Safeguarding – Appendix 6

Guitar Circus safeguarding policy for online rehearsals

Rehearsals taking place should be normal teaching practice and the video medium should be considered a normal rehearsal environment. Tutors will have the same expected professional behaviours and safeguarding roles as set out in the Guitar Circus safeguarding policy. There are additional responsibilities and considerations as laid out below.

Staff are not permitted to use private Zoom or other accounts to teach Guitar Circus students.

Guitar Circus Zoom accounts are only to be used for rehearsals arranged by Guitar Circus. Staff/Tutors are not permitted to use their Guitar Circus Zoom account for private or social purposes.

Advanced security procedures have been implemented within our set up to ensure the online environment is safe and secure. These include:

*A unique password for Tutor’s Zoom room

*Recording feature disabled

*Student screen sharing is disabled (a tutor can temporarily make a student a co-host for the purpose of screen sharing)

*File sharing via the Chat is disabled

*Private Chat is disabled

*Tutor controls who can enter from the Zoom Waiting Room

*Tutor can remove anybody from the lesson at any time

*Tutor can lock the lesson at any time (preventing any further participants from entering)

*Students are not allowed to rename themselves after entering the Zoom room.

All sessions will be accessible for Guitar Circus staff to ‘drop in’ and oversee at any time for the purposes of quality assurance and safeguarding.
A member of management staff will always be on call at all times when online rehearsals are taking place, to report any urgent safeguarding concerns.

Information for parents, carers and students

Parents/carers and students are reminded that for the duration of the session the space in your home where the session takes places is public and will be audible and visible via your camera. With respect to particular behaviours, language and dress-code, that space should be regarded as equivalent to a usual rehearsal venue.

Parents/carers must give prior consent to their child taking part in Guitar Circus rehearsals delivered through “Zoom” and agree to the following code of conduct:

* Students under 18 are not permitted to take the class if there is no parent/carer present at home.

* Parents/carers should ensure their child’s name is correctly entered in the Zoom profile before starting the session

* Parents/carers should be nearby when the class takes place.

*Only those who have been invited and have consent may take part in the class.

*Students under 18 may only take the class if they are in a communal household space such as a living room with the door left open.

*Students and parents/carers should know how to act if they have any concerns with regards to a tutor or other Guitar Circus staff member.

Concerns should be sent to Guitar Circus’ Designated Safeguarding Lead: Georgina Bashford Georgina.bashford@guitarcircus.org.uk

*Students should be dressed appropriately for a lesson, wearing clothes suitable for being seen in public.

*Parents/carers must also adhere to the expectations of dress and setting.

*Language must always be professional and appropriate during classes, including any family members that may pass in the background.

Students must ensure that they:

*Keep their microphone muted when asked to.

*Do not private message other participating students during a session (for example via text message or social media).

*Keep their video camera switched on throughout the session.

*Do not to share session IDs and passcodes via the internet.

Please note: Expectations of student behaviour are the same as those for a normal rehearsal class. Guitar Circus staff are authorised to remove any student from a session who is not meeting acceptable behaviour standards. Guitar circus reserves the right to exclude students from online activities in the event of unacceptable behaviour.