Maldon Sharks are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all our members.
Our Club has the Swim Mark accreditation, which is Swim England's "quality standard" to recognise the clubs that are committed to providing safe, effective and quality services for the benefit of their members. The accreditation also confirms that we have the highest of standards with regards to governance, sustainability and effectiveness.
As part of this we have a Welfare Officer and they are the first point of contact for anyone within the club who has a safeguarding or welfare concern. Safeguarding / welfare concerns can be raised by any child, parent or member of the club, so if you have such a concern then please immediately contact our welfare officer:
Rebecca Tarplett
E-mail - welfare@maldonsharks.co.uk
If you do not wish to or cannot speak with our Welfare Officer but have a concern that a child or adult may be at risk of harm, or being harmed, you should, without delay, contact:
- Your county or regional welfare officer
- Swim England National Safeguarding Team
Their Safeguarding contact details can be found on the following link -
Swim England Child Safeguarding Contacts
or you can contact the following for Swim England's National Safeguarding team -
Email: safeguarding@swimming.org
Tel: 01509 640 700 (Option 1 for Swim England and then Option 3 for Safeguarding)
or for East Region Swimming -
Eastwelfare@swimming.org / 01509 640378
or for Essex County Swimming -
In an emergency
If you believe a child or adult has been harmed or may be at immediate risk of harm, and you are unable to contact your welfare officer or the Swim England safeguarding team please make immediate contact with an appropriate agency, such as:
- The Police
- Children’s Services
- Local Authority Adult Safeguarding Team
- Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
- Local Authority Designated officer (LADO)
- NSPCC Child Protection Helpline
Take the name and contact details of the person you have spoken to, plus the incident / referral reference number (if applicable) so you have a record of the advice they give.
Then report this to the club welfare officer and the Swim England safeguarding team the next working day.
In partnership with the club committee, the Welfare Officer ensures that the club is adopting and implementing the relevant safeguarding policies and procedures. Maldon Sharks fully endorses and adheres to the latest Swim England guidelines as contained within the Wavepower 2024 policy document.
The link to the Wavepower 2024 document can be found below:
https://www.swimming.org/swimengland/wavepower-updated-version/
