PARISH SAFEGUARDING RESOURCES
Each parish should appoint a Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO) who is available to support members of the congregation locally, and work with the safeguarding team as required. PSO’s receive a national induction course and are appointed by the Vicar working alongside the PCC. Parishes also appoint a lead recruiter to administer safer recruitment and DBS applications within the parish. Some smaller parishes have opted to combine the PSO and Lead Recruiter roles given their more limited resources.
The safeguarding team hold termly briefing sessions via Zoom for all PSOs and Lead Recruiters. The meetings take place virtually in the last week of January, the middle of May and the last week in September. We accompany the meeting with a termly Newsletter that covers the same information, and a little bit more, as the virtual meeting. The latest Newsletter is attached.
Once a year we will provide an invitation to a Safeguarding Event to provide information, a chance to meet the team and a thank you to those PSOs and Lead Recruiters who volunteer and work hard to keep our churches safer worshipping environments.
On the second Sunday in October we encourage all our churches to celebrate Safeguarding Sunday and dedicate the work of PSOs Lead Recruiters and those working in safeguarding across the diocese. Service materials are issued each year by the Bishop’s Office and will be available here from early September.
Support for the use of the ‘Parish Dashboard’
Pete Edwards has very kindly offered to be our ‘Parish Dashboard Ambassador’! Pete is a PSO for three churches in the Churches of Sherwood Forest benefice and is very experienced with using the dashboard.
Whether you would like support to access the dashboard and start using it from scratch, or if you have any other dashboard queries, please do contact Pete and he will be very happy to offer you support.
You can contact Pete via his email address or on his mobile:
pgedwards82@gmail.com / 07754 567043
Safeguarding Hubs – with further information videos here.
Safer Environments and Activities – this contains guidance for filming and photography
Key Roles and Responsibilities of Church Office Holders and Bodies Practice Guidance
Code for Safer Working Practice
Parish Safeguarding Handbook (2018)
Promoting a Safer Church A3 poster for parishes (with logo space
Promoting a Safer Church A3 poster for parishes (without logo space
Model Parish Safeguarding Policy
Model Consent Form – Transport
Model Activity Risk Assessment Template
Model Parish Recording Template
Model Parish Safeguarding Checklist
Model Personal Risk Assessment tool
Model Registration Form – Activities and Trips
Model Risk Assessment Checklist for Home Visiting
Model Volunteer Driver Agreement
Model Parish Safeguarding Checklist
Volunteer Role Description Template
Safeguarding Newsletters