Safeguarding policy

Who this policy is for

Everyone who works with Make (Good) Trouble – whether you’re paid, a volunteer, a student, or helping out – must follow this policy. It’s also available on our website.

What Make (Good) Trouble does 

We work with children, teenagers, parents, and carers through projects like:

What this policy is for

  • To help keep children and young people safe while they’re working with us
  • To show parents, carers, staff and volunteers what we do to protect children

The law behind this

This policy is based on laws and guidance made to protect children in England. You can find a summary of this on the NSPCC website. 

We believe that: 

  • children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind 
  • We must look after children’s safety and wellbeing in everything we do. 

What we understand: 

  • Keeping children safe comes first – always
  • Every child deserves protection, no matter their background or identity
  • Some children may be more at risk, for example due to past experiences or communication needs 
  • Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in keeping young people safe. 

How we protect the children and young people we work with

We keep children and young people safe by: 

  • Valuing, listening to and respecting them 
  • Having a Safeguarding Lead (Andrew Wright and Tayler Cresswell)
  • Sharing concerns and relevant information with the right people but only if it’s safe to do so
  • Preventing and dealing with bullying 
  • Safely recruiting staff and volunteers (including DBS checks which are updated yearly)
  • Supporting staff through supervision and training 
  • Making sure everyone has up-to-date safeguarding training
  • Taking allegations against staff and volunteers seriously 
  • Creating safe physical spaces (we follow health and safety rules, carry our risk assessments, and regularly check equipment) 
  • Keeping personal data safe in line with our Data Protection Policy and Privacy Policy

If you’re worried about a child or young person

Follow these steps: 

  1. Talk to our Safeguarding Lead, Andrew Wright or Tayler Cresswell 
  2. If a Youth Worker is around, Andrew or Tayler will discuss the concerns with them to decide what steps to take
  3. Andrew, Tayler or the Youth Worker will speak to the child’s parent/carer – unless doing so would put the child in more danger or affect a police investigation
  4. If it’s an urgent or serious concern, Andrew or Tayler will contact the police or Children’s Services.

Useful contact info: East Sussex Children’s Services:
Phone: 01424 724144
More info: https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/children-families/professional-resources/spoa.

Children’s Services in other areas:
Check the local authority: https://www.gov.uk/report-child-abuse-to-local-council. 

Keeping children safe during online sessions

When we run workshops or projects online (for example using Zoom or Microsoft Teams):

  • We use secure, approved platforms
  • Parents/carers are told when sessions are happening 
  • Two adults are always present (this can be a Make (Good) Trouble team member, school staff, or a parent/carer
  • Only invited people get the meeting link
  • No one is recorded without permission 
  • The young person knows their rights and of any rules before the session starts.

If something goes wrong in an online session: 

  1. End the call immediately and explain: “This video call needs to end immediately due to an incident. We will follow up with everyone soon. If you have any questions, please contact Make (Good) Trouble.”
  2. Write down what happened and contact Tayler, our Safeguarding Lead.

If we need to work remotely again (like during Covid)

If in-person work isn’t possible, we’ll keep everyone safe by:

  • Keeping in touch with young people via phone, text, email or video
  • Giving our team proper breaks and time off
  • Our film and digital content will be created and edited remotely
  • If face-to-face interviews are deemed necessary, we’ll only do so if everyone is happy to. We’ll also do a risk assessment and make sure social distancing is adhered to, and all equipment is kept clean and sanitised to reduce the risk of spread of infections. 

If you ever feel unsure, unsafe, or need to talk to someone, please speak to Tayler or any team member. Keeping you safe is our top priority.

Related policies and procedures 

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies and procedures which can be found here.

Please read our Data Protection policy for information on how we store your information and keep your data secure.

Contact details 

Safeguarding Leads: Andrew Wright and Tayler Cresswell. You can contact Andrew or Tayler via this link.

NSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000 

Policy review

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually. 

This policy was last reviewed: September 2025
It will next be reviewed: September 2026