Preston North End Community and Education Trust [PNECET] is proudly marking the importance of safeguarding both across football and its community provision as part of the FA’s Play Safe campaign, which continues at tomorrow night's fixture against West Brom, following the initial campaign period over the weekend.
The focus of the Play Safe campaign this year is to highlight the vital role parents and carers can play in football in relation to safeguarding.
The act of safeguarding is taking action to protect vulnerable groups from harm, which might come from adults or other children. For anyone working closely or in contact with vulnerable groups, it remains incredibly important to understand what safeguarding is and why it’s important.
PNECET staff have completed safeguarding training as part of their roles to protect all those who are accessing its provision, no matter their age or individual circumstances, and there was a recent refresher on safeguarding for the workforce as part of a staff training day.
Rebecca Robertson, PNECET’s Head of Community Engagement and Designated Safeguarding Officer, delivered the safeguarding aspect of the training day, in late August, and leads on all aspects of safeguarding for the Trust.
Explaining what safeguarding means to her, Rebecca said: “Safeguarding is extremely important me.
“It gives all of us at Preston North End Community and Education Trust the opportunity to look after those that we’re working with, ensure that they are safe, and give them a happy, fun and comfortable environment to work in. It ultimately enables us to protect those that we work with and deliver to.
“I want everyone who takes part in all of our programmes to enjoy everything that they’re doing in a safe environment. Some of those that we work with are extremely vulnerable and come from environments that don’t give them that safety. If I as an individual and a professional can do that, it’s something I want to be involved in.”
There is a free online safeguarding course that parents and carers can now access through the FA website by clicking here.