Finchingfield Guildhall Safeguarding Children,Young People and Vulnerable Adults Policy 

Child abuse is any form of physical, emotional or sexual mistreatment or neglect that leads to serious harm, it commonly occurs within a relationship of trust or responsibility and is an abuse of power or a breach of trust. Abuse can happen to a young person regardless of their age, gender, race or ability.

A child or young person is defined as a person under the age of 18 or a person with disabilities under 25.

Finchingfield Guildhall wants children to enjoy their involvement with us and to feel encouraged to take an active part in heritage conservation.

Finchingfield Guildhall expects the behaviour of everyone who works with us whether paid or as a volunteer to be absolutely above reproach when in contact with children and young people.

Everyone who participates in the Finchingfield Guildhall is entitled to do so in a safe environment. The Finchingfield Guildhall has a moral and legal obligation to ensure that, when given responsibility for children and young people, we provide them with the highest possible standard of care, following appropriate procedures if a child is found at risk of significant harm.

Policy Statement
The Finchingfield Guildhall is committed to the following: the welfare of the child and young person is paramount all children and young people, whatever their age, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious belief and/or sexual identity should be able to participate in activities in a safe environment taking reasonable steps to protect children and young people from harm, discrimination and degrading treatment and to respect their rights, wishes, needs and feelings all suspicions and allegations of poor practice or abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately Finchingfield Guildhall employees and volunteers who work with children.

Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge that in preparing this policy we partly used guidelines produced by English Heritage in their booklet Child Safety & Welfare Policy and
Guidelines. We have also referred to Southend, Essex and Thurrock(SET) Guidelines, the Children Act 1989 and 2004 and 2014 SEND Procedures.