Safeguarding
We continue to work our way through the Parish Safeguarding Dashboard – it’s a little like Pandora’s Box as the more you complete, the more new things to do pop up! – but it’s all to the benefit of making sure our church is a place where people feel welcome, secure as part of our church family and in a safe space where they have a voice. We are now at level 3 of the dashboard which means we are working through things connected to the wider embedding of our safeguarding procedures beyond the immediate church community. The PCC discuss an aspect of the dashboard and approve or commission actions at each meeting. They are also presented with regular action plans for our future work to approve. We are currently developing a volunteer handbook and reviewing policies beyond Safeguarding. In June ’25 the diocese launched its ‘Speak Our Stay Safe’ campaign – with the intention of providing branded materials eg Posters, notices, information cards etc. for all the churches to use to raise awareness of the considerable work the diocese and churches are doing in the area of Safeguarding. In July we were delighted to be able to award all those who have completed their level 2 safeguarding training for their work with our children, a pin badge with the ‘Speak out’ logo to wear, especially when involved in activities, so that parents know who has been trained and add to their confidence in the CAYP team. We will be ordering other items in the near future … so look out for them around and about. We continue to follow the national training programme with an additional domestic abuse module being undertaken by all the PCC and those who work with children and vulnerable adults and we hope to run an ‘In house’ session for all involved, in the near future, so that we, as a whole church team, are all ‘on the same page’ and our good practice is fully embedded.
A highlight of the past year for me, personally, was your response to the question asked on Safeguarding Sunday about how you would describe our church.
It speaks volumes about our Christian family here in Thelwall and our relationships with each other and God….Thank you.
