This Code of Conduct outlines appropriate standards of behaviour by adults towards children.

The Code of Conduct aims to protect children and reduce any opportunities for abuse or harm to occur. It also helps staff and volunteers by providing them with guidance on how to best support children and how to avoid or better manage difficult situations. This Code of Conduct applies to all people involved in Canadian Bay Calisthenics College activities, including coaches, officials, volunteers and parents.

All Canadian Bay Calisthenics College staff and volunteers are responsible for promoting the safety and wellbeing of children and young people by:

• Adhering to our Child Safe Policy, this Code of Conduct and other Canadian Bay Calisthenics College policies
• Taking all reasonable steps to protect children from abuse
• Treating everyone with respect, including listening to and valuing their ideas and opinions
• Welcoming all children and their families and carers and being inclusive
• Respecting cultural, religious and political differences and acting in a culturally sensitive way, particularly when interacting with children who are Aboriginal or otherwise culturally or linguistically diverse and those with a disability

• Modelling appropriate adult behaviour
• Listening to children and responding to them appropriately
• Reporting and acting on any breaches of this Code of Conduct, complaints or concerns appropriately and treat them seriously and with respect.
• Complying with our guidelines on physical contact with children
• Working with children in an open and transparent way – other adults should always know about the work you are doing with children
• Respecting the privacy of children and their families, and only disclosing information to people who have a need to know.

Canadian Bay Calisthenics College staff and volunteers MUST NOT:

• Seek to use children in any way to meet the needs of adults
• Ignore or disregard any concerns, suspicions or disclosures of child abuse
• Use prejudice, oppressive behaviour or language with children
• Engage in rough physical games
• Discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, culture, vulnerability or sexuality
• Initiate unnecessary physical contact with children or do things of a personal nature that children can do for themselves, such as toileting or changing clothes
• Develop ‘special’ relationships with specific children or show favouritism through the provision of gifts or inappropriate attention
• Exchange personal contact details such as phone number, social networking site or email addresses with children
• Have unauthorised contact with children and young people online or by phone.

By observing these standards, you acknowledge your responsibility to immediately report any breach of this code to Canadian Bay Calisthenics College, Naomi Armstrong.

This Code of Conduct will be reviewed by Canadian Bay Calisthenics College annually.
I have read this Code of Conduct and agree to abide by it at all times.

Purpose

This policy was written to demonstrate the strong commitment of the management, coaching staff and volunteers of the Canadian Bay Calisthenics College (the Club/College) to child safety & wellbeing and to provide an outline of the policies and practices the Club/College has developed to keep everyone safe from any harm, including abuse.

Commitment to Child Safety & Wellbeing

All children who are a part of the Club/College have a right to feel and be safe. The welfare of the children in our care will always be our first priority and the Club/College has a zero tolerance to child abuse. The Club/College aims to create a child safe and child friendly environment where children feel safe and have fun and the Club’s/College's activities are always carried out in the best interests of the children.

Application of this Policy

This policy applies to all individuals involved in our organisation (paid and volunteer) including, but not limited to:

• Administrators
• Coaches
• Officials
• Participants
• Parents
• Spectators.

All of the people to which this policy applies have a role and responsibility in relation to child protection. They must all:

• understand the indicators and risks of child abuse;
• appropriately act on any concerns raised by children; and
• understand and follow all applicable laws in relation to the protection of children and reporting or management of child safety & wellbeing concerns.

Child Abuse

Child abuse can take a broad range of forms including physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse and neglect. People to whom this policy applies need to be aware that child abuse can occur whenever there is actual or potential harm to a child, and these are circumstances that the Club/College is committed to reducing the risk of occurrence.

Children’s Rights to Safety and Participation

The Club/College encourages children to express their views about their safety. We listen to their suggestions, especially on matters that directly affect them. We actively encourage all children who use our services to ‘have a say’ about things that are important to them.

We teach children about what they can do if they feel unsafe. We listen to and act on any concerns children, or their parents, raise with us.

Canadian Bay Calisthenics Club/College is a Leading Club accredited college and actively promotes the ACF Member Protection Policy and has appropriate policies in place to manage issues as they arise.

Valuing Diversity

We value diversity and do not tolerate any discriminatory practices. To achieve this we:

• promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of Aboriginal children and their families;
• promote the cultural safety, participation and empowerment of children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds and their families;
• welcome children with a disability and their families and act to promote their participation; and
• seek appropriate staff from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Recruiting staff and volunteers

The Club/College takes the following steps to ensure best practice standards in the recruitment and screening of staff and volunteers:

• Interview and conduct referee checks on all staff and volunteers
• Require police checks and Working with Children Checks for relevant positions.
• Our commitment to Child Safety & Wellbeing and our screening requirements are included in all advertisements and as part of the induction process for new staff or volunteers.

Supporting staff and volunteers

The Club/College seeks to attract and retain the best staff and volunteers. We provide support and supervision so people feel valued, respected and fairly treated. We have developed a Code of Conduct to provide guidance to our staff and volunteers, all of whom receive training on the requirements of the Code.

Reporting a child safety & wellbeing concern or complaint

The Club/College has appointed Cathy Magrie as Child Safety & Wellbeing Persons with the specific responsibility for responding to any complaints made by staff, volunteers, parents or children. That person can be contacted by email at tmargrie@gmail.com or phone on 0414561462. Our complaints process is outlined in our constitution.

Risk Management

We recognise the importance of a risk management approach to minimising the potential for child abuse or harm to occur and use this to inform our policy, procedures and activity planning. In addition to general occupational health and safety risks, we proactively manage risks of abuse to our children. To reduce the risk of child abuse occurring, adults to whom this policy applies should avoid direct, unsupervised contact with children. For example, this should be a consideration when:

• using change room facilities;
• using accommodation or overnight stays;
• travel; or
• physical contact when coaching or managing children.

Reviewing this policy

This policy will be reviewed every two years and we undertake to seek views, comments and suggestions from children, parents, carers, staff and volunteers involved in the Club/College.

This document was developed utilising and adapting content from:
The Commission for Children and Young People (2016), Child Safe Policy