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General Statement of Policy

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The policy of KOKO Dance Academy  is to provide and maintain as far as reasonably practicable, safe and healthy work conditions, equipment, systems of work and procedures for all students and staff.

We will insure that that all information and training has been provided to staff to they are able to carry out their duties.

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Whilst every effort is made to avoid them, injuries can happen however the academy cannot accept any responsibility for injuries sustained during the class. We do not accept responsibility for loss, damage and or injury arising from errors or omissions on the registration form, whether completed by you or the person in charge of your child at the time of enrolment.

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KOKO Dance Academy are only responsible for students whilst they are in their class. Children cannot be supervised whilst they are outside class. Young children must be collected promptly at the end of their class.

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The overall responsibility for health and safety at KOKO Dance Academy rests with:

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Keziah J Watts

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Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

The appointed person to report any issues is Keziah Watts.

 

It is imperative that children are kept safe and free from harm during their time at KOKO Dance Academy. We believe that everyone has a responsibility to promote the welfare of all our students and will give equal priority to keeping all of our students safe, regardless of their age, disability, gender identity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. KOKO recognises that some children are particularly vulnerable because of the impact of discrimination, previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues.

All parents/guardians, teachers, staff, assistants and volunteers should be aware of our procedures should a concern be raised.

 

Injuries
Injuries are a possibility for all forms of physical exercise and dance is no exception. We actively aim to reduce any chance for injuries by ensuring children have performed a warm up and a cool down to finish the class and do not allow students to ‘mess around’ which could result in injury themselves and those around them. We do not allow children to sit out the cool down, however in rare event that it has not been possible to encourage a student to join in after multiple attempts, we cannot accept responsibility for any issues arising from this. We cannot accept any responsibility for injuries sustained during the class, nor do we accept responsibility for loss, damage or injury arsing from errors or omissions on the registration form, whether completed by you or the person in charge of your child at the enrolment.

Supervision of a student
KOKO Dance Academy are only responsible for students whilst they are in their class and children cannot be supervised whilst they are outside of the class. Young children must be collected promptly at the end of their class.

 

Adults who may interact with students
All teachers hired by KOKO Dance Academy will be self-employed contractors who will be required to have an Enhanced DBS Check and have appropriate Public Liability Insurance prior to their classes at our academy. Any visitors, assistants or volunteers without an Enhanced DBS check will not be left alone with the children.

Parents will not be permitted to watch classes in the interest of both safeguarding and minimising distractions for the students. Instead, we will hold parent watch weeks and organise performances.

 

Who to contact with a concern?
Please contact Keziah Watts regarding any issues so that she may liaise with you and if necessary, conduct an investigation. This could be an issue raised regarding an event that has happened at the academy or a separate issue you wish to discuss. These issues could be concern over the student’s wellbeing or a concern regarding abuse.

 

If a child raises a concern
In the event that a child raises a concern, whether it is something that has happened within the academy classes or an issue elsewhere, Keziah Watts will log a report and contact the parent or social services as appropriate. If there is an immediate risk of harm, whether from an injury or from suspected abuse, we or the parent/guardian will call 999.

We will contact Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Regional Safeguarding Board, if necessary.
https://www.cardiffandvalersb.co.uk/

Information will only be shared with people who need know. Concerns regarding a child’s safety and wellbeing will be shared those necessary, even if a child has asked us not to.
We will only share information in accordance with the Llywodraeth Cymru Welsh Government guidelines and strictly follow the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Data Protection Act 2018.

Please click here to see further information regarding how the government instructs those in a duty of care to correctly share information to safeguard children and adults.

 

 

Regional Safeguarding Board for Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan:

https://www.cardiffandvalersb.co.uk/

Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan RSCB

cardiffandvalersb@cardiff.gov.uk

Tel: 029 2233 0880 / 029 2233 0883

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Last updated: June 2022 by Keziah Watts

Photography and Filming Policy

 

At KOKO Dance Academy, we are proud of our students and what they accomplish through dance and musical theatre during their time here. We love sharing our hard work with our family and friends through images and film on social media and also use this media to raise awareness of our dance academy. It is also beneficial to record choreography and/or formations during the rehearsal process to look back on and aid future rehearsals.

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We will endeavour to post videos as training aids on our password-protected parent portal to help students rehearse choreography at home, which will be strictly private and no re-sharing will be allowed. Any re-sharing of private videos from the parent portal is taken seriously and may result in expulsion.

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We deem it appropriate to draw up a Photography and Filming policy following guidance from the NSPCC to ensure we are protecting our students at whose parents/guardians have consented for KOKO to take photos and video of their child at our academy.

This policy statements applies to all staff, volunteers and other adults associated with KOKO Dance Academy.

 

  • It must be noted that if a child or their family withdraw consent for an image to be shared, it may not be possible to delete images that have already been shared or published.

  • We will never share personal information about individual children and we will disguise any identifying information, such as their school uniform with a logo.

  • We will limit posting names alongside their photo or avoid this entirely if consent is not given.
    An example where we may do this is to congratulate them with an award.

  • We will only use images of children in appropriate clothing.

  • We will only use images that positively reflect a young person’s involvement in the activity.

  • Images will only be stored by Keziah Watts, the principal or another teacher if they teach a class on a weekly basis.

  • Photos / videos shared on the password protected parent portal must not be shared without permission from Keziah Watts.

 

Photography and/or filming for personal use
When children themselves, parents, carers or spectators are taking photos or filming at our events and the images are for personal use, we will publish guidance about image sharing in the event programmes and/or announce details of our photography policy before the start of the event. This includes:

  • Reminding parents/guardians and children that they need to give consent for KOKO Dance Academy to take and use their images.

  • Asking for photos taken during the event not to be shared on social media or asking people to gain permission from children and their parents/guardians before sharing photographs and videos that include them

Please note, we cannot be held accountable for photographs or video footage taken by children, parents/guardians and members of the public at academy events.

 

Photography and/or filming for KOKO Dance Academy’s use
If we hire a photographer for one of our events, we will seek to keep our students safe by:

  • Providing the photographer with a clear brief about appropriate content and behaviour

  • Ensuring the photographer wears identification at all times

  • Informing children and their parents/guardians that a photographer will be at the event and ensure they have given consent to images which will feature their child being taken and shared

  • Not allowing the photographer to have unsupervised access to children

  • Not allowing the photographer to carry out sessions outside the event or at a child’s home

  • Reporting concerns regarding inappropriate or intrusive photography following our child protection procedures.

 

If consent to take photographs and film is not given
We respect the wishes of both children and parents/guardians who do not consent to having their photograph taken. We endeavour to ensure that their privacy is respected in a way that does not single out the child or make them feel isolated.

We will never exclude a child from an activity because we do not have consent to take their photograph.

Appropriate Touch Policy

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Dance training often requires appropriate physical contact between a student and the teacher to correct a student’s posture, placement of limbs or stance. Any physical contact will be initiated with the teacher asking the student for permission to physically aid the dancer and any refusal will be respected. If the child is at risk of severe injury and has not granted permission for physical touch, we may ask the child to stop that particular movement.

KOKO Dance Academy uses several methods to help a student adjust their body into the required position, such as demonstrating, imagery and visualisation alongside physical touch, which will be used only when necessary. We will never use force or the use of any instrument.

 

KOKO Dance Academy takes the responsibility for safeguarding students and teachers seriously. Parents/Guardians and Students should be encouraged to discuss any worries with a member of staff and any reports shall be taken seriously.

 

Please contact Keziah Watts should you have any concerns regarding our policy.

Privacy Policy

Any personal information collected on this site will be kept strictly confidential and will not be sold, rented, disclosed, or loaned.

Any personal information you provide will be held with the utmost care and will not be used in ways that you have not consented to.

The information we collect will be used to:

• Respond to Enquiries.
• With your consent email a newsletter to inform you of various promotions, goods and services that may be of interest to you.

Any personal information we collect from you will be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and other applicable laws including the GDPR

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