Safeguarding – Let’s Act Drama School

Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

Policy version: 2026
Effective from: 1 September 2026
Policy owner / DSL: Yasmin Haider, Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
Review frequency: At least annually, and sooner if guidance, legislation or local arrangements change
Next scheduled review: September 2027

This policy is designed for Let’s Act’s drama classes, clubs, lessons, camps and other activities involving children and young people.

Important note about host schools

Where Let’s Act delivers an activity on school premises, Let’s Act staff will comply with the host school’s safeguarding and child protection procedures as well as this policy. The host school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (or another nominated safeguarding contact) must be known to the Let’s Act staff delivering the activity. Where the host school requires concerns to be reported through its own safeguarding system, Let’s Act staff must follow that procedure without delay.

1. Purpose and principles

Let’s Act is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of every child and young person who takes part in our activities. We will provide an environment in which children feel safe, respected and listened to, and where they can raise concerns and be taken seriously.

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Let’s Act adopts a child-centred approach and will consider the child’s best interests, wishes and feelings when responding to concerns.

All children under the age of 18 have equal rights to protection from harm, regardless of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, language, culture or any other characteristic.
Staff will maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here’.
Concerns will be acted upon promptly and proportionately.
Children will be listened to and their wishes and feelings considered, in a way appropriate to their age and understanding.
Safeguarding concerns will be shared on a need-to-know basis, while recognising that information may need to be shared with safeguarding partners to protect a child.
Let’s Act will work with parents/carers and other agencies where appropriate and safe to do so.

2. Legislative and guidance framework

This policy is informed by the Children Act 1989 and 2004, the Education Act 2002 where applicable, and current Department for Education and safeguarding guidance relevant to Let’s Act’s activities.

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026, where applicable to work delivered in or with schools.
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026.
Keeping Children Safe in Out-of-School Settings: safeguarding guidance for providers.
Prevent duty guidance and relevant counter-extremism safeguarding requirements.
Relevant statutory guidance concerning female genital mutilation, forced marriage, child sexual exploitation, online safety and information sharing.
Relevant local safeguarding partnership procedures and the safeguarding procedures of host schools.

Let’s Act will review this policy whenever relevant legislation, statutory guidance or local safeguarding arrangements change.

3. Roles and responsibilities

Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

The DSL for Let’s Act is currently Yasmin Haider.

Provide overall strategic and operational oversight of safeguarding and child protection within Let’s Act.
Act as the central contact point for safeguarding concerns.
Maintain secure and confidential safeguarding records.
Coordinate safeguarding action and referrals for individual children.
Liaise with local authority children’s services, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), police and other agencies when appropriate.
Ensure staff receive appropriate safeguarding induction and training.
Ensure staff understand how to report concerns and how to access help outside Let’s Act if necessary.
Keep safeguarding practice and this policy under review.

Deputy DSL / safeguarding cover

Let’s Act has appointed Amy Shone as Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (Deputy DSL). The Deputy DSL will support the DSL, provide safeguarding advice when required, act as safeguarding cover when the DSL is unavailable, and maintain appropriate safeguarding knowledge and training.

Deputy DSL: Amy Shone

All staff, teachers, volunteers and visiting adults

Safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their care.
Read, understand and follow this policy and relevant host-school procedures.
Attend safeguarding induction and required refresher training.
Recognise signs of abuse, neglect and other safeguarding risks.
Report concerns promptly to the DSL and, where required, to the host school’s DSL.
Never promise a child confidentiality or secrecy about a safeguarding concern.
Record concerns accurately, using the child’s own words wherever possible.
Maintain appropriate professional boundaries and follow the staff code of conduct.
Escalate concerns if they believe a child remains at risk or if they do not feel a concern has been acted upon appropriately.

4. Recognising safeguarding concerns

Abuse and neglect can occur online or offline, may be perpetrated by adults or other children, and may involve more than one form of harm. Staff do not need to be certain that abuse has occurred before reporting a concern.

The four core categories of abuse

Physical abuse – including hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm.
Sexual abuse – including contact and non-contact sexual activity, sexual exploitation, grooming and involving children in sexual images or activities.
Emotional abuse – persistent emotional maltreatment that causes or is likely to cause serious adverse effects on emotional development.
Neglect – persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in serious impairment of health or development.

Other safeguarding risks

Bullying and cyberbullying.
Child-on-child abuse, including sexual harassment, sexual violence and harmful sexual behaviour.
Domestic abuse and teenage relationship abuse.
Child sexual exploitation and other forms of exploitation, including group-based exploitation.
Online harms, including harmful content, grooming, coercion, abuse and misuse of technology or generative AI.
Mental health concerns and self-harm.
Female genital mutilation and forced marriage.
Honour-based abuse and faith/belief-based abuse.
Radicalisation and extremism.
Gangs, violence and criminal exploitation.
Human trafficking and modern slavery.
Missing children or unexplained absence.
Drugs and alcohol misuse.
Hate, racism and discrimination.
Fabricated or induced illness.
Private fostering and other situations where a child’s care arrangements may raise safeguarding concerns.

5. Responding to a disclosure or concern – the 6 Rs

RECEIVE

Stay calm and listen carefully.
Take what the child says seriously.
Avoid showing shock, disbelief or judgement.
Allow the child to speak at their own pace.

RESPOND

Reassure the child that they have done the right thing by speaking to you.
Do not promise confidentiality or secrecy.
Explain that you will need to tell the appropriate person so that they can help keep the child safe.
Do not make promises about what will happen next.

REACT

Ask only enough open questions to clarify what the child has said and establish immediate safety.
Do not interrogate the child or ask leading questions.
Do not ask the child to repeat the disclosure to several people.
Do not investigate the allegation yourself.
If there is immediate danger, contact emergency services and/or follow the host school’s emergency safeguarding procedure.

RECORD

Record the concern as soon as possible.
Use the child’s own words where possible.
Record the date, time, location, who was present and any relevant observable behaviour.
Distinguish facts from opinion or interpretation.
Sign and date the record and pass it securely to the DSL.

REFER

Report the concern without delay to the DSL and, where the activity is delivered in a school, to the host school’s safeguarding lead in accordance with its procedures. The DSL will determine the appropriate next safeguarding action, including referral to children’s social care, police or other agencies where required.

RELAX / REFLECT

Safeguarding disclosures can be distressing. Staff should seek appropriate professional support and supervision. Staff must not discuss a child’s disclosure with colleagues, parents or others except where there is a safeguarding need to know.

6. Immediate danger and emergencies

If a child is in immediate danger or requires urgent medical attention, staff must take immediate steps to protect the child and contact emergency services where necessary. The DSL and host school safeguarding lead should be informed as soon as practicable

7. Child-on-child abuse

Let’s Act recognises that children can harm other children. Abuse by children can include bullying, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, sexual violence, harmful sexual behaviour, violence, coercion, initiation/hazing and exploitation.

Concerns will never be dismissed as ‘banter’, ‘just playing’ or a normal part of growing up.
The safety and wellbeing of all children involved will be considered.
Victims and alleged perpetrators will be supported appropriately.
Risk will be assessed and proportionate protective action taken.
Where necessary, the host school, parents/carers, children’s social care or police will be involved.

8. Allegations and concerns about adults

Any allegation or concern that an adult working for Let’s Act, a volunteer, contractor, visiting professional or another person working with children may have harmed a child, behaved in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm, or otherwise acted inappropriately must be reported immediately.

The concern must be reported to the DSL or, where appropriate, directly to the host school’s safeguarding lead.
The adult who is the subject of the concern must not lead or conduct the investigation.
The DSL/appropriate senior leader will consider whether the matter should be referred to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and/or police in line with local procedures.
Confidentiality will be maintained and information shared only with those who need to know.
Let’s Act will cooperate with safeguarding partners and any investigation.
Where the legal criteria for a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service are met, Let’s Act will make the required referral.

Low-level concerns

Let’s Act will encourage staff to report any concern, however small, about an adult’s behaviour towards children where the behaviour may be inconsistent with the staff code of conduct or may indicate a potential risk. Low-level concerns will be recorded, reviewed and managed appropriately. A pattern of concerns may indicate a wider safeguarding issue.

9. Safer recruitment and suitability checks

Let’s Act is committed to safer recruitment and to ensuring that adults working with children are suitable for their roles.

Appropriate identity, right-to-work, employment-history, reference and qualification checks will be completed where applicable.
The appropriate DBS check and barred-list check will be obtained where the role and legislation require it.
No person will undertake regulated activity with children until the required checks have been completed, subject to any lawful arrangements and risk controls that apply.
Where staff are supplied by an agency or third party, Let’s Act will obtain appropriate assurance that required checks have been completed.
Where relevant, additional checks will be undertaken for people who have lived or worked overseas.
Recruitment decisions will consider safeguarding suitability, not simply qualifications or experience.
Staff must disclose relevant matters that may affect their suitability to work with children in accordance with the law and Let’s Act procedures.

Where a host school requires Let’s Act to provide evidence of checks or staff suitability, Let’s Act will cooperate with the school’s safeguarding and visitor procedures.

10. Staff induction, training and professional conduct

All new staff and volunteers will receive safeguarding induction before or at the start of their work, appropriate to their role.
Safeguarding training will be refreshed regularly and at least annually.
The DSL and Deputy DSL will undertake appropriate safeguarding and DSL training and ensure that their training is updated at least every two years. They will also undertake regular safeguarding updates between formal training to remain informed of changes to legislation, statutory guidance, local safeguarding arrangements and emerging safeguarding risks.
Staff will be updated on changes to safeguarding risks, legislation, statutory guidance and local procedures.
Staff will follow Let’s Act’s code of conduct and professional-boundaries requirements.
Staff must use communication methods approved by Let’s Act and must not form inappropriate personal relationships with children.
One-to-one working, physical contact, transport, photography/filming and use of personal devices must follow Let’s Act and host-school procedures.

11. Online safety

Let’s Act recognises that children may experience safeguarding risks through phones, social media, gaming, messaging platforms, online communities and other digital services. Staff should report concerns involving online grooming, sexual exploitation, harassment, bullying, harmful content, coercion, threats, image sharing, financial exploitation or other online harm.

Staff must not use personal social-media accounts to communicate privately with children.
Any approved digital communication with children or parents must use authorised channels.
Staff must not request, store or share sexual images of children.
Where an online concern involves a school pupil, the host school’s safeguarding procedures must also be followed.
Staff should preserve relevant information where safe to do so, but must not conduct their own investigation.

12. Attendance, missing children and collection

Let’s Act will maintain appropriate registers and supervision arrangements for children attending its activities. Any unexplained absence, child missing from an activity, or failure to collect a child will be managed in accordance with Let’s Act procedures and, where applicable, the host school’s procedures.

Children must be supervised appropriately for their age, needs and the activity.
Staff must know who is responsible for the child at the beginning and end of each session.
A child must not leave the activity unsupervised unless this has been expressly authorised and is appropriate to their age and circumstances.
If a child cannot be located, staff must immediately follow the missing-child procedure and inform the DSL/host school.

13. Information sharing, confidentiality and records

Safeguarding records will be accurate, factual, dated and stored securely. Information will be shared only with people who need it to safeguard a child, while recognising that safeguarding professionals may need to share information with other agencies.

Staff must never promise secrecy.
Safeguarding records must not be kept in ordinary class registers, personal notebooks or unsecured messaging accounts.
Records must be passed to the DSL without delay.
The DSL will maintain appropriate records of concerns, decisions, referrals and outcomes.
Let’s Act will handle personal and safeguarding information in accordance with applicable data-protection requirements.

14. Working with parents and carers

Let’s Act will work openly with parents and carers wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so. Parents/carers will normally be informed when there is a safeguarding concern about their child. However, information may be withheld or delayed where informing them could place a child at greater risk, prejudice a criminal investigation, or otherwise be contrary to safeguarding advice.

15. Whistleblowing and escalation

Staff are encouraged to raise safeguarding concerns internally. Anyone who believes that a safeguarding concern has not been dealt with appropriately should escalate it to the DSL, senior leadership, the host school’s safeguarding lead, the relevant local authority or another appropriate safeguarding body.

NSPCC Whistleblowing Advice Line: 0808 800 5000

16. Monitoring, review and governance

The DSL will monitor the implementation of this policy, staff training, safeguarding concerns and any safeguarding actions taken. The policy will be reviewed at least annually and sooner if there are changes to legislation, statutory guidance, local safeguarding procedures or Let’s Act’s activities.

All staff are expected to confirm that they have read and understood this policy and to follow it in practice.

Appendix 1 – Recognising signs of abuse and neglect

The following indicators are examples only. No single indicator proves abuse or neglect. Staff should consider changes in behaviour, patterns, context and the child’s individual circumstances.

Possible indicators of sexual abuse

Sudden changes in behaviour or performance.
Sexualised behaviour or language that is inappropriate for the child’s age or development.
Withdrawal, anxiety, fear or unusual distress around particular people or situations.
Unexplained gifts, money or contact with unknown adults.
Sexually transmitted infections or pregnancy in circumstances that raise safeguarding concerns.
Disclosure, hints or references to secrets or inappropriate contact.

Possible indicators of physical abuse

Unexplained or inconsistent injuries.
Injuries in unusual locations or patterns.
Repeated injuries or delayed presentation for medical treatment.
Fear of going home or unusual changes in behaviour.
Explanations that do not fit the injury or circumstances.

Possible indicators of emotional abuse

Low self-esteem or confidence.
Excessive need for approval or reassurance.
Withdrawal, anxiety or unusually passive behaviour.
Aggression or severe emotional outbursts.
Developmentally inappropriate behaviour or expectations.
Evidence of serious bullying, humiliation, coercion or fear.

Possible indicators of neglect

Persistent hunger, tiredness or poor hygiene.
Inadequate clothing or living conditions.
Frequent lateness or absence.
Untreated medical needs.
Poor supervision.
Persistent concerns about a child’s basic physical or emotional needs.

Appendix 2 – Quick reference: if a child tells you something

Listen calmly.
Take the child seriously.
Do not promise secrecy.
Do not investigate or ask leading questions.
Use open questions only where necessary to clarify immediate safety.
Record the child’s words and the facts as soon as possible.
Report the concern immediately to the DSL / host school safeguarding lead.
If there is immediate danger, contact emergency services and follow local safeguarding procedures.

Appendix 3 – External safeguarding resources

Department for Education – Keeping Children Safe in Education.
Department for Education – Working Together to Safeguard Children.
Department for Education – Out-of-School Settings safeguarding guidance.
NSPCC.
Childline.
CEOP.
Internet Watch Foundation.
Childnet / UK Safer Internet Centre.
Local safeguarding partnership and local authority children’s social care.

Policy approval and staff acknowledgement

Approved by: Yasmin Haider
Role: DSL
Date approved: 25/08/2026
Date issued to staff: 25/08/2026
Next review date: September 2027

Local safeguarding contacts are intentionally not listed in this organisation-wide policy because Let’s Act delivers activities across different local authority areas. For each venue, staff must use the current safeguarding contacts and procedures for the relevant local authority and host school. The venue-specific safeguarding contact information should be provided to staff before they begin work.