SAFEGUARDING & PROTECTING CHILDREN IN Newsletter August 2011 “The Child’s Welfare is Paramount” The RFL Safeguarding Conference Places available to Coaches and Club Volunteers

The Annual Safeguarding Conference will take place on: Sunday 25th September 2011 Odsal Stadium, Bradford

There are limited places available to attend the annual Safeguarding Conference. The conference provides an opportunity to meet with other volunteers with a commitment to safeguarding and to share best practice. If you would like to attend, please complete the application form and we will inform you if you have a place as soon as we can.

If you are a CWO who has not booked a place, please contact Adam Treeby as places are very limited.

Attendance at this conference can be used as part of CPD for CWOs and Coaches

Regional Welfare Officers (RWOs)

Final reminder – please send notice of interest to [email protected] by 10th September

If you would be interested in being a RWO then please contact Colette Eden by telephone or email to discuss this further. Regional Welfare Officers play a vital role as a link to both the club CWO and the RFL Safeguarding Manager. The position involves both initial and ongoing training which may form part of CPD or enhance job prospects for volunteers wishing to move in to this area. Please click here for further information

CRB News Each month the CRB produce the error lists for the previous month. As you can see there are still several common errors submitted. If these errors are not spotted by the safeguarding team they will be sent to CRB and returned which makes the process longer. If the errors are identified by the safeguarding team, they will be returned to the applicant which again makes the process longer. If you do have application forms returned to you, please ensure that you send them back as soon as possible. Sometimes people do not return them for quite a while and the application is withdrawn and a new application submitted.

Issued by the RFL August 2011 Every effort has been made by the RFL to ensure accuracy in this information at the time of going to press. However this is meant as general advice and will not necessarily apply to all situations so for specific advice please contact the RFL direct.

Page 1 of 6 Do not sign the Counter signatory box as this is for the RFL to sign. If this box is signed then we cross it out and the counter signatory signs in whatever space is left. This means that the CRB cannot put the application through their electronic system and the process takes longer as it has to be manually inputted. The CRB are now returning applications where there is an incorrect (crossed out) signature in this box.

July’s application form errors

Application form errors with number of errors

Section X68 - Is the application for a free of charge volunteer? 3029

Section A23 - Driving Licence Number Middle Name 2525 Applicant MUST include their middle name even if they do not use it.

Section W59 - Has the Evidence Checker established the Applicant's identity and verified the information? 2481 Verifiers MUST identify that they have completed this process

Section A6 - Other Forename(s) 2387 This refers to the driving licence number middle name (your driving licence number indicates if you have a middle name, regardless of whether you use it or not)

General - 5 year address not supplied 2367 The application cannot be processed if there is any gap in address dates

Section X62 - Organisation Name 1660 It is important that the organisation name is completed from our point of view as well – do not put RFL as we need to identify the individual with a club or other organisation

GOOD NEWS STORIES Each month we would like to highlight a „good news‟ story from youth and junior teams. If you have a story that you would like included, please send it by email to [email protected] and include a photograph where you can. I have started this off with one from my club that I was personally involved in organising. The RFL is committed to making the game inclusive and f you have any good ideas for promoting the game to new groups of young people, please share them with other clubs and areas by sending details of your work to Colette Eden for inclusion in this section.

Saints Girls (Thatto Heath Crusaders) attempt Guinness World Record

The St Helens Girls Rugby League Section on Sunday 14th August made an attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the most rugby passes by a team in an hour. Each pass had to go at least 5 meters, be a legal backwards pass, any drop balls or forward passes or passes below 5m didn't count. The target was set at 1500, the girls, subject to verification for the Guinness Book of World Records, smashed the target to set a new record of 2052 passes. The event was held at Thatto Heath Crusaders Rugby League Club, in front of a couple of hundred spectators, who also enjoyed an open day to promote girls rugby league.

Issued by the RFL August 2011 Every effort has been made by the RFL to ensure accuracy in this information at the time of going to press. However this is meant as general advice and will not necessarily apply to all situations so for specific advice please contact the RFL direct.

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(Saints Girls – Thatto Heath Crusaders after their successful Record Attempt).

Safeguarding Children in Rugby League: Research Project with Edge Hill University

Through confidential interviews with the rugby league community, this project will aim to evaluate current engagement with safeguarding across a range of stakeholders within our sport. This will provide important data to inform our strategic planning as we prepare to work through the requirements of the new Framework and continue to work in the best interests of all children

Mike Hartill is conducting this piece of research and has already spoken to several Club Welfare Officers, Coaches and Parents. If you have received an email inviting you to be part of this research and have not yet replied, please be advised that if you do not reply quickly your opportunity to contribute to this research will be passed on to another volunteer.

Please note: the questions asked are not a „test‟ on your knowledge of safeguarding but are a confidential way of assessing the impact of our safeguarding policy and procedure. There are no „right and wrong‟ answers and your honest answers would be appreciated.

WALES JUNIOR GRAND FINALS

Wales Rugby League for the first time held all of their Junior Grand Finals on one day and in one location for the very first time on Sunday 21st August, where a large crowd were treated to a magnificent day at a sun drenched Virginia Park.

The event consisted of five games which included one semi final and four National finals with over 150 children involved representing six conference clubs.

“It was an outstanding occasion,” said Mark Jones. “It was a superb advert for Junior . The standard of Rugby League in this area is improving every year, these finals have a history of producing stars of the future and I‟m sure we saw a number of those on display last Sunday.” (Panthers (Pontyclun) U15s Celebrate)

Issued by the RFL August 2011 Every effort has been made by the RFL to ensure accuracy in this information at the time of going to press. However this is meant as general advice and will not necessarily apply to all situations so for specific advice please contact the RFL direct.

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Safeguarding Standards – Wales

The RFL Safeguarding Team is assisting in achieving the Child Protection in Sport (CPSU) standards.

As part of the process to achieve the standards training opportunities will take place over the next few months. The Safeguarding and Protecting Children Courses (SPC) will be organised for club coaches and other volunteers. The Time to Listen (TTL) Course will be organised for any Club Welfare Officers (CWO) new to the post and for any who have not yet received the training. Mark Jones is working closely with Colette Eden on achieving the standards, as is Mark Roley Chair of Wales Rugby League. We will also be holding forums with young people and parents involved in rugby league and we ask that you assist in organising and attending these events to ensure we achieve the standards by the December deadline If you have any questions on the Standards or any safeguarding queries, please contact Colette Eden by telephone or email.

REVIEW OF RESOURCES We are currently reviewing the resources that are available to clubs. In order to do this successfully we would like to hear your views on how useful they are to you and your club. If you could email me any comments you have on the resources you have used, we can evaluate their usefulness. We would particularly like to know if you think that a resource is not useful, not in the best format, has missing or unnecessary information or if you can identify any resource that we do not currently supply that would be beneficial to you, your club, players or parents, please let me know. We look forward to receiving your emails to ensure all resources available to you meet your requirements. [email protected]

Issued by the RFL August 2011 Every effort has been made by the RFL to ensure accuracy in this information at the time of going to press. However this is meant as general advice and will not necessarily apply to all situations so for specific advice please contact the RFL direct.

Page 4 of 6 TRAINING - SAFEGUARDING & PROTECTING CHILDREN (SPC) AND TIME TO LISTEN (TTL) - A requirement for both Clubmark and good practice.

Safeguarding and Protecting Children Course (SPC) This course is a basic safeguarding awareness course and is free for registered Club Welfare Officers and costs £15 for junior coaches and all other volunteers or paid employees.

Time to Listen Course (TTL) This course is primarily for Club Welfare Officers and is provided free to a CWO. For other volunteers who wish to take this course the cost is £15. The RFL organise courses on a regular basis. These are publicised by email distribution, the Safeguarding newsletter and are displayed on the RFL Website. For further information or to book a place please contact Adam Treeby @ [email protected] or [email protected]

Organising a course at your club If there are sufficient numbers within your club (12-20) the RFL will arrange a session just for your club. In addition if you want to host a course at your club for your junior coaches, other volunteers and parents and cannot get 20 people together – perhaps you could run a shared course with a neighbouring club? - please contact Colette Eden to discuss arrangements. These will cost £15 per person with CWO places free.

Please see below for dates and venues of courses that are planned

Yorkshire

Safeguarding and Protecting Children (SPC) Monday 12th September 6:30pm – 9:30pm Training Academy, Kirkstall

Safeguarding and Protecting Children (SPC) Wednesday 14th September 6:30pm – 9:30pm RLFC, Tetley‟s Stadium, Owl Lane, Dewsbury

Time To Listen (TTL) Tuesday 20th September 6:30pm – 9:30pm , Big Fella‟s Stadium, Featherstone

Safeguarding and Protecting Children (SPC) Wednesday 28th September 6:30pm – 9:30pm Birchencliffe club

North West

Safeguarding and Protecting Children (SPC) Tuesday 20th September 6:30-9:30pm Aspull Rugby Union Club, Aspull, WN2 1PL

Humberside

Time To Listen (TTL) Monday 5th September 6:30pm - 9:30pm Hull KR, Craven Park, Hull

Issued by the RFL August 2011 Every effort has been made by the RFL to ensure accuracy in this information at the time of going to press. However this is meant as general advice and will not necessarily apply to all situations so for specific advice please contact the RFL direct.

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If you would like to book a place on one of the courses above please contact Adam Treeby details below. Details of any further courses available can be found on the RFL website.

SAFEGUARDING TEAM CONTACT DETAILS

Colette Eden – Safeguarding Manager Direct Line: 0113 237 5046 Mobile: 07595 520610 Email: [email protected]

Adam Treeby – CRB & Safeguarding Assistant Direct Line: 0113 237 5036 Email: [email protected]

Colette Eden‟s mobile number can be used as an emergency number to ask for support or to make an initial report of an incident at any time.

Anyone who has an issue, question or requires CRB information can email the Safeguarding Team on the dedicated email address: [email protected] or contact the Operations Team on 0844 477 7113 option 6

The NSPCC Child Protection Helpline is 0808 800 5000 - your Local Safeguarding Children Board will also be able to give advice in cases which you think needs statutory agency input.

Issued by the RFL August 2011 Every effort has been made by the RFL to ensure accuracy in this information at the time of going to press. However this is meant as general advice and will not necessarily apply to all situations so for specific advice please contact the RFL direct.

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