Safeguarding Children Commitment

Over The Wall (OTW) is committed to best practice that seeks to safeguard all children and young people who engage with our services.

All children, without exception, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation, identity or any other factor.

Volunteers and Staff

All our staff and volunteers have a responsibility to safeguard children, and to report any concerns about their welfare.

Our volunteers receive training in safeguarding policies and procedures ahead of camper arrivals, which includes recognising the key signs and indicators of common types of abuse and how to report a concern (Department of Education, 2013, National Minimum Standard 3:3)*.

We also operate a strict policy, whereby no adult should ever be alone with a child. This applies to all areas of our operations, including camper transport and any external events.

In addition, we are committed to safe recruitment selection, vetting, and screening practices. All our volunteers and staff are required to hold an up to date and valid enhanced DBS/PVG certificate. These practices aim to recruit the most safe and suitable people to work or volunteer for our organisation.

Information Sharing

Sometimes we may need to share information and work in partnership with other agencies and Safeguarding Partners. We will ensure that, where possible, concerns are shared with parents/carers first, unless we have reason to believe that this may be contrary to the child’s welfare.

Safeguarding Children Policy

All volunteers and staff are asked to familiarise themselves with our Safeguarding Children Policy, which is available on our Over The Wall Policies web page

Over The Wall recognises and believes that the welfare of our campers is paramount. Wherever possible, we will ensure that the wishes and feelings of our campers are heard, understood, and supported.

* Department of Education (2013) Residential holiday schemes for disabled children: National Minimum Standards. Available here.

A statement about our commitment to representation and inclusion
Our campers are at the heart of everything we do. Our approach to diversity and inclusion and also representation is guided by this principle. This means ensuring that all young people who would benefit from our camps have equal access to apply to join us, and in ensuring that their camp experience is the best it can possibly be.

We are committed to ensuring accessibility to our camps to any young person who would benefit from them. Specifically, we want to ensure that no-one who would benefit misses out on the opportunity because they can’t recognise a place for themselves at an OTW camp.

Equally, we recognise that a key part of camper experience is to ensure that all our young people have role models to whom they can relate at camp, and in the wider OTW organisation. Knowing the transformative impact role models can have, we want to ensure that our volunteers are reflective of our campers in terms of visible and non-visible disabilities, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity and all other characteristics.

We also recognise the importance of representation when it comes to our wider team, both employees at all levels of OTW and our board members. We want to ensure that our campers, volunteers, employees and board members recognise that being part of the OTW community means being part of something where the difference you bring is celebrated.

Our core value of inclusivity is a way of life for us, whether we are at a camp, talking on social media or in an office, and we will take action where we feel we fall short, either as an organisation, or where we feel individuals aren’t living up to our values. We recognise that we all have a responsibility when it comes to living our values, and we all commit to taking action to ensure that OTW is as representative and inclusive as we can possibly be.