March 2020 Scottish Club Chat

Development Manager Liza Linton shares some Scottish Club Chat

Firstly, there are a number of updates we would like to draw your attention to around Safeguarding.

Policies: - We at RYA Scotland are in the process of updating our Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy and information available on our website. The major change is around the inclusion of ‘Child Wellbeing’ and the promoting of the overall wellbeing of a child in a holistic manner. The landscape around Child Protection has changed over the years and so has the legislation and policy that underpins it. There is now a recognition that there are several other issues that can have a negative impact on a child and these fall under ‘wellbeing’ concerns. Therefore, the updated policy and information available is also looking at both promoting wellbeing through proactive ways of working (e.g. including the child in decision making) or through early intervention and supporting of individuals when negatively impacting issues are identified e.g. bereavement, self-harm, bullying, family break ups and many more.

SHANARRI is the common phrase used to summarise the eight indicators to ensure a child’s wellbeing and is used across the professions that work with children and young people. By making sport, clubs, centres and coaches aware of SHANARRI we are increasing the support we can give to children. The SHANARRI Well-being Wheel also enables us to see how sport & physical activity can contribute to a young person’s wellbeing e.g. to encourage/teach them to be Responsible or Active on the Water, but it also allows us to identify if something is impacting on a child’s wellbeing. Further information is available on the website or you can contact Liza Linton, Development Manager and Lead Child Wellbeing & Safeguarding Officer for more information.

We’ve also updated a number of the policies and brought them to the front so that you can access them and use them to form/update your policies in the clubs/centres – e.g. Anti-Bullying Policy, Sample Codes of Conduct – and these can also be found on our website . There are also new posters for Safeguarding both Children & Young People and Adults that can be found on our website too.

Training: - There’s also been a change in the opportunities for Coaches, Instructors, Child Protection/Welfare Officers, and Committee Members around training.

The on-line RYA ‘Safe and Fun’ course is available at over 60 training centres and is a mandatory requirement for anyone undertaking a Instructor, Senior Instructor or Race Coach Qualification.

There are now two new workshops in Scotland that replace the old sportscoachUK Safeguarding Courses – these are Child Wellbeing & Protection in Sport and Child Wellbeing & Protection Officers – both have been written in partnership and are certificated by Children 1^st Safeguarding in Sport Unit and sportscotland, making them a much more practical and realistic approach to Child Wellbeing & Protection in a sporting context within Scotland. The two courses are:

Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport Workshop

This 2part workshop consists of an online Module 1 and then Module 2 – a 3hour face-to-face workshop replaces the old Safeguarding and Protecting Children (SPC) workshop and is certificated by Children 1^st and sportscotland.
This course is aimed at coaches, instructors, committee members and is a pre-requisite for any Child Wellbeing and Protection Officer attendees.
Further details of the course can be found here
A number of local authority and sporting partners offer this workshop locally and dates can be found here
RYA Scotland can help clubs to organise a course for you locally and is aiming to put on at least two courses a year

Child Wellbeing and Protection Officer Workshop

The workshop has been in ‘trial phase’ since late 2019
From 1^st March 2020 this workshop has replaced ‘In Safe Hands Training’ which was the Children 1^st course originally targeted it Child Welfare/Protection Officers (although the advertising in some places may still have the old name)
It will be targeted at those who are at a Child Protection Officer/Team Manager/Committee Member with safeguarding responsibility level (not all committee members) and further information is available here
Costs for this shall be approximately £30-35 per person

Secondly, we are looking for your help in our Strategic Review and what RYA Scotland should focus on in its next strategy (2021-25). This is your chance to have your say and let us know the real issues that affect you and how we could help and support the boating community. From the first event on 30^th March at Oban Sailing Club to sessions on Lerwick, Lewis and Orkney Islands to Royal Tay YC in Dundee to Nairn Sailing Club to the final session in Annandale SC on 13^th May 2020 there is plenty of opportunity to get involved. Further information and booking details have been sent to all clubs and can also be found here – make sure you have booked your place!

Thirdly, I’ve been asked to bring club’s attention to the fact that the Scottish Government have published a ‘Living with Flooding – Action Plan’. The Action Plan focuses on property resilience and although mainly looking at housing it has a number of ideas that may be useful for clubhouses at risk of flooding.

Finally, in terms of Coronavirus (Covid-19), RYA Scotland is following the official advice from the relevant agencies in Scotland which suggest that at this time we can continue to run our normal activities with sensible precautions. Clubs and Training Centres should refer to the advice on the NHS Inform Scotland website and continue to encourage individuals to be diligent with personal hygiene and especially hand washing.

NHS Inform (NHS Scotland website)

www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/coronavirus-covid-19

We will continue to monitor the advice from Government and will adopt any subsequent changes.

Other information is available from:

Dept of Health (UK Government) – will be updated at 2pm daily

www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

World Health Organisation – situation reports (updates)

www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/

HSE

www.hse.gov.uk/news/coronavirus.htm

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus