At VGA and St Tydfils, the welfare of the children and young people is paramount. We have worked hard to develop an effective safeguarding culture with robust policies and procedures which are lived every day.  we recognise that gymnastics, like other sporting activities, provides fun-filled, hugely valuable life experiences for children, young people and adults. It is recognised that the creation of a positive environment where children and young people are protected from harm is critical to ensure the best possible outcomes for participants (both within and outside the sport) - at whatever level of participation.  VGA has adopted and closely abides by the policies and guidelines of Welsh Gymnastics, British Gymnastics and Disability Sport Wales. We seek to go ‘above and beyond’ in terms of safeguarding, welfare and wellbeing  - to ensure our members and their families that VGA always offered a high quality, safe and secure environment.

 

Our GOLD Disability Sport Wales InSport accreditation (matched by only a handful of Welsh Sports Clubs), British Gymnastics GymMark accreditation and Street Games Club Mark accreditation indeed confirm that we provide a ‘safe, effective and child friendly environment.’  In addition, in 2019 we won the British Gymnastics National Club Award and the British Gymnastics Equality and Diversity Awards and this year we have been awarded the Street Games (South Wales) Project of the Year and the Sport Caerphilly Community Club of the Year.  All our staff and volunteers have received up-to-date Safeguarding and Protecting Children training and possess a clear enhanced DBS check and receive regular update and further development training to ensure that knowledge is as up-to-date as possible, e.g. Mental Health First Aid training, ASD Awareness training, De-fib training. Our Wellbeing and Safeguarding Team have received additional training to ensure that they are knowledgable in supporting our members and their families, should they require it.

 

We recognise there may be times when parents / carers, gymnasts, volunteers and coaches have questions or queries which they would like to discuss or require help.  In order to provide knowledgeable, experienced support the club has recruited a team of Safeguarding and Wellbeing Officers (some of whom are pictured below). You may see our Officers around our venues - they may also be contacted at welfare@vga.wales / 01495 248070. Any concerns can also be directly reported to the team of Officers via the following link: https://bg.vissro.com/public/bgvllcp.nsf/observation?open&cid=CTAFSK&fbclid=IwAR3nyj9S63f8-8NxdKvWHsvObLrrSd5burrnznziV5OuJ8iqr8FaP10GT7w