At Richmond we believe that everyone, including coaches, managers and parents should take responsibility for this sensitive issue, and this page is designed to help focus on the key issues involved.

Richmond maintains a clear policy in place on child safeguarding, which is kept under constant review. It is based on the RFU’s own policy of Child Safeguarding (click here: www.englandrugby.com/Governance/Safeguarding)

If you have a safeguarding concern please visit this page on the England Rugby website which explains the process in full https://www.englandrugby.com/governance/safeguarding/sharing-concerns

England Rugby process for Safeguarding is as follows:

If the child whom you have concerns about is in immediate danger or needs medical attention, call 999 as soon as possible
If you’re a parent or volunteer, you should share your concerns with your Club Safeguarding Officer. The Richmond Rugby Safeguarding Officer is Bonney Venning who can be contacted via 07967 602749 or b.venning@sky.com
If you’re a Club Safeguarding Officer, you should share your concerns with your Constituent Body Safeguarding Manager
If neither of those options is available, you should contact the RFU Safeguarding team, via safeguarding@rfu.com as soon as possible
If you are ever unsure of who you need to contact, you can call the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, which operates between 10:00 AM and 16:00 PM Monday to Friday
Or you can contact the unmanned RFU Safeguarding line on 0208 831 6655 and a member of the Safeguarding team will respond to you within 24 hours

Objectives
It is the responsibility of every adult to ensure that the children can play the game of rugby in a safe and enjoyable environment. Child abuse is not limited to physical and/or sexual abuse. It also includes verbal abuse, and abuse by discrimination on the grounds of race, gender and even on ability. Coaches should be aware at all times of their responsibilities towards all children in their age group in these respects.

Coaching
All coaches/managers at Richmond will be members of the club and will have completed DBS checks in accordance with the RFU guidelines. It is also the club's policy that all coaches should attend RFU approved courses to the appropriate levels.

In addition to improving the level of coaching available for Mini and Youth rugby, courses include an element of awareness of child safeguarding issues.

For information on the Disclosure and Barring Services application process (DBS) please contact Bonney Venning - 07967 602749 / b.venning@sky.com

Parents
Parents should be aware of the club’s policy on child safeguarding. They have a vital rote to play in child safeguarding. In particular, they should not leave their children unaccompanied at training sessions/matches. If this is not possible, they should make this clear to the coach/manager and leave a contact number in case of emergency. In certain circumstances it may be necessary and/or advisable to gain parents’ written consent for certain activities, e.g. if a film crew is shooting a coaching session.

Parents are asked to co-operate with any such reasonable requests.

Incidents
Any matter concerning Child Safeguarding can be discussed in confidence with the Club Safeguarding Officer (CSO) or her Assistant. In the event of a serious incident occurring, there is a comprehensive incident report form available on the RFU website (Click here to download).

Safeguarding Officer, Richmond FC: Bonney Venning - 07967 602749 / b.venning@sky.com

Assistant Safeguarding Officer, Richmond FC: Vaughan Bentley - 07436 542895 / communityteam@richmondfc.co.uk