Core Expectations
Choristers and their parents/carers should not be required to navigate unnecessarily between different settings’ policies, procedures, and personnel. Cathedrals and schools must ensure that there are no barriers and that, irrespective of where a concern is raised, the response is timely, appropriate, and effective.
Church settings must ensure that all staff and volunteers who work with choristers in any capacity, particularly those engaged in regulated activity and/or with unsupervised access to choristers, are subject to appropriate Safer Recruitment and People Management practices, including the completion of DBS checks prior to undertaking such roles. Cathedral settings should verify that these requirements are in place and identify any gaps. Where gaps are identified, a risk assessment and action plan must be implemented, and any individual without the appropriate DBS clearance must not undertake unsupervised regulated activity until the required checks are complete.
Good practice
“…it is widely recognised that cathedral staff oversee choristers within the cathedral, while school staff take responsibility during school hours. The most effective practices were observed where clear guidelines, such as Memoranda of Understanding between the school and cathedral or specific sections within chorister safeguarding policies, outlined responsibilities in detail.”
Taken from: INEQE Chorister report 2024 page 5 paragraph 1.
In order to achieve best practice for choristers:
- All staff, volunteers and clergy must understand exactly what is expected of them in respect of the safeguarding and wellbeing of choristers. For example, floor staff enforcing photography policies and security staff monitoring access to chorister spaces.
- Cathedrals and schools attended by choristers should be confident that practices and processes are aligned across settings, with no ambiguity or areas of unmanaged risk.
- The settings should develop shared operational documents that clearly state safeguarding responsibilities to all staff and volunteers, embedded in role responsibilities and descriptions and communicated appropriately to choristers and their parents/carers. This should include who is responsible for safe transit between settings and advice to parents on the arrangements for dropping off and collecting children.
See 1.5 regarding further policies and procedures.
Resources