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Commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Table Tennis NZ recognises Te Tiriti o Waitangi as Aotearoa New Zealand’s founding document and is committed to upholding the mana of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the principles of Partnership, Protection and Participation.

Policy CS1: Child Safeguarding

Background

Table Tennis NZ wants all children and young people to have a positive and enjoyable experience of Table Tennis and is committed to providing a safe and child-centered environment where children and young people are protected from abuse that may occur inside or outside the organisation.

We do this by having a full range of standards, codes and policies with trained and safe people working with children and young people. We are committed to having an embedded culture of safeguarding and child protection in place, which goes beyond compliance.

Purpose

This policy gives details of Table Tennis NZ’s and its affiliated Table Tennis organisations commitment to the protection of children and young people. The policy:

  1. Sets standards to protect children and young people, our staff, volunteers and contractors.
  2. Contains procedures for our staff, volunteers, and contractors to guide them in identifying and reporting child abuse and neglect to meet our obligations under the Children’s Act 2014.
  3. Creates a mandatory requirement for all staff, volunteers, and contractors to report any concern about the safety of a child or young person, no matter how small they believe it may be, to a Child Safeguarding Representative (CSR).
  4. Appoints Child Safeguarding Representatives and sets out their role and responsibilities.
  5. Provides details of the other procedures in place that are to be followed by all staff, volunteers, and contractors at all times.
  6. Creates a safe environment and ensures that all staff know what to do if there are concerns about a child or young person.

TTNZ Child Safeguarding Representatives are the CEO & Operations Manager: CONTACT US

Scope – who does the policy apply to?

Staff:

This policy applies to all staff who are employed, volunteer or are engaged/contracted by Table Tennis NZ, or by any organisation affiliated to Table Tennis NZ, including board members.

The term ‘staff’ will be used in this policy and procedures to cover all the people named above.

Children and young people:

This policy applies to all children and young people up to 18 years of age who are taking part in Table Tennis NZ or affiliated organisation activities. It also applies to any other children, who may not be directly taking part in those activities, but who staff may have contact with, such as child spectators or siblings.

Table Tennis NZ’s commitment:

To children and young people:

  • We commit to always putting children and young people’s welfare first in every decision we make.
  • We will ensure all children and young people feel respected, listened to, valued, and encouraged to enjoy and participate in their sport, recreation or activity.
  • We will appoint a Child Safeguarding Representative to ensure concerns are dealt with quickly, sensitively, effectively, and consistently.
  • We will provide safe people to work with children and young people.
  • We will provide staff and volunteers who are well trained and confident to respond to any concerns for the safety of a child or young person.
  • We will listen to and believe children and young people.

To parents, caregivers and whānau

  • We will support and respect the vital role parents, caregivers and whānau play in the lives of their children, while always making sure the safety of the child or young person is our priority.
  • We will have open, transparent, and honest communication with parents, caregivers and whānau about all aspects of their child’s welfare, as long as we can keep the child or young person safe while we do that.
  • We will raise any concerns we have as soon as we have them and offer referrals to community services that might be able to help a family through times of difficulty and change.
  • We will be available and approachable to listen to any concerns a parent, caregiver and whānau may have about their child while they are involved in Table Tennis NZ activities.
  • We will take every concern about a child or young person’s safety seriously and respond consistently and effectively.
  • We will provide staff and volunteers who are well trained and confident to respond to any concerns for the safety of a child or young person.

To staff, contractors and volunteers:

  • We will ensure all staff are inducted to our child safeguarding culture.
  • We will provide clear expectations, policies and procedures to support keeping children, young people, staff, contractors and volunteers safe and protected from harm.
  • We will provide support and regular training to ensure these expectations can be met.
  • We will provide adequate supervision so staff, contractors and volunteers always know who they can talk to, and the process involved, if they have a concern about a child or young person.

Organisation Risk Assessment Form – an editable template for this can be found here.

Version: November 2024

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