Safeguarding

Purpose

CAMScot is committed to safeguarding the welfare of young people. To this end, this policy statement outlines the conduct CAMScot expects from all those involved in its activities.  

Guidance

This policy is informed by the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland, 2021, published by the Scottish Government, with the fundamental objective to protect children and young people from all forms of harm and abuse. In this context, young people means anyone under 18.

Principles

We must all

  • prioritise the welfare of young people;
  • treat young people fairly and without prejudice or discrimination;
  • respect differences in gender, sexual orientation, culture, race, ethnicity, disability and religious belief systems, and appreciate that all participants bring something valuable and different to the organisation.

Practice – General

We must all

  • set an example of good behaviour for children and young people to follow;
  • challenge all unacceptable behaviour;
  • report any concerns about abusive behaviour or any breaches of this policy to the CAMScot Co-ordinator at pkr1@cantab.net;
  • follow CAMScot’s guidance for on-line meetings and one-to-one mentoring.

Practice – Mentoring

All mentors dealing with young people on-line on a one-to-one basis must

  • receive guidance about their roles and responsibilities from CAMScot;
  • ensure contact with young people is appropriate and relevant only to CAMScot support for University application;
  • enrol as members of Disclosure Scotland’s Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme before engaging in any one-to-one contact;
  • ensure there is no exchange of personal details with mentees, other than first names and course details, by using the CAMScot Google Sheets intermediary (which restricts access to full personal details to a small number of identified personnel, currently only the CAMScot Co-ordinator);
  • record all meetings and save the recordings in the cloud for at least one year after the event in case review is needed.

Practice – Other Meetings and Interview Practice

All meetings, including mock interviews

  • must involve at least three people;
  • must ensure there is no exchange of school students’ personal details, other than first names and course details, by using the CAMScot Google Sheets intermediary.

The Role of the CAMScot Co-ordinator

The CAMScot Co-ordinator

  • is the only person who has access to all personal data and who can contact school students directly;
  • is responsible for setting up the Google Sheets intermediary communication channels.

Unacceptable behaviour

When working with young people all those involved with CAMScot activities must not:

  • allow concerns or allegations to go unreported;
  • develop any relationships outside CAMScot activity;
  • engage in behaviour that is in any way abusive;
  • act in a way that can be perceived as threatening or intrusive;
  • patronise or belittle young people;
  • make sarcastic, insensitive, derogatory or sexually suggestive comments or gestures to or in front of young people;
  • let young people have your personal contact details (mobile number, email or postal address) or have contact with them via a personal social media account except under the CAMScot procedures as defined;
  • attempt to get personal contact details.

Changes

Any changes will be posted on the web site, camscot.org, and brought to the attention of volunteers and school students