How Do We Safeguard Children at Just 4 Kids?

Creating a place where children can have fun, feel safe and be themselves

At Just 4 Kids Performing Arts, we talk a lot about fun, confidence, creativity and belonging.

But there's something even more important sitting underneath all of those things:

Children need to feel safe.

Parents and carers are trusting us with their children every week, and that's something we take seriously.

Safeguarding isn't simply a policy sitting on our website. It's part of how we run our classes, how our team works with children and how we make decisions when something doesn't feel quite right.

So what does safeguarding actually look like at J4K?

What do we mean by safeguarding? 🛡️

Safeguarding is about protecting children's safety, welfare and wellbeing.

Of course, that includes knowing what to do if we're worried that a child may be experiencing abuse or harm.

But good safeguarding is much broader than responding when something has already happened.

It's also about creating an environment where children are treated with respect, appropriate boundaries are maintained, concerns are listened to and children know that there are adults they can talk to.

In other words, we want J4K to be somewhere children feel safe enough to be themselves.

Creating a safe environment

Before the singing, dancing, drama games and general J4K chaos can begin, we need to make sure the environment we're using is appropriate for the children attending.

We consider things such as the venue and activity, supervision, entrances and exits, equipment, emergency arrangements and any particular needs within the group.

We also have clear arrangements around arrival and collection, because safeguarding doesn't begin when the warm-up starts and finish when the music stops.

Parents and carers remain responsible for their child until they have been handed over to the J4K team, and children are normally only released to their parent/carer or an adult authorised to collect them.

The people working with your child 👋

Who we put in front of children matters.

We follow safer recruitment and safeguarding procedures when bringing people into the J4K team, with appropriate Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks undertaken according to each person's role and current eligibility requirements.

We also use young assistants at J4K from time to time.

They can be fantastic role models for our younger children, but they're also young people themselves. They're appropriately supervised and aren't used as a substitute for the responsible adults needed to run and supervise our sessions.

Listening to children 👂

One of the most important parts of safeguarding is creating a culture where children feel that they can speak.

If a child tells us something that worries them, we listen.

We don't promise to keep secrets that could affect their safety, and we don't investigate concerns ourselves. Instead, information is recorded and passed on appropriately so that the right action can be considered.

Sometimes children communicate that something isn't right without actually saying the words.

That's why changes in behaviour, unexplained injuries, worrying comments, changes in mood or anything else that causes concern shouldn't simply be ignored.

Kindness, behaviour and bullying 🤝

Safeguarding also connects closely with the culture we create inside our classes.

We expect children to treat one another with kindness and respect, and we don't dismiss bullying, discriminatory behaviour or unsafe physical behaviour as simply “children being children.”

That doesn't mean we expect children to behave perfectly.

They're children!

Sometimes they'll get overexcited, fall out with somebody, struggle to regulate their emotions or make a poor choice.

Our approach is to help children understand expectations, repair situations where possible and learn better ways to respond.

But if behaviour repeatedly or seriously affects somebody else's safety or wellbeing, we will take action and work with the families involved.

Physical contact and professional boundaries

Performing arts can sometimes involve appropriate physical contact — perhaps helping a child understand a movement, supporting them if they're injured or providing reassurance when they're upset.

Any physical contact should be appropriate, necessary and respectful of the child.

Our team is also expected to maintain clear professional boundaries with children.

Communication about classes normally takes place with parents and carers, rather than through private or inappropriate online communication between adults and children.

Photography and filming 📸

We love capturing the brilliant things our children do, but photographs and videos involving children need to be handled carefully.

J4K respects the photography and video permissions recorded for each child, and those permissions guide how images can be used.

We've also made the decision that audience photography and filming aren't permitted during our end-of-term performances.

We know parents naturally want to capture those special moments, but some children cannot or should not be photographed or filmed. Having one clear rule for everybody allows us to protect children's privacy without identifying individual children or families.

Supporting individual children 💛

Every child who walks into J4K is different.

Some are incredibly confident. Others are nervous.

Some children have additional needs, disabilities, medical conditions, sensory differences or communication needs that may affect how they experience a class.

We encourage parents and carers to talk to us about anything that could help us understand and support their child.

Where appropriate, we'll consider reasonable adjustments that can help a child participate safely and successfully.

Safeguarding isn't about treating every child identically. It's about noticing and responding to what individual children may need.

What happens if we have a concern?

J4K has a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) who takes responsibility for safeguarding concerns.

Our Principal, Vicky Nagy, is the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

If we're concerned about a child's welfare, we'll follow our safeguarding procedures. Depending on the circumstances, this could include recording the concern, speaking with parents or carers where appropriate, seeking safeguarding advice or sharing information with the relevant professionals or authorities.

There may be situations where information needs to be shared without parental consent if doing so is necessary to protect a child.

If we believe a child is in immediate danger, protecting that child comes first.

Parents are part of safeguarding too

Safeguarding works best when there is good communication between families and the people caring for their children.

If there's something we should know about your child, please tell us.

And if something happens at J4K that concerns you, please speak to us.

You don't need to know whether something officially “counts” as a safeguarding concern before mentioning it. We'd rather have a conversation and decide that no further action is needed than have somebody stay quiet because they weren't sure.

Safe enough to have a go 🌟

Safeguarding can sound like a very serious subject — and of course, it is.

But ultimately, good safeguarding helps create something really positive.

It creates an environment where a nervous child can gradually come out of their shell.

Where children can be silly without being humiliated.

Where they can try something and get it wrong.

Where differences are respected.

Where adults listen.

And where children can concentrate on singing, dancing, acting, creating, making friends and having fun, because the grown-ups around them are taking care of the important stuff.

That's the kind of environment we want at Just 4 Kids.

A place to have fun, belong and shine — safely. 💙

Want to know more?

You can read our full Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy alongside our other J4K policies for more detailed information about the procedures we follow.

If you ever have a safeguarding concern relating to J4K, please contact:

Victoria NagyPrincipal & Designated Safeguarding Lead

Just 4 Kids Performing Arts

Email: j4kperformingarts@yahoo.com