DANCENERGY CHILD SAFE REPORTING POLICY 2026

The Purpose Of This Policy

All children and young people dancing at Dancenergy have the right to feel safe and protected. To ensure this, all personnel at Dancenergy must know what to report, who to report it to and how to report if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child or young person they are teaching is at risk of serious harm.

As such all personnel will be provided with training to ensure they are aware of how to:-

• Report any concerns about the safety or welfare of a child or young person immediately.

• Feel confident that concerns and allegations will be dealt with honestly and fairly.

• Feel confident in reporting unacceptable behaviour around children and young people.

• Ensure the safety and wellbeing of the child when an allegation is made.

Definition Of Abuse (What To Report)

Psychological abuse -This includes bullying, threatening and abusive language, intimidation, shaming and name calling, ignoring and isolating a child, and exposure to domestic and family violence.

Physical abuse - Includes physical punishment such as pushing, shoving, punching, slapping and kicking, resulting in injury, burns, choking or bruising.

Sexual abuse - Includes the sexual touching of a child, production, distribution or possession of child abuse material, and descriptions of sexual acts without a legitimate reason.

Grooming - The process of manipulating a child or group of children, and sometimes those looking after them, to establish a position of trust so the child can later be abused.

Misconduct - Inappropriate behaviour that may not be as severe as abuse, although could indicate that abuse is occurring and would often be in breach of an organisations Child Safe Code of Conduct*, including showing a child something inappropriate on a phone or having inappropriate conversations with a child.

* Please refer to our Child Safe Code of Conduct for a full list of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours at our studio

Types Of Complaints (What To Report)

All complaints should be reported.

This includes: -

• Urgent concerts for a child’s health or life

• Criminal conduct such as sexual assault, physical assault, grooming offences, and producing, disseminating or possessing child abuse material

• Unacceptable behaviour around children and young people that breaches our Child Safe Code of Conduct.

• Disclosures of harm or abuse

• Risk of significant harm (ROSH), which can be reported to the Child Protection Helpline on 132 111.

Making A Complaint (Who Can Report)

Everyone at Dancenergy has the right to make a complaint and adults have a legal responsibility to report criminal conduct. This includes children and young people, staff, parents and volunteers. Reporting is supported and encouraged, and will never be obstructed or prevented.

How To Report

To ensure the immediate and ongoing safety of the child: -

• Reassure them and remain calm.

• Listen carefully without interrupting or asking leading questions.

• Support them, reassuring the child that they have done the right thing, that you believe them and that the abuse is not their fault.

• Explain what will happen, including timeframes.

• Establish the welfare and safety of the child and take steps to ensure the child is removed from the risk.

• Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

• Don’t confront the alleged perpetrator.

• Seek guidance if you are unsure about what to do.

Any complaint, concern or allegation of abuse is treated in a fair, transparent and timely manner.

• All information is recorded on our reporting spreadsheet for complains, concerns and allegations.

• All reporting spreadsheets are stored securely and only accessed by those responsible for overseeing the complaint process.

• Dancenergy maintains the privacy of those involved.

Once a complaint has been made the following may occur:

• Steps taken to remove child from harm ie if it’s a criminal offense, by police, if it’s an emergency, call 000.

• Incident recorded using our reporting spreadsheet. –

• Investigation conducted, keeping everyone involved up to date with what’s happening.

• Offering ongoing support to the child as needed.

• Reviewing the incident and updating our Child Safe Policies, if necessary

How We Publicise Our Child Safe Reporting Policy

To ensure everyone at Dancenergy is aware of our Child Safe Reporting Policy and their reporting obligations we have in our waiver and policy documents for when every student signs up.

We provide staff with training opportunities so they understand our processes.

We ensure anyone working with children or young people at our studio have a valid WWCC.

Policy Review Date

10th November 2026, or earlier if there are any critical incidents.