Operation Spitfire, as an educational charity, takes its responsibility for the care of other people’s children extremely seriously. All staff and volunteers working directly with children and young people will be made aware of this policy and will be DBS checked.
This policy sets out what action will be taken in various circumstances in order to reassure school and college leaders, teachers, parents, carers and funders that all possible steps will be taken to protect children involved in any aspect of the organisation’s work.
This policy acknowledges that:
Children and young persons under the age of 18 of all races, religions and cultures, with or without disabilities, from any model of family life have an equal right to protection from abuse.
The Children Act 1989 places 2 specific duties on agencies to cooperate in the interests of vulnerable children.
The definitions of abuse outlined below are taken from ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ Department of Health 1999.
Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting; by those known to them or, more rarely, by a stranger.
This may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer feigns the symptoms of, or deliberately causes ill health to a child who they are looking after. This situation is commonly described using terms such as factitious illness by proxy or Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy.
This is the persistent emotional ill treatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless and unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may involve age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. It may involve causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of ill treatment of a child, though it may occur alone.
Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (e.g. rape or buggery) or non-penetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production or, pornographic material or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.
Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. It may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failure to protect a child from physical harm or danger, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.
Organised or multiple abuse may be defined as abuse involving one or more abuser and a number of related or non-related abused children and young people. The abusers concerned may be acting in concert to abuse children, sometimes acting in isolation, or may be using an institutional framework or position of authority to recruit children for abuse.
Organised and multiple abuse occur both as part of a network of abuse across a family or community, and within institutions such as residential homes or schools.
Note: Children whose situations do not currently fit the above categories may also be at significant risk of harm. This could include situations where another child in the household has been harmed or the household contains a known child abuser.
Child abuse can take place in a number of different settings, of which the following are examples:
As an organisation working with children and young people, Operation Spitfire has a responsibility to act if abuse comes to light and, as far as possible, to protect children from the possibility of being abused within the organisation. For the purposes of this policy a child or young person is anyone under the age of 18 years of age.
It is the responsibility of Operation Spitfire’s Board of Trustees to appoint a designated Child Protection person to oversee the implementation of this policy. These positions would be held for a one-year term and then be reviewed by the Board when and as appropriate.
Child Protection Trustee name:
Contact:
Extreme care should be taken as misreading signs of abuse can result in significant harm or trauma to the child and their family. In general staff employed in the independent and voluntary sector will not have the expertise to diagnose child abuse but do have a responsibility to be alert and aware of the signs. However, just because a child exhibits one of the signs listed below, this does not mean that they have been abused. Nevertheless, the presence of one or more of the signs, or their repeated presence, might raise concerns and should be used as a prompt for discussion with the designated child protection employee, In their absence the matter should be brought to the attention of the Deputy without delay. However, where a child has made a direct allegation or there is clear evidence of a child suffering or at risk of suffering significant harm the matter should be referred immediately to the Social Services.
Operation Spitfire expects that all staff and volunteers working directly with children will be subject to a DBS check. Disclosure of a criminal record may not itself prevent appointments as the nature of any offence is considered; with the exception of convictions for crimes against children. No member of the Operation Spitfire executive team nor any Operation Spitfire volunteer will be left alone with children. When in a school or other location such as a museum, Operation Spitfire staff and volunteers should be accompanied by an employee from that establishment as a preference, and if that is not possible, then by another member of the OS staff or trustee.
All workers and volunteers are responsible for establishing and maintaining appropriate boundaries and or ensuring that meeting their own emotional needs are not dependent on their relationships with children and young people. Keep everything public. A hug in the context of a group is very different from a hug behind closed doors. Touch should be related to a child’s needs, not the workers. Touch should be age appropriate and be initiated by the child rather than the worker. Avoid any physical activity, which is, or may be construed as, sexually stimulating the adult or child. For example, fondling, touching private parts of the body. Operation Spitfire staff and volunteers should take responsibility for monitoring one another in the area of physical contact. They should be free to constructively challenge a colleague if necessary.
If concerns regarding the welfare of a child come to light, and it is unclear if they should be referred to Social Services, the designated Child Protection Trustee along with the Chief Executive Officer may discuss the situation with a Child Protection Coordinator for the local authority for which the child resides. The NSPCC also offer child protection advice via their hotline 0808 800 5000
OS staff and volunteers will be required at all times to treat children with respect and will not administer any forms of discipline that humiliates or ridicules the children i.e. shouting, smacking, threatening, shaking or by use of a “naughty chair or corner” etc.
Staff will set a good example to children at all times by being polite, considerate, not shouting, being calm, kind and gentle.
Staff will manage unwanted behaviour through the use of distraction, supervision and early intervention in potential disagreements. Any forms of physical, verbal or discriminating abuse will be challenged. Staff will act fairly in dealing with all incidents. This is set out in the Behaviour Policy.
Parents and visitors will be expected to follow these rules whilst on the premises.
Operation Spitfire has a legal duty to provide a safe and healthy environment for children, staff, parents, carers and visitors. For this reason smoking, vaping, alcohol and non-prescription drugs are banned at all times when working for Operation Spitfire on any premises. Any breach of this ban by staff will be regarded as a serious breach of workplace discipline as would any other action that might endanger health and safety at work.
Any complaint against a member of staff or volunteer must be made to the Chief Executive/ Chair of the Board of Trustees who will seek the advice of Social Services and/or the police on how to proceed with investigations.
The member of staff or volunteer involved will be suspended from duty during investigation of the complaint.
Whilst other members of staff should show due courtesy and respect the confidentiality of colleagues, the needs, welfare and protection of children will at all times be paramount.
If the Chief Executive or Chair of the Board of Trustees is informed of a complaint by the authorities the Chief Executive/ Chair will meet with the authorities in order to be acquainted with the details and agree appropriate action.
Operation Spitfire is committed to continual improvement of its services and facilities. It recognises that complaints are an important tool for addressing problems and will endeavour to ensure that all complaints are investigated and acted upon fairly.
Complaints can be raised with any member of staff, either verbally or in writing. The member of staff will either respond or refer the complaint to a more senior member of staff for investigation. Following investigation, a response will be made in writing setting out the nature of the complaint, the outcome of the investigation and any proposed actions as a result of the complaint.
If the complainant is not satisfied with the response the person dealing with it should refer the complaint to the Chief Executive and the Safeguarding Trustee.
Any complaints that cannot be satisfactorily resolved by the Chief Executive and the Safeguarding Trustee will be referred to the operation Spitfire Board whose decision will be final.
If the complainant is still not satisfied with the response, they are welcome to contact Ofsted whose contact number is 0300 123 4666.
Date adopted: August 2025
Date for review: January 2027