Hi, I’m Ashley Lawrence, Bradford Swimming Club’s Welfare Officer, and volunteer at the club, where we have a child focused approach and promote a culture of listening to children/young people. I am your first point of contact if you are a swimmer, parent/carer, coach or volunteer if you have any safeguarding questions or issues. You can usually catch me at Wednesday and Friday night’s training sessions if you want to chat, or see my contact details below.

You can of course also speak to any of the Senior Coaches: Ella Jones, Dave Hoyle, or Sara Beaumont at any training night. Any concern you raise will be treated in confidence and will be shared only on a need-to-know basis unless the safety of a child is at risk.

Everyone has a part to play in ensuring our swimmers are safe and are getting the most they can from involvement in the club. Child safeguarding in our sport belongs with all those involved, by creating a safe environment and operating within an accepted ethical framework to demonstrate behaviour that safeguards young people and protects all personnel from allegations of abuse or poor practice. Safeguarding is not the sole responsibility of any one person.

Swim England has a child safeguarding policy and procedures guide, Wavepower provides a range of guidance and resources to help safeguard against any risk of harm to young people. The guidance is useful to our young people, parents/carers and coaching/volunteers alike.
Bradford Swimming Club, being affiliated to Swim England adopts these guidelines to safeguard all children in line with current legislation, regulations and guidance.

Here is the link to Wavepower

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

Wavepower includes a section on the DBS service which we use to determine who should be checked eg all coaches/volunteers (age 16 and over) who have direct contact with the club’s children/young adults. These checks are renewed very 3 years and allow Swim England to make informed decisions around an individual’s suitability to work with children/young adults. As a club, we also ensure that our younger volunteer coaches are always supervised and supported by senior coaches.

Club Policies, Procedures and Guidance

We do have certain expectations regarding the behaviour/discipline of our children, parents and coaches which have been agreed in our Code of Conduct. Again, these guidelines are available in Wavepower and cover Anti-bullying policy, Changing room policy, Photography guidance, Late collection policy etc.

Reporting safeguarding concerns & other useful information

If you do have any child safeguarding concerns, below are your Swim England contacts: