Safeguarding, ethics & conduct
Ensuring safety for all
As both a Higher Education Provider, and a centre for artistic excellence working with children and young people and older and/or vulnerable adults, our statutory responsibilties are numerous. On this page, you can find out about our provision for safeguarding and child protection. You can also understand our expectations around Sexual Harrassment and Misconduct, which applies to our adult students (people over 18).
Safeguarding & Child Protection
Overview
We are committed to the protection of children and young people, and consider the safeguarding and promotion of their learning and wellbeing to be of paramount concern. We are determined that all of our younger students (under 18) enjoy learning in a safe environment and consider it the duty of all those we employ to work with them to actively prevent any physical, emotional, neglectful or sexual abuse and to protect and promote their general welfare and wellbeing.
It is the policy of Trinity Laban that all of our Learning & Participation staff and Designated Safeguarding Officers must adhere to our guidelines and respond appropriately to concerns, allegations or disclosures of abuse and harm.
Our Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer, and the individual with Safeguarding/Child Protection responsibilities at senior management level is Jonathan Peel, Director of Strategy & Business Operations, tel: 020 8305 4372, email: j.peel@trinitylaban.ac.uk
Policies
Safeguarding Policy (including Child Protection)
General Code of Conduct
Our checks
All employees who come into regular contact with children and young people will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check that includes a Children’s Barred List check in order to work at Trinity Laban. Everyone in this category must have a valid DBS check validated within the last three years. We re-check status every three years.
Our training
All of our Designated Safeguarding Officers receive Advanced Safeguarding and Child Protection training every two years. All other staff working with children and young people receive level 2 equivalent training via an on-line training package. It is a condition of employment that they undertake this every three years.
Sexual Harrassment & Misconduct: Ethics & Conduct
Download our policy
Statement of Expectations
Our policies foster a culture of respect and safety to allow us focus on our collective pursuit of creative innovation and excellence.
We expect all of our students, staff and visitors to our campuses to be able to study, teach, and engage without fear of sexual harassment or misconduct. This means taking responsibility for our own behaviour and ensuring that we all contribute to a culture of respect and safety. Doing so will allow us focus on our collective pursuit of creative innovation and excellence.
We have robust policies and procedures in place to address any incidents, allowing safe spaces for students and staff to come forward with reports. These reports are all thoroughly investigated, and all policies and procedures are reviewed regularly in line with best practice. All formal allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct are fully, fairly and properly investigated at our institution.
New students all receive awareness training around sexual harassment and misconduct at the point of entry, and staff are required to read and understand the policies in place, with regular updates and reminders of their responsibilities.
As a result of our focus on sexual harassment and misconduct we have already taken the following steps:
- Updated our procedures and guidance in relation to staff-student sexual relationships.
- Added student representation to the disciplinary panels of cases of student sexual harassment and misconduct.
In addition, and to strengthen our response to sexual harassment and misconduct, the Board of Governors and Senior Executive Team have made the following commitments:
- We will promote a positive atmosphere in which students and staff are empowered to report cases of sexual harassment and misconduct.
- We will ensure our students feel safeguarded by our policies and procedures, and that these policies and procedures are regularly under review and assessed against best practice in the sector.
- We will create an appropriate training strategy for staff, students and visitors.
- We will seek feedback from those involved in cases relating to sexual harassment and misconduct and review that feedback to inform updates to procedures and training materials.
The Board of Governors will be accountable for these commitments in the following ways:
- All Governors will receive information and training on Trinity Laban’s policies and procedures and their own responsibilities in monitoring allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.
- Governors have oversight of the disciplinary process via membership on disciplinary appeals panels.
- Sexual harassment and misconduct will be added to the Institutional risk register, which is formally reviewed twice annually.
- We will provide an annual report to the Board on sexual harassment and misconduct at Trinity Laban.
Statement of Expectations on Sexual Harassment and Misconduct by Anthony Bowne (TL Principal) and Alan Davey (Chair of the Board of Governors)
Information for students
Information from the Student Services department on the following can be found on our dedicated Moodle page:
- consent and sexual violence, including how to talk to someone informally
- how to report an incident
- internal and external sources of support
Learn about the internal counselling services available to you at Trinity Laban.
Our internal procedures for making disciplinary complaints against another student or student complaints where a member of staff may have been involved, are available on the Complaints, Appeals, Disciplinary, Academic Misconduct and Fitness to Study section of Moodle, where you can also view our Harassment and Bullying Policy.
Information for Staff
Information on the following can be found on the Employment Policies page of the staff intranet:
- Staff Personal Relationships Policy
- related guidance documents (including on staff-student personal relationships)
- personal relationships declaration forms
Our dedicated Dignity at Work page of the staff intranet details what should you do if you think you may be a target of bullying or harassment and what support and information resources are available.
Learn about the free external counselling services available to you and your family members. Please be assured that discussion any discussions will remain completely confidential to the service.