tutors,houseparents and administrators must provide evidence of their Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme membership.
  2. A booking form must be submitted and signed by the parent/carer on behalf of any participant under 18 years of age.
  3. A separate register of children and adults at risk should be kept for every event.
  4. Course staff should ensure that all children, and adults at risk are not left without appropriate supervision.
  5. Children and adults at risk attending on a residential basis should be accommodated in single sex accommodation alongside a houseparent of the same gender (with a minimum ratio of 1:10), and separate from adult participants. The houseparent is responsible for supervising and supporting these participants overnight.
  6. Children,and adults at risk attending on a non-residential basis should be supervised and supported by appropriate course staff from their arrival until they are picked up at the end of the teaching day.
  7. Houseparents and the Safeguarding Officers should make themselves known to all children, and adults at risk, and their parents/carers at the start of each event.
  8. Safegu rding Officers should identify any training needs, and the Board of East of Scotland Jazz Education should then find appropriate sources of and funding for the necessary training.

PLANNING AND PRACTICE

East of Scotland Jazz Education will:

  1. Plan activities which involve more than one person being present; and ensure that
    suitably vetted staff adults are within sight or hearing whenever possible
  2. Be available to listen to concerns and be able to refer to other sources of help,
    including ESJE Safeguarding Officers.
  3. Try to ensure that staff actions cannot be misunderstood.
  4. Be aware that avoidable physical contact with a child or adult at risk
    is unwise as it can be misinterpreted.
  5. Ensure data is protected and secure according to the UK General Data Protection
    Regulation (2018)
  6. Review this policy regularly.

PROCEDURES FOR RAISING SAFEGUARDING CONCERNS AND ALLEGED INCIDENTS OF ABUSE

• Report: If any course participant, staff member or volunteer in ESJE witnesses, suspects or is informed of a witnessed or suspected case of abuse they should immediately report it to one of the named Safeguarding Officers.

If an individual wishes to report an incident of abuse against themselves they should report it to one of the named Safeguarding Officers or an individual they trust.

PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH CONCERNS, DISCLOSURES AND ALLEGED INCIDENTS OF ABUSE

The Safeguarding Officer (*or the person to which the incident was reported in his or her absence) will first make a decision based on the immediacy of the concern and the following two factors:

1. If the vulnerable person is in immediate danger or needs emergency medical attention – call the police and/or ambulance service.

2. If the person at the centre of the allegation is working with vulnerable persons at the current time –  make all efforts to ensure that no one is placed in a position which could lead to further compromise.

If none of the above applies the Safeguarding Officer* will:

• Record: Make a clear, concise and accurate contemporaneous note of the concerns raised.

• Refer: Immediately advise the ESJE Board of the concerns reported. The Board may decide to escalate the report, by raising concerns with the police (for serious or possible criminal offences) and / or the local authority social care department (if a vulnerable person may be in need of protection.

CONTACT DETAILS

Any child protection concern can be raised by emailing safeguarding@esje.org.uk

ESJE Safeguarding Officers:

Alasdair Kelly 07815159709 (alasdair.kelly@esje.org.uk)

Janet Heffernan jan.heffernan@esje.org.uk

If you consider a child, young person or adult at risk to be in IMMEDIATE danger, call Police Scotland on 999. For non-emergency calls you can call Police Scotland on 101 or the Social Work Contact Centre on 03451 551503.