Safeguarding Welfare Manager

The Sport Welfare Officer Network supports Club Welfare Officers to create safe, inclusive environments for children, young people and adults. We work with National Governing Bodies to connect sports and promote good welfare practice locally.

Our universal offer is:
Connect - We provide ways for you to connect with other club volunteers.

Offer Support - We offer 1-2-1 bespoke support and can work with you to reflect on your club's practices and create a safer and more inclusive culture.

Raise Awareness - We can attend events to raise awareness about welfare with parents, carers and participants. We can support you to share campaigns and best practice in your club.

Enable - We can provide, or signpost you to training and learning, to help you create a safer, more inclusive club.

An image of Heidi, our Safeguarding and Welfare Manager. Text beside reads: Meet Heidi, our Safeguarding and Welfare Manager. For the past 20 years I have been involved in sport, whether it's been through coaching others to be physically active or challenging myself personally. More recently I have worked with British Cycling to help develop community-based resources and increase access to cycling for everyone no matter what background they came from. I really enjoy working with clubs across Oxfordshire and being able to connect them to local organisations whilst offering support to their welfare officers. As part of the network and working with colleagues we will raise awareness about important welfare issues and promote safeguarding campaigns with clubs. This will enable volunteers, parents and participants to create safe and inclusive environments. Below reads: What is the purpose of the Sport Welfare Officer Network? Be a local contact person for club welfare officers. Signpost clubs to the right advice and guidance. Support club welfare officers to create a safer culture within their organisation. Facilitate local training opportunities and events. Create networks so that volunteers and staff feel better supported and informed. Recognise, share and develop best practice. Help raise children and adults' awareness of safeguarding and welfare at local events.
Title: Safeguarding and Welfare Why is a Safeguarding and Welfare Manager important and necessary? Due to recent Sport England Funding, Active Oxfordshire have appointed a Safeguarding and Welfare Manager to help support clubs development of best practice by providing an effective safeguarding culture. We are working alongside partners to help develop a community of practice for clubs, where the broad spectrum of content that comes under the welfare umbrella can be kept fresh and there is peer support. Title: where do we work? Illustration of Oxfordshire county. We cover the whole county. But as part of our equitable approach, most of our work features in our priority neighbourhoods. Title: Partners and Plans Recent partners include - The Stay Safe Global Charitable Trust who we are working with to help deliver Introduction to Abuse Awareness in Sport - Building Positive Cultures and Trauma Informed Sports Coaching'. This CIMPSA accredited course will help bring awareness of trauma informed coaching techniques and we hope by working with the coaching and clubs network this increased knowledge and understanding will make their sporting environments more positive and inclusive experiences for all taking part. We are also looking to engage with Club Welfare Officers from across all sports by hosting regular online forums. The first sessions will cover an introduction to the Sport Welfare Network with subsequent sessions to cover topics such as GDPR, Child/Adult Safeguarding to support and provide knowledge and awareness. Contact information. Heidi Yates Safeguarding and Welfare Manager HeidiYates@activeoxfordshire.org

Active Oxfordshire is a registered charity number 1179040, public address Active Oxfordshire, Marlborough House, 69 High Street, Kidlington, OX5 2DN.