A working group of the LSCP Business Unit, Yorkshire Sport Foundation (YSF) and Active Leeds has continued to strengthen the approach to safeguarding within sports across the city. This has been achieved through:
- Drowning Prevention Week - a partnership approach with the development and launch of a social media campaign targeting parents and young people in Leeds on being safe on or around water. This included the promotion of drowning prevention lessons delivered by Active Leeds during the week. 24,000 swimmers participated between the ages of 18 months to 18 years of age
- West Yorkshire Safeguarding Week - where YSF delivered a live webinar on ‘Keeping your child safe in sport’ to parents and carers from Leeds. A recording of the webinar is now hosted on YouTube and linked from both the LSCP and YSF websites
- Safer Summer campaign - where social media messages were posted throughout the summer holidays on the following topics:
- Water safety both at home and abroad
- Information for parents on ensuring that the sport or activity provider they are taking their child to has the necessary safeguarding policies in place.
- Leeds Safeguarding Week/Safeguarding Adults Week - where YSF and Active Leeds delivered online and in-person awareness and support sessions for clubs and activity providers
- A focus on encouraging martial arts clubs across Leeds to engage with the YSF support offer and sign up to the Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts. This resulted in one club going through the process and successfully attaining the ‘mark’. Another club contacted YSF for support, and further clubs signed up for events.
- Online safety campaign - online safety is paramount for everyone involved in sports, from coaches and volunteers to staff members, the working group developed a poster for sports staff to download which provided helpful tips for a safe and respectful online environment within a sports setting. The poster was distributed via a social media campaign which reached 2,697 accounts.
- To date, YSF have given safeguarding and welfare support to 27 Leeds clubs. Additional clubs have also attended training sessions and events.