Sustainability Education (SusEd) Online Events: Child Protection Policy
The purpose of this policy statement
Sustainability Education (SusEd) works with children under the age of 18 as part of its activities. These include: Virtual Conferences, Webinars, Online Reflection Sessions, Online Tutoring, Q & A and pre-summit and/or trip planning.
The purpose of this policy statement is to:
• ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people when adults, young people or children are using the internet, social media or mobile devices in the same virtual space
• provide SusEd faculty, interns, partner schools organisations and students with the principles that guide our approach to online safety
• ensure that, as an organisation, SusEd operates in line with our values and within the law in terms of how we use online devices.
The policy statement applies to all staff, volunteers, children and young people and anyone involved SusEd activities.
Legal framework:
This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in The United Kingdom.
Summaries of the key legislation and guidance are available on:
• online abuse learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-abuse-and-neglect/online-abuse
• bullying learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-abuse-and-neglect/bullying
• child protection learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-protection-system
Guiding principles:
• children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind
• children should be able to use the internet for education and personal development, but safeguards need to be in place to ensure they are kept safe at all times.
We recognise that:
• the online world provides everyone with many opportunities; however it can also present risks and challenges. The safety and wellbeing will always be SusEd’s highest priority
• we have a duty to ensure that all children, young people and adults involved in our organisation are protected from potential harm online
• we have a responsibility to help keep children and young people safe online, whether or not they are using the SusEd network and devices
• all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse
• working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare and in helping young people to be responsible in their approach to online safety.
We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:
• appointing an online safety coordinator who has CIS Level 1 Child Protection Certification at least
• providing clear and specific directions to faculty and interns on how to behave online through our behaviour code for adults
• supporting and encouraging the young people using our service to use the internet, social media and mobile phones in a way that keeps them safe and shows respect for others
• developing clear and robust procedures to enable us to respond appropriately to any incidents of inappropriate online behaviour, whether by an adult or a child/young person
• reviewing and updating the security of our information systems regularly
• ensuring that usernames, logins, email accounts and passwords are used effectively and comply to GDPR regulations
• ensuring personal information about the adults and children who are involved in our organisation is held securely and shared only as appropriate
• ensuring that images of children, young people and families are used only after their written permission has been obtained, and only for the purpose for which consent has been given
• examining and risk assessing any social media platforms and new technologies before they are used within the organisation.
If online abuse occurs, we will respond to it by:
• having clear and robust safeguarding procedures in place for responding to abuse (including online abuse)
• providing support and training for all faculty & interns on dealing with all forms of abuse, including bullying/cyberbullying, emotional abuse, sexting, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation
• making sure our response takes the needs of the person experiencing abuse, any bystanders and our organisation as a whole into account
• reviewing the plan developed to address online abuse at regular intervals, in order to ensure that any problems have been resolved in the long term.