VCL Productions Summer Youth Project - Code of Conduct

This policy has been developed in order to provide children and young people with advice on the behaviour that is expected of them when participating in projects led and delivered by VCL Productions, so they feel safe, respected and valued. It is to be used in conjunction with our Safeguarding policy. We promote positive behaviour because it enhances social opportunities and ensures that our learning environment is calm, happy and enriching for everyone.

We believe all children and young people deserve to thrive in an environment that is calm, safe, supportive and where they are treated with dignity. To achieve this, every child and young person is made aware of our behaviour standards, expectations and consequence processes. All children and young people have a duty to follow this behaviour policy.

All participants who take part in our projects and activities have the right to:

Feel valued.
Feel safe, happy and secure.
Play, create and take part fully in all activities without the threat of disruption or negative comments/ feedback.
Be respected, valued and listened to and feel confident to know who to speak to and that everyone will be treated fairly and with sensitivity.

Our aims are to:

Create a safe environment where children and young people are helped to develop their own understanding of appropriate behaviour, thrive and reach their full potential and choose ways of behaving in accordance with expectations.
To encourage children and young people to respect and value themselves and others.
To ensure that a climate of mutual respect exists for all members of the VCL community.
To engage children and young people in restorative practice.

The following behaviour will NOT be tolerated:

use of obscene language
bullying
fighting
stealing
vandalism

We ask participants to:

Respect yourself – Be on time, join in with the best of your ability, use feedback to improve your performance, be polite to staff and participants, no swearing, do not use your mobile phone whilst in sessions, bring sensible snacks and water.
Respect others – Listen, don’t interrupt, co-operate, no shouting, no bullying, no aggressive or violent behaviour, do not disturb other classes, respect other peoples’ opinions, attend all sessions.
Respect the building – Respect staff, tidy up after yourself, no graffiti, no chewing gum, no running, wear correct footwear, follow health and safety guidelines and report any damages to staff.

Bullying:

We tackle bullying appropriately and ensure that bullying concerns are dealt with sensitively and effectively.

Defining Bullying Behaviour- Bullying behaviour deliberately causes hurt (either physically or emotionally including online). Bullying behaviour is usually repetitive (one-off incidents, such as the posting of an image or sending of a text that is passed around a group, can quickly spiral into bullying behaviour). Bullying behaviour involves an imbalance of power (the person or people on the receiving end feel like they can’t defend themselves).

Different Types of Bullying (this list is not exhaustive):

Physical – pushing, kicking, hitting, pinching, any form of violence, threats.
Verbal – name calling, sarcasm, spreading rumours, persistent teasing.
Emotional – tormenting, threatening ridicule, humiliation, exclusion from groups or activities.
Racist – racial abuse, graffiti, gestures
Sexual – unwanted physical contact, abusive comments.
Damage to property or theft – demanding possessions, money, deliberately damaging belongings.
Homophobic – taunts, graffiti, gestures relating to the sexual orientation of a person. Transgender – taunts, graffiti, gestures relating to the gender identity of a person.
Cyber – sending threatening or abusive text messages, emails or images. Writing abusive or negative things about people online.
Gender - taunts, graffiti, gestures relating to the gender of a person.

DO’S and DON’T guidelines

Mobile phone use in rehearsals and backstage:

We want to keep participants, staff, freelancers and volunteers safe, ensure we are all focusing on the show and we want to manage representations of the shows on social media through official photos and posts and for these reasons we are strict about how and when we use phones in rehearsals and the backstage area.

DO:

Do keep your mobile phone off and away in the rehearsal space or dressing room when anyone is getting changed. When no one is changing and where there are long periods of waiting in dressing rooms then young people can use their phones with permission from the chaperone and with camera covers (these will be provided).
Do enjoy taking pictures and filming in the DESIGNATED Photo and Filming session but please respect our rules about not sharing these on social media.
Do enjoy sharing our official pictures on social media platforms.
You may be given permission to film sections of choreography or make audio recordings for personal reference only when instructed by the director / choreographer or lead artist, to support learning. Please note that these films are for personal reference and learning only and should never be shared on social media and must be permanently deleted from your device.

DON’T:

Use your mobile phone during rehearsals
Don’t use your phone in your dressing room when anyone is changing if you are under 18 years old/ staff don’t use your phones in the dressing room blocks or near quick change areas
Don’t take pictures backstage (please share our OFFICIAL PICS for this)
Don’t worry! If there is an emergency then our chaperones will permit you to use your phone to make a call
Don’t stress! If the timings for pick-up changes then our chaperones will give you permission to text / phone a parent or guardian
Please make sure that if you bring in any heated hair appliance, IE. straighteners or curlers, for the first time you make a member of the technical team aware and get the appliance inspected.

Heated appliances:

must not be used in dressing rooms with more than eight participants
must not be used when participants are in costume
must not be placed on or near anything flammable
must be used carefully and safely
must be turned off and unplugged after use
must be taken home after each performance – they should not be left in the theatre between visits
All such appliances are the personal responsibility of the participant who brought them into the theatre.

We run a ‘four strikes’ policy for disruptive, dangerous or repeated incidents of mean behaviour as well as bullying, as follows:

1. If a participant’s behaviour has given the Project leader cause for concern and is not in line with the Policy’s expectations, parents will be notified and a restorative approach will be used. Restorative practice involves helping the child think through their behaviour, its consequences and what they can do to make it better using the following questions:

What happened?
What were you thinking and feeling at the time?
What have you thought about it since?
Who has been affected and in what way?
How could things have been done differently?
What do you think needs to happen to make things right?

2. If a participant continues to be disruptive, dangerous or mean, parents will be notified. They will be made aware the incident is serious enough to be considered a ‘warning’ at which point a note will be made on record.

3. If a participant’s behaviour continues to be challenging and/or disruptive, parents will be notified again and the Project leader and parents will speak to the child/young person together, with a final warning.

4. If, following the final warning, a participant does not show they are committed towards improving their behaviour, they will be instantly dismissed, without recourse or refund.

VCL Productions reserves the right to remove any participant at any time without warning from its sessions if it feels that the behaviour or conduct of that participant is not conducive to the working environment or to the progress of other participants or puts the health and safety of others at risk. Minor issues will be addressed quickly and consistently.