Arena health and fitness club is a holder of the National Quality Standard, which at all times ensure the safety and wellbeing of its members especially children first document and code of ethics in sport for children. All our staff are Garda vetted before being working in our facility.

We also have two designated liaison persons should there be any suspicion of child abuse that is specifically trained to deal with such allegations.

The D.L.P for the Arena are:                                   

Aoife Daly 01-8450222 and Katie Bowden 018450222

arena@thegrand.ie

The DLP’s have their photos and contact details in the club on notice boards and their details are sent out to all members via email as part of normal contact with members through ezine etc. Both DLP’s have received external training.

Arena health & fitness club provide various activities for children and young people through participation in schools, clubs, regional/provincial events, Arena learn to swim programme swim lessons & classes and public swims.

Arena health & fitness club is committed to safeguarding children and by working under the guidance of our Safeguarding Policies, while working with our young people, throughout the organisation, seek to create a safe environment for children and young people to grow and develop.

Arena health & fitness club's written risk assessment document indicates the areas of potential risk of harm, the likelihood of the risk occurring, and gives the required policy, guidance or process documents required to alleviate these risks. The list of risks identified are contained in the following categories: Instructor Practices; Complaints & Discipline; Reporting Procedures; Use of facilities; Recruitment; Communications; and General Risk of Harm. The risk assessment was undertaken on 1st July 2022.

Our Child Safeguarding Statement has been developed in line with requirements under the Children First Act 2015, (the Children first: National Guidance, and Tusla's Child safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, Procedure and Practice, Children (NI) order 1995). In addition to our risk assessment document described above, there are further procedures that support our intention to safeguard children while they are availing of our activities.

ARENA HEALTH & FITNESS CLUB HAS THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES IN PLACE AS PART OF OUR SAFEGUARDING POLICIES: 

• Procedures for the management of allegations of abuse or misconduct by staff or volunteers against a child availing of our activities.
• Procedures for the safe recruitment of staff to work with children in our activities.
• Procedures for access to child safeguarding training and information, including the identification of the occurrence of harm.
• Procedures for reporting of child protection or welfare concerns to Statutory Authorities.

We recognise that implementation is an ongoing process. Our club is committed to the implementation of this Child Safeguarding Statement and the procedures that support our intention to keep children safe from harm while availing of our activities.

This Child Safeguarding Statement will be reviewed on July 1st 2023. For queries on the Child Safeguarding Statement, please contact the Designated Liaison Person as outlined above.

ADMISSION POLICY FOR CHILDREN

This admission policy conforms to the recommendations outlined in the publication “Swimming Pool Safety Guidelines” produced jointly by Irish Water Safety, ILAM and Swim Ireland.

In Ireland, a child is legally defined as being a person under 18 years. As such only children aged 16 years and over will be admitted to our gyms subject to having undergone an assessment with one of our fitness instructors who will issue an appropriate fitness programme tailored to each individual.

SWIMMING POOL ADMISSION POLICY

Non-Programmed Activities:

Lifeguards cannot and should not be expected to replace the care and supervision of a parent or guardian. Research into drowning in Ireland has identified that children under 8 years are most at risk.

• A child aged 5 years or younger must be accompanied in the water by a parent or responsible adult at all times.
• A Child (guest of member or hotel guest) aged 12 years or younger will only be admitted to the swimming pool when accompanied by a parent or responsible adult who must remain in view of the child at all times
•  All children who are members and have passed the key tag test can use the pool unaccompanied and must swipe in through club system which alerts staff of unaccompanied children, and lifeguard is informed.
•  A responsible adult is defined as a person aged 18 years or over who is regarded as being competent to supervise a child.

Programmed Activities:

•  Children will only be admitted to structured activities subject to parental or guardianship signed approval.
•  The parent or guardian of a child attending any of our programmed activities must inform our staff of any illness, special requirements or medical needs that may apply to each child. And complete a medical questionnaire
•  All children participating in our Arena learn to swim programme must complete a medical questionnaire and terms and conditions forms before being able to join programme and all T&C’s and medical info is signed by the parent or guardian and updated at least once each year of membership.
•  A parent or guardian must provide supervision for any child attending programmed activities until such time that our trained staff members assume responsibility.

Arena health & fitness club operates a safety policy where our pool is under the constant supervision of trained lifeguards. The ratios of lifeguards to pool users are determined by the risk assessments carried out in relation to the different activities that take place in our facilities.