Spotlight on Safeguarding

 Welcome to July's newsletter. I know that lots of you have been using the 'quiet' off season to ensure all is in order for affiliations and accreditations in readiness for the upcoming season. This newsletter will share some new FA guidance as well as some general information reminders, dates for your diaries, a new campaign update, along with a few other bits. To finish we will take a brief look back on last season with a summary of poor practice cases as well as some good news stories that some of our clubs have been happy to share.

New FA Guidance:

Listening to Children

To encourage more active listening and involvement from children in creating football environments they find fun, safe and inclusive, The FA has produced a new set of guidance notes for grassroots clubs.

That's because opportunities to listen to children occur all the time in football – at times you may not even realise. For example, you may already talk with children about the training activities they'd like, or maybe you involve them in half-time team tactics? 

In addition, your club's committee may actively seek input from young players, or maybe your welfare officer's always on hand to support them when they need it,

As FA Head of Safeguarding Sue Ravenlaw comments: "Putting children at the heart of the things you do ensures a more positive, child-centred culture and helps create thriving community clubs.

"Ultimately we all want children to enjoy football for a lifetime - involving them now can foster their ongoing love of the game."

Please click on the following link to download the new guidance: Listening to children: New FA guidance notes | England Football

Autism Support Guidance

No two autistic people are the same. Autism is a spectrum condition and affects people in different ways. Get to know the person to understand their motivations, how the condition affects them and what support they might need.

For more information follow this link to the FA Autism Support Card.

Affiliation

Here are some reminders and useful tools to aid your clubs affiliation process:

Matrix of Requirements:

DBS Application Guide:

Open-Age teams:
A reminder that in able to affiliate open-age teams all team officials (coaches, manager, first aider) need to have completed the FA Player Welfare in Open-age course: Player Welfare in Open Age Football | England Football Learning. Open-age clubs will also have to have a listed CWO. If a team has any registered players who are U18 then all team officials will be required to have a valid FA DBS certificate. If teams are looking to register U18 players during the season then team officials must initiate an FA DBS application within 24 hours of the player registering. Failure to comply with these rules could lead to a Team and possibly club suspension. 
To help with the DBS process a number of current CWO's around the county have volunteered to assist and there clubs have become 'Open-Age' DBS hubs where applicants can arrange to go and have their ID documents verified at a more convenient time and location. For more information on this please contact safeguarding@herefordshirefa.com

Team Secretaries:
We know that lots of our clubs list a 'Team Secretary' among their list of officials. On a number of occasions, the 'team secretary' will step in at short notice to help with training and matches. This should only happen if the individual has a valid FA DBS certificate as well a completed Safeguarding Children Certificate. Although not essential for team affiliation purposes, best practice would be for all listed 'team secretary's' to complete their Safeguarding Children Course and also have a valid FA DBS certificate.

 New Campaign for the upcoming season

Smokefree Sidelines is a wellness campaign that has had a positive impact in a number of County's around the country over the last few years. We are hoping to work in partnership with the Local Health Authority and smoking cessation department to promote the campaign and would love of our clubs' support. We have the support of all of our county's leagues and the CWO's working group. 

Adopting Smokefree Sidelines is not about targeting smokers unfairly, but more asking current smokers to be aware of their visibility to children who may see them smoking. The idea is to encourage smokers to either refrain from smoking during the match or to move away from the side lines and smoke where children and young adults are not present. As a sports club involved in creating positive environments for wellbeing we want to support our members and supporters who want to consider quitting. This is done through ongoing promotion and developing as active role models to the children and young people involved in our clubs.

Clubs will not be expected to act as enforcers but we will ask for clubs to sign up to support the campaign and advertise it widely throughout your club communities.

More information to follow so please keep checking your inboxes

Good News Stories

I contacted all clubs at the end of last season and asked them to share some 'good news' stories. Thank you to those of you who replied, it has been great to see so many positive things that your clubs are involved with. It wasn't just achievements that were shared but team building days out, club initiatives, various trips, honouring our veterans.

Please see the download below to see what has been happening around the county. we want to share more stories like the ones in the download, if you have any stories you wish to share then send them to danielle.Harris@herefordshirefa.com

Dates For Your Diaries:

July 13^th: HFA Girls u12 festival – Contact George.leyshon-james@herefordshirefa.com 

July 20^th: HFA Girls u14 festival – Contact George.leyshon-james@herefordshirefa.com

July 27^th: HFA Girls u16 festival – Contact George.leyshon-james@herefordshirefa.com

September 28^th – 29^th: Annual Play Safe Weekend – More info to follow!

As always, thank you for your ongoing support.