We are committed to safeguarding and seek to ensure that our church is a welcoming but safe place for all who come through our doors. Everyone who participates in the life of the church has a role to play in promoting a safer place for all. The church is called to share the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ and this speaks of welcome to all, where the value and dignity of every human being is affirmed and those in positions of responsibility are truly trustworthy.
Christ Church Chislehurst PCC has adopted the Church of England's policy for safeguarding: 'Promoting a Safer Church'.
We are committed to:
- Promoting a safer church and culture
- Safely recruiting and supporting all those with any responsibility for children, young people and vulnerable adults within the church
- Responding promptly to every safeguarding concern or allegation
- Caring pastorally for any victims/survivors of abuse and other affected persons
- Responding to those who may pose a present risk to others
Safeguarding team
We have appointed Rachel Dixon as the Parish Safeguarding Officer. Others on the team are Sue Gilder, Cath Johnston, Dave Johnston and Catherine Ibrahim. More details here.
We liaise with the Rochester Diocesan Safeguarding team on any training or safeguarding updates and we use their support material.
Safeguarding process
Training:
We use the National Church of England safeguarding training. This can be completed on line and we also run these courses face to face periodically. This normally takes about 2 hours.
- We ask that everyone completes the basic awareness course (C0).
- If you volunteer to work with children, young people or vulnerable adults we ask you to also complete the foundation course (C1).
- For those in leadership positions, including Churchwardens, further training is required (C2 or C3).
Risk assessments:
We carry out risk assessments for children and young people’s activities, and complete simple risk assessments for other church activities. This is to keep people safe and identify any potential risks.
If you hire or use our church building we will ask you to complete your own risk assessment or use one of ours.
We also ask you to provide your own safeguarding policy or accept the principles outlined in the Promoting a Safer Church document.
Concerns:
If you have any disclosures or concerns, we have a simple form that we complete. We ask our volunteers to be factual and clear if they need to complete one. This ensures accurate records which are kept securely in the church office.
External contacts
There are also other organisations who you can get in touch with if you need help or advice
- Thirtyoneeight- Creating safer places together – 03030031111
- Childline- 08001111 NSPCC-08088005000
- Bromley Social Care- Children; 020 8461 7373 / 7309020 Adults: 8461 7777
- Local Authority Designated Officer ( LADO) Bromley 0208461 7669
- National Domestic Violence Helpline 0808 2000 247 Bromley One Stop Shop 020 8313 9303
- Rochester Diocesan Safeguarding team- Greg Barry 01634 560000