NSPCC launches Keeping Your Child safe in Sport campaign

First up is a week of activity for our Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport campaign from October 7-11.

Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport is a year-round campaign run by our fantastic Child Protection in Sport Unit, it calls on sports and activity groups to participate and prioritise the safeguarding of children and young people.

Everyone can play a role in keeping children safe, and this campaign aims to support parents and carers to feel confident about playing their part in sport.

This year we’re focusing on building safer sporting communities for children and we’re asking teams and clubs to bring their sporting communities together by hosting a Team Huddle. Huddles can be fun, informal gatherings to raise awareness and create meaningful discussions around safeguarding. We’ve been encouraging sports clubs and activity groups to hold these events all summer, but we’d love to hear from anyone hosting them in the lead up to the main week, or the week itself. Whether you’re integrating the huddle into an existing event, such as a club meeting, or running it as a standalone event it will help bring parents, carers and sporting groups together. There’s a fun quiz in our Team Huddle activity pack, but clubs can also choose their own activity. Go to thecpsu.org.uk. The campaign aims to help create an open and inclusive culture, where parents can speak up, ask questions and raise concerns. Post about your Team Huddles on social media using the hashtag #SafeinSport.

October is also the month the NSPCC hosts its annual Kindness Challenge - a week dedicated to creating kindness in school communities and classrooms, while raising money for Childline.

One of the best things about the Kindness Challenge is it’s easy to take part. Pupils will pick up to nine kind acts using a worksheet available on the NSPCC website. Classes can complete these acts on the first week of October or at another time in the month. The campaign is intended to be more than just a one-off bonus.

Cultivating kindness is incredibly important for children - the Kindness Challenge aims to help kickstart kindness in schools and watch it spread throughout the year. This year, the NSPCC has partnered with Fonetti, award-winning read-aloud app and school portal for the Kindness Challenge. Schools taking part in Challenge will be able to submit pupils’ kindness act worksheets for the chance to win a Fonetti school subscription - and have their story published in the NSPCC Kindness Challenge book on Fonetti’s read-aloud app.

We’re also encouraging readers to set their own kind acts challenge. Visit nspcc.org.uk/kindness-challenge