Havering Hockey Club Receives ClubsFirst Accreditation
The club have today (1st April 2008) received official confirmation that we have been accredited with our ClubsFirst Award. ClubsFirst is the England Hockey club mark award which recognises clubs that offer safe, effective child friendly environments. The club has demonstrated that they meet all the criteria of this national scheme. A big congratulations to everyone who contributed to all the hard work that went into achieving this award.
What is ClubsFirst?
ClubsFirst (previously Clubs 1st) is the England Hockey club accreditation scheme. It is the "kite mark" for clubs that can demonstrate that they work to minimum operating standards (MOS). ClubsFirst is aligned with the Sport England Clubmark accreditation, recognised nationally by NGBs, local government, education and the sporting industry. In its simplest terms, the process will ensure that our club has a “safe effective and child friendly” club environment.
More Information From England Hockey...
4th EDITION CLUBSFIRST IS ROLLED OUT!
ClubsFirst has recently undergone a review of content and branding and we are delighted to have rolled out the 4th Edition of ClubsFirst. We have revised the document and process because 'sport' is an ever-changing industry and the demands on National Governing Bodies (NGBs) like England Hockey from government and key funding partners such as Sport England, mean that policy and products need to be revised from time to time to ensure they are current and fit for purpose.
The layout and branding of the file
The branding has changed from Clubs 1st to ClubsFirst with a new logo embedded into the new product. The logo was designed to support and work in harmony with ClubMark to create a common identity for schools, CSPs, etc. As a result of the new branding, the layout of the file was improved to reflect both new legislative guidance, but also to improve the user friendliness of the file.
Have there been many changes?
The file is split into six sections:
• Developing Young People in Hockey (which has replaced The Playing Programme)
• Safeguarding and Protecting Young People (which has replaced Child Protection)
• Sports Equity and Ethics
• Club Management
Each of these sections is made up of an introduction, the criteria and is followed by the FAQs.
The Assessment Process follows, and includes the forms you will need to complete the a ClubsFirst assessment.
Annual Self Review, External Verification and Reassessment is the final section. In line with the national Clubmark programme, we have introduced annual self reviews; which are now mandatory for assuring that our ClubsFirst clubs maintain the MOS over the three year period of accreditation. These annual self reviews will be incorporated into the affiliation process and will begin at the beginning of the 2009/10 season. This is a two stage process with the first stage being a self review by the club to confirm they are still operating to the MOS of ClubsFirst. The second stage is once the club’s self review form has been processed, England Hockey will randomly select a proportion of those clubs for a review visit or to provide their file for a desk-based observation.
Many clubs have said in the past that once they became accredited they did not really receive support to keep the good work going. The annual self review will ensure that EH knows what is going on in each accredited club. and can provide support to those clubs that are struggling, so that re-accreditation after 3 years becomes a rubber stamping exercise!
Supporting documentation
We have a range of templates evidencing good practice from accredited clubs, and this will be available online.
Do you have any examples of good practice your club would like to share? If so, send your ideas to your EH Development Officer, and we will have a look at them!
The new file also has a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs), which were formed through consultation with EH staff, KKP, CSPs, targeted accredited clubs and targeted clubs who are working towards accreditation. The FAQs are included as part of the file
A clubs database has been put together. This ties together the member information that the club will collect as part of the annual affiliation process and the data required to complete ClubsFirst thus saving time and energy in replication of data collection for the club. The database is a fantastic tool that we hope will help the club in many different ways. It will produce a weekly register automatically for junior sessions and provide emergency contact details, in addition to providing the club with important equity data required for monitoring and reporting purposes.
For More Information Visit: www.englandhockey.co.uk |
