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Greenbelt Online Safety Policy Statement

Greenbelt Online Safety Policy Statement

Greenbelt works with children, families and ‘adults at risk’ as part of its activities, including providing online entertainment for them. 

The purpose of this policy statement is to:  

  • ensure the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and adults at risk is paramount when they are using the internet, social media or mobile devices  
  • provide staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to online safety 
  • ensure that, as an organisation, we operate in line with our values and within the law in terms of how we use online devices. 

This policy statement applies to all staff, volunteers, artists, and anyone involved in Greenbelt’s online activities. 

Greenbelt believes that:  

  • Children, young people and adults at risk should never experience abuse of any kind.  
  • That they should be able to use the internet for education, entertainment and personal development, but safeguards need to be in place to ensure they are kept safe at all times. 

Greenbelt recognises that:  

  • the online world provides everyone with many opportunities; however it can also present risks and challenges  
  • we have a duty to ensure that all children, young people and adults at risk involved with our organisation are protected from potential harm online  

We will seek to keep children, young people and adults at risk safe by: 

  • appointing an online safety coordinator  
  • providing clear and specific directions to staff and volunteers on how to behave online through our behaviour code
  • supporting and encouraging parents and carers to do what they can to keep those in their care safe online, for instance by providing age appropriate guidance for content  
  • developing clear and robust procedures to enable us to respond appropriately to any incidents of inappropriate online behaviour, whether by an adult or a child/young person 
  • reviewing and updating the security of our information systems regularly  
  • ensuring that usernames, logins, email accounts and passwords are used effectively
  • ensuring personal information about those involved in our organisation is held securely and shared only as appropriate
  • ensuring that images of children, young people and families are used only after their written permission has been obtained, and only for the purpose for which consent has been given  
  • providing supervision, support and training for staff and volunteers about online safety
  • examining and risk assessing any social media platforms and new technologies before they are used within the organisation. 

If online abuse occurs, we will respond to it by:

  •  having clear and robust safeguarding procedures in place for responding to abuse  
  • providing support and training for all staff and volunteers 
  • making sure our response takes the needs of the person experiencing abuse, any bystanders and our organisation as a whole into account  
  • reviewing the plan developed to address online abuse at regular intervals, in order to ensure that any problems have been resolved in the long term

Related policies and procedures:

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies and procedures, including: 

  • Safeguarding  
  • Code of conduct for staff and volunteers  
  • Complaints
  • Whistleblowing

Contact details:

You can contact our Online Safety Coordinator by emailing: safety@greenbelt.org.uk

This policy was last updated: August 2020

This policy is due for review: July 2021

This policy has been approved by the Safeguarding Lead on Greenbelts Board of Trustees, Chine McDonald.