Changes to Club Classes in October 2014

Why change anything?

• We operate on 5 year development plans for membership, training programs and finances.
• Each year we review every class.
• We have circumstances of staffing, facilities, contracts and conditions.
• We have National, Regional and County and City sport plans to accommodate.
• Sport and Leisure ideas CHANGE; what people like and what is “cool” to be doing.
• The Club has been open since 1968, a coming together of several independent classes and groups. Our Clarendon facility has been open since 1984, New College since 2009.
• We have several satellite and outreach classes and programs across the City and County.
• Our timetable has 500 members in around 60 hours of classes each week.

What are the major circumstances driving change now?

• New facilities at New College, refurbishment at Clarendon.
• New British Gymnastics and Sport England training programs.
• New contracts for staffing.
• New contract hours for City premises staff in particular no bank holiday working.
• Financial structures of income and expenditure. We are funded ONLY from the fees paid.

When are the changes starting?

• All changes start from week commencing September 29^th 2014 which is also the start of the new year for British Gymnastics membership and insurance.

How many classes in a club year?

• We guarantee 48 weeks a year of classes to monthly paid members. We close 1 week in JULY and we close 2 weeks at Christmas. We have 1 flexible week each year. 52 minus 4 = 48.
• All regular fees are monthly and assume 48 weeks divide by 4 =12 equal monthly payments.
• There is no reduction for missed classes, holidays or illness. Membership is annual.

Are all classes changing?

• NO. We list here only the classes that have changes.
• If your class is NOT on this list then it will be the same as last year.
• Where you have a problem with a clash of other activities we will always try hard to find you a space in an alternative class.

1)  To simplify the problems that we have with Bank holidays we must swop NEW COLLEGE Monday (general gymnastics classes with monthly fees) with a Friday (Freestyle with pay as you play) .This brings all FREESTYLE classes to a Monday to simplify apparatus set ups.

NEW COLLEGE        Monday           5 – 6-30pm       Junior Freestyle

NEW COLLEGE        Friday              4-5pm              Gymnastics (age 5-7)

NEW COLLEGE        Friday              5-6pm              Gymnastics (age 8-11)

2)

Saturday class time will change to 9am-11am.

The Friday 4.30 -6.30 class will be transferred to a Saturday 9-11am

CLARENDON            Friday              4.30 – 6.30     

CLARENDON            Saturday class time change now 9am-11am.

CLARENDON            Saturday          9am-11am      NEW CLASS.   

3

This is a new Sport England and British Gymnastics initiative.

New College          Tuesday                4.30 – 6.30 girls

New College          Wednesday          6-8 girls and boys

New College          Thursday              4.30 – 6.30 girls

Clarendon              Thursday              5-7 boys

Clarendon              Saturday               9.30-10.30am girls and boys

IMPORTANT INFORMATION (19 Page Document)

The information here is to assist everyone in understanding some of the changes we are making and the issues that we have found as we bring both our centres through a period of major change. These changes affect class members and parents and are part of a 5 year review of our operational management and club function.

Our membership has grown and staffing has changed during the past 5 years and in fact the ambitions of our young members has also changed significantly with a new outlook to sport and different view to participation. There has been a huge rise in “freestyle gymnastics” driven by Freerunning and Parkour and the need for a less rigid set of performance or competitive rules.  We have to balance our classes, staffing, timetables and our income to gather up all new members.

We have been successful in bucking a national trend in sport that has seen many young teenagers drop out of sport. We have a thriving Freestyle section and our adult classes are full. A major change is the introduction of MY CLUB which tries to gather up classes  into a single group  with realistic options to keep their interest. We have adopted a wider role as a Disability Gymnastics Hub which brings new responsibilities in the region and the County.

We are making a renewed drive to engage with members to assist us and help MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the governance and support in keeping the club running. With the help of the National Governing Body we are inviting members to join us in taking the club forward. We are a CLUB, working “not for profit”. We do not expect you to read this document in one go so listed below are the topics and the page numbers that will allow you to select the most relevant to you at this time.

PAGE               TOPIC

2                      MY CLUB, a new structure for all general/recreation classes longer than 1 hour.

5                      MAKE A DIFFERENCE, support help and Governance, help us run the club.

6                      TUMBLE, a TV show near you.

7                      WHO ARE WE, a 5 year review.

9                      FEES AND FEE STRUCTURE.

10                    VIEWING TRAINING/SPECTATING, why is viewing restricted.

15                    TOILETS, hydration and toilet visits during classes.

16                    SECURITY.

17                    DUTY OF CARE.

19                    CHANGES TO THE CLUB CLASSES 29th September 2014.

Page 2

NEW CLUB INITIATIVES

1          MY CLUB      This is major and exciting change to a core set of classes. We recognise that whilst some gymnasts are happy to remain within the recreation class program of 1 hour classes others are looking for a half way house which remains fun with interesting training but with options to extend that training and possibly compete in some of the many events on offer from British Gymnastics, the Region and the County. We are packaging together a series of classes, each of 2 hours, with a dedicated team of coaches who will be training girls and boys. The membership of MY CLUB allows the members some unique benefits and flexibility of choice as they grow older. This is intended to strengthen the club, encourage interest and raise ambition. There are rewards and benefits of MY CLUB. Options of 2, 4 or 6 hours of training a week are possible. MY CLUB offer does NOT include Pay as you Go, development or competition groups.

AIMS OF MY CLUB

·         increasing the opportunities for participation.

·         Introducing exciting and challenging programs.

·         Introducing activities that are “relevant” to the 11+ age groups.

·         Establishing an “identity” within the Club and a community who enjoy each other’s company, share interests and benefit from the values of Club life.

·         Using our established class base as a framework, 5 x 2 hour classes for girls and boys.

              ACTIVITIES      Artistic gymnastics, Freestyle, TeamGym, Gymfusion, trampoline, tumbling, acrobatics, GymFit, freeG, GymChallenge.

MY CLUB MEMBERSHIP.

Must be a registered, current and paid up member of any 1 ½ hour or 2 hour class and aged 11 years old or over. Membership is automatic with any MY CLUB class.

OR be new participants in any MY CLUB introductory class offer (Sportivate, bring a Friend Free, My Club Open Door etc). Costs and conditions may vary as membership offers are presented.

MY CLUB offer applies to all General and Recreation groups on monthly fees under 18 years old.

MY CLUB COSTS         Must be read as part of the Club Membership Offer Conditions.

Fees for MY CLUB      

1 session per week      per month £5 membership plus £25 (£360 per year) = £30 per month.

2 sessions per week    per month £5 membership plus £50 ( £660 per year) = £55 per month.

3 sessions per week    per month £5 membership plus £70 (£900 per year) = £75 per month.

Page 3

MY CLUB SESSIONS (to start week commencing Monday 29th September 2014)

MY CLUB SESSIONS (proposed member benefits and incentives/rewards)

 Page 4

POSSIBLE INCENTIVES           Rewards and incentives achievable; under review.

·         FULL HOUSE                    Attend all your sessions for that month.

·         A PERFECT TEN.             Attend 10 CONSECUTIVE same day sessions in a term (3 terms a year).

·         JOB DONE                       A YOUNG LEADER task or attend a Coaching course/first aid course.

·         OUTSTANDING                Recognition of an outstanding contribution to the class or club.

POSSIBLE REWARDS              under review

Under consideration but might include T shirt/clothing, gift vouchers, event outings (British Champs, Fun Parks etc) or other class discounts or free holiday course vouchers. Possibly a points system with Rewards per half year (eg 30 points = free holiday class voucher).

NEW MEMBERSHIP ENTRY SCHEMES. NEW MEMBERS WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO CLASSES.

TASTER SESSION                      a session dedicated to ages 13+        

SPORTIVATE                           own funded scheme with precise KPIs.

MY CLUB OPEN DOOR              introductory offers, free tasters, join a class vouchers.

DOORSTEP CLUB                     mid term funded opportunities through Streetgames initiatives.

DISABILITY HUB                       A weekly/monthly session for disabled and siblings. 

OUTREACH                             Satellites, school curriculum, after school clubs.

BRING A FRIEND FREE               A friend may be brought for up to 2 free lessons.

There could be many more opportunities through MY CLUB classes and you will have a regular say in what you would like to do. This is a new development and we are excited about bringing this to our members.

WHICH CLASSES ARE AFFECTED FROM BOTH CENTRES  

All 4.30 – 6.30 general and recreation classes

ALL ADVANCED RECREATION CLASSES boys and girls

ALL one and one and a half and two hour general or recreation classes

Specific notified members from other groups.

In some cases it may just seem like a change of class time or an option of taking an additional session at a favourable rate.

Page 5 and 6

2.         MAKE A DIFFERENCE                   Developments within the club and in particular around the new facilities has brought some interest from parents to find out more of what we do and how they can help the club.  MAKE A DIFFERENCE is a Sport England initiative which seeks to encourage and engage with volunteers to strengthen the infrastructure and bring new ideas, expertise and help to a club.  

As a club we have come from a position ten years ago where we had a very strong and active support committee with a loyal band of helpers to a membership who perceive that we are a service industry or a department of the education authority.   

Hinckley Gymnastics Club is a group of people who share the same interest (gymnastics) and work together to share its benefits and to develop opportunities for its members to take part. Where there is say a cricket or tennis club there is an obvious adult membership participating. Where gymnastics is concerned the great majority of gymnasts are young people or children. The “parents” are in fact associate members non participating (adult class excepted) and they should consider that their voice and expertise can MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

The club has Trustees who are the guardians of the facilities, property and management of the club.

The club has a Board who are responsible for the finance and taxation, employment, Welfare and good management of club plans and strategies. The Board are the Executive officers of the Club and the Charity.

Key Coaches form the panel of sport experts who are key to the success of the teaching and coaching programmes. They direct all the gymnastic activity, what is taught and how it is taught.

There are 3 ways to that YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

• Governance. This means bringing a specific expertise or knowledge to the club and making a regular monthly contribution in committee to advise the club in decision making.

• Support group  tackling small jobs, helping keep good order of the facilities, supporting activities, fund raising, social events, welfare, record keeping, event entries etc. Small tasks that take a burden away from the coaching staff and help the club run smoothly.
• Teaching/coaching/instructing. Taking an active interest in the technical and teaching side of the sport. This will require some attendance at courses and seminars. Initially may only need to take an assisting role in managing children during a class, keeping order, registers, helping groups move around the hall, little first aid tasks etc.

The club is an ever changing vehicle.

The Trustees have a legal responsibility for the club, its property and its actions, they make sure we have a valid MOT, insurance and tax, safe to be on the road.  

The Executive constantly develop and  steer the club through development to success, they drive the club, have their hands on the wheel and their eyes open, thinking ahead, making the journey safe for all who are on board.   

The Management Committee bring expertise, they are the engine, they have their feet on the accelerator and the brakes. They bring good advice and sound logic to the club and bright new ideas on how and where to go. 

The Support group oil the engine, pump up the tyres and check the fluid  levels polish the bodywork, maintain the  to allow the coaches and the gymnasts to concentrate on what we do best.... teaching and competing gymnastics.

With 600 members there may be 1200 parents and so there are probably 1200 different opinions of how the club should be run. 1200 people cannot run the club. Having a say is more about having an effect by involvement. Every year for 40 years we have invited parents and friends to come together and help us to form a management committee and a support group. Just a few months ago we put out the request again with only 2 responses, 2 out of 1200.  Having a say or filling out a form or ticking a box does not run a club.

British Gymnastics would like to send a Manger to assist us in persuading a few more people to come forward and MAKE A DIFFERENCE.  With 2 bright new facilities on the horizon would you like to help us move forward? We need your help, we need your advice, we need more than 2 pairs of good hands to call upon.

Watch out for the MAKE A DIFFERENCE meeting which will take place in September.

3          “TUMBLE”      You have now seen it on TV.  This is a combination of a theatrical and sporting activity which sits around artistic gymnastics, theatre, circus and tumbling. We already have enquiries for this and a new pilot class has been earmarked for a Thursday evening 7 – 8 just before our adult class.  We will be publishing details of this new class soon.

Page 7

HINCKLEY GYMNASTICS CLUB - THE NUMBERS – GOVERNANCE – 5 YEAR REVIEW

GYMNASTIC CENTRES CLARENDON PARK HINCKLEY AND NEW COLLEGE LEICESTER

WHO ARE WE?

Hinckley Gymnastics Club has been running for over 40 years with classes in both Leicester and Hinckley. The Club has 2 major centres.

• Clarendon Gymnastics Centre. The first specialist self build gymnastics hall in the UK. It sits on ground leased from Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, 24 left to run with an addional 28 year  option. It is a skill learning centre with safety foam pits and trampoline. It has seen over 40 gymnasts win their National colours.
• New College Gymnastics Centre. The club brought £500,000 to the capital build (total £1 million less £80). The Club brought to the centre a further £250,000 for dedicated seating, apparatus and mats. This centre is a performance hall plus a small training hall and is the most significant Competition Hall in the UK hosting in the past 5 years over 200 events. In the coming 2014-15 season we have already 47 events booked including 3 National Championships. We hosted the 2009 Special Olympics and staged the Down Syndrome World Championships with 12 countries from 4 continents. The club holds the operating licence within New College Gymnastics Centre.

FINANCIAL STABILITY

5 years ago we had 120 members and an annual income of around £70,000 a year. Since expanding the centres we have invested hugely in facilities and staffing. We raised £500,000 in building grants and £98,000 for apparatus, start up and short term management support. The Club committed £82,000 in cash and borrowed £70,000. We opened in Leicester in August 2009.

We have paid off a £30,000 in 5 years and have 2 structured financial loans remaining. The first a bank development loan now just under £10,000 (started as £25,000 in 2009 with 18 months to run) and a £30,000 venture loan in the form of interest only repayment at this time. The club assets are ownership all of the seating, apparatus and mats (the larger floor area is on loan from the East Midlands Gymnastics Association).

So at this time the club owes just under £40,000 in structured loans with firesale assets in the region of £60,000, a 24 year lease on Clarendon Park and 20 years operating license of New College Gymnastics Centre.

Special note.  We do not “own” the buildings as they stand on leased ground. We have a long term lease on Clarendon and a long term operating licence on New College gymnastics centre.

Page 8

5 YEAR REVIEW

• Our trading income in 5 years has averaged approx £180,000 a year.

• The first 2 years after opening in Leicester we traded at a small loss.
• In the 3rd year we broke even.
• Years 4 and 5 traded at a small operational surplus.
• The Club is non-profit making
• There is no profit taking or dividends.
• All funds are reinvested in development.

• We have absolutely no revenue funding from local or national government.
• We rely upon the income from classes to support both centres and staffing.
• At the last count we have 549 members registered with British Gymnastics and an additional weekly participation of around 200 non members in schools and special offers.
• From both centres we have around 1500 attendances each week.
• We have satellite classes and regular school curriculum classes across the city and the    county with around 300 attendances each week.  

Page 9

FEES AND FEE STRUCTURE

FEES   We require that all members carry personal accident insurance and membership of the National Governing Body, BRITISH GYMNASTICS. Cost to basic participant members, £17 per year paid is September each year.   This is sent directly to British Gymnastics. We keep none of this fee and  receive no % commission in return.

Class fees vary according to the type of class activity.  We operate 2 different payment schemes for classes. PAY AS YOU PLAY or MONTHLY fees.

We require all members to pay an annual club membership fee of £60 paid either monthly (12 x £5) for monthly fee classes or incorporated into the lesson fee for Pay as you Play classes.  This is used for the basic administration and insurance of the club and its property.  

Pay as you Play fees which are collected at the start of the class. At this time only the Freestyle classes, adult classes and holiday classes have Pay as you Play fees.

All other general gymnastics, recreational, MY CLUB , and Squads (development and competitive) require annual fees to be paid in 12 monthly instalments.

We run on a 48 week year and for convenience we collect fees as an annual fee divided by 12 with one payment each month (plus the £5 annual club membership scheme). We ask for bank standing order payments wherever possible.  We do not alter fees for 5 week months, holidays, illness, injury or have payment holidays. We will deliver 48 weeks of tuition each year. Only in very exceptional circumstances will we consider reducing or offer a fee holiday. Fees for Oct 2014 – March 31st 2015

MONTHLY fees for 1 hour General /recreational classes   £16 plus £5 = £21 per month

Current fees for other types of classes vary depending on the length of time, whether Pay as you Play or monthly and the structure of staffing and delivery or staff ratios. We work on a formula set by most of the 1500 British Gymnastics clubs. We are within the average for most types of classes in comparable areas and well below most comparable venues.

NON PAYMENT OF FEES

Where fees lapse, are unpaid or bank payment or cheques are returned unpaid only one warning will be given. After reasonable attempts are made to resolve the problem, if fees remain unpaid membership will cease and cannot be restarted until missing fees are paid or until 1 year has passed. 

Page 10

SPECTATORS and VIEWING TRAINING or CLASSES

For 35 years we had, like most other clubs, no facilities for watching training. After opening New College we had no reasonable waiting area for parents, in particular for 1 hour classes, and so we allowed the event spectator seating to be used. We were expecting the extra facilities very quickly but sadly this took over 4 years. We asked regularly those parents of squads training for many hours each week to limit their viewing to the last 20 minutes or so before the end of the session.

Now that we have a good waiting area for parents and a cafe opening early next year we have taken the opportunity to have engineering maintenance on the seating structure and to return to NO SPECTATOR status during classes. There will be times when the seating will be opened for parents and friends.  It is our intention to have a published rota of open viewing and this is still under review while we complete maintenance and other understand aspects of access through the new entrances. This will be published before the end of August.

Occasional exceptions to this rule may be considered by staff.  

• When a NEW 4, 5 or 6 year old join in for the first time parents may be allowed a few minutes at the start of the class to allow their child to settle.
• When new or prospective members arrive parents may be allowed see the main hall to understand what we have to offer. This is best done before the class starts.
• Exceptional visits may be allowed for short periods on request. Example;  grandparents  are visiting from their home in Australia and rarely see their grandchildren.

Page 11 and 12

WHY IS VIEWING OF TRAINING RESTRICTED?

In line with most other clubs we believe that children work better and listen more to coaches when parents are not constantly present. The instinct to seek parental approval or attention is a distraction. We base this on a combined view of the coaches who have many years experience of teaching sport, the Board who have a responsibility to staff as well as children and many sport experts and educationalists. Just as you will have at work, our employees are entitled to conditions that allow them to do their job without disturbance, distraction or stress. This may not be the view of each parent or the every educationalist but it remains our view and our position.

During the past 4 years we have tolerated considerable problem with unrestricted open viewing. Noise and distraction from siblings, children running around the seating, clearing up to 10 bags of rubbish each week and sweeping and cleaning a huge additional area. Damage to the seating. We have had several cases of children trapped in the seating because they were standing or walking on the seats, unsupervised siblings.

We have been required to deal with many instances of parents who choose to challenge coaches during lessons. In the past 2 years, police have involved in 2 cases of staff harassment (one police caution issued), 2 parents have received final warnings for abuse or openly or aggressively challenging staff. 1 parent has in the past been banned from the entire site. We lost a coach because of harassment by one parent during and after classes.  

Our staff and coaches CANNOT undertake to manage spectators as well as class members.

We understand that there are problems and issues to resolve and we ask that all members work with us to help the club, the classes and their children to benefit from our remarkable facilities.

I state again that we are actively considering a policy of sessions open for viewing training. This will be published in due course. Please appreciate we have a remarkable amount of business to conduct at this time. We have consulted with British Gymnastics about this policy and set out below is the VIEWING POLICY of BRITISH GYMNASTICS. I advise all members that we are considered to be working within these guidelines.

To the greater part this remains a policy driven by local management issues and circumstances which are not best served by enlisting opinion from either child members or all parents. The issues concerning this decision cannot be resolved by a democratic vote.

Please read the document carefully. We have tried hard to remain within its principles and provide a reasonable and practical policy to allow parents opportunities to watch their children.

It is always easy with hindsight to say that we should have done it this way or that way and we offer a genuine apology if we have been  thought to be harsh or abrupt in our handling of an issue which was always going to be unpopular. We passed our communications to a MEDIATOR.

The mediator stated that we would have made it much cleared if there had been in a single sentence “From (specific date) the seating will be closed during all classes”.

However the mediator acknowledged that over several months of newsletters that the message was that “access to the seating will be restricted “and parents would be in future “waiting in the new cafe and public spaces”. Indeed the list of questions, concerns and objections on loss of open viewing dated from the first newsletter to  contain the subject of maintenance and restricted viewing and seating in the new waiting room/Cafe and followed every newsletter that mention the seating.

Our policy remains that access to the seating will be  restricted to published periods which when combined with festivals and competitions will allow any parent reasonable opportunity to watch what their children are doing or learning. We are working through many management issues in both buildings and opportunities for viewing training will be published in due course.

Whilst we do not claim to have handled this issue perfectly we believe that our intent and our intention were determined by matters and outcomes greatly in favour of gymnastics progress.

We ask you, before picking up and responding to any point in the following document, that you read carefully the e mail and hard copy newsletters that have been distributed in particular over the past 24 months. Please note in them the opportunities set up for parent evenings and the opportunities for direct e mailing of coaches concerning individual children’s progress. See the requests for parent help and support and take note of the number of events for club members open to parents and spectators that have been offered. We have been trying.  

Page 13

Excerpt from British Gymnastics Safeguarding and Protecting Children Policy, p.42

''Open training environment

It is essential that clubs work in partnership with parents/carers and are open about training sessions. Clubs should welcome parents who wish to observe and in the case of new or potential members, encourage them to view a session and remain with their child until the child is happy to be left.

In some facilities there may be logistical problems in providing a suitable area for viewing. Clubs without viewing areas should designate a small area of the gym for viewing. This will need to be carefully managed and there may need to be limits on the number of spectators that can be safely accommodated. Clubs should also ensure that a viewing policy covering acceptable standards of conduct is in place.

An alternative way of providing viewing is to use CCTV technology. The use of CCTV would allow parents to view what is going on inside and if appropriate, outside the building without taking up space in the gym. It is also possible to enable remote access with appropriate security systems in place.

It is not necessary to record images when using CCTV for viewing purposes. Clubs that wish to record CCTV images must contact the Information Commissioner for advice on compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

BG will not support clubs who actively discourage parents from viewing by:

• Obscuring windows

• Refusing reasonable requests to view

• Asking parents to leave without due cause

• Justifying the prohibition of viewing on spurious health and safety grounds.''

 Page 14

The provision of an open training environment is much wider than simply providing parents with a viewing area. It involves creating a culture of openness between the club and parents. This will include:

• Regular written and oral communication with parents

• Providing regular feedback on a child’s progress

• Opportunities to discuss the child’s progress and training regime

• Opportunity to raise concerns and receive feedback on the outcome

• Encouraging parents to become involved in the club

• Inviting parents to attend welfare briefings prior to an away event

• Encouraging parents to attend events or keep in close contact with their child

• Setting up parent forums

• Appointing a parent liaison officer who is responsible for communication, information and encouraging involvement

Page 15

TOILETS

It is a reasonable expectation that any child 5 or over will have the personal control to go through a 1 hour class without requiring a toilet break. Children should visit the toilet before a class starts. Parents of children who normally require attention at shorter intervals should remain in the waiting room in case they are needed. We are considering if parents of 4, and 5 years olds should always remain on the premises. Your views on this would be helpful.

Children in longer classes, 2 or 3 hours may require visiting a toilet during the lesson. We will manage this according to the age and length of time during the class.

We will not assist children in toilets.

The toilets at New College are fully compliant with current public toilet design to minimise  abuse opportunities, bullying and vandalism. They are a standard design for all new schools.

During the 18 months that we managed your children going outside of the gymnastics centre back door, winter and summer, across the yard and up the stairs into the College Sports hall corridor. We had only minor COMPLAINTS about toilet visits, mostly about rain and cold.  Since the new facilities opened we have had many complaints mostly from a relatively small number of parents.

It has been pointed out that the drink intake during classes is in some cases too high. Fluid intake during sport training, in particular dynamic sports like gymnastics, can be counterproductive. We do not seek a sport science debate but, in general, endurance high temperature events require more fluid intake than measured dynamic sports. Inverted sports require carefully managed fluid intake. Excessive fluid intake results in excess weight, disturbed balance and production line toileting. Once hydrated the excess fluid passes straight through. How many children suck on a water bottle just because they have it and not just when they need it? Water should be in small sips and not mouthfuls. Neither the temperature nor the endurance required for gymnastics requires the quantities of fluid intake that many children are taking during classes.

We need your co-operation and understanding on this issue and hope that all will settle soon into a manageable position.

 Page 16

SECURITY

Parents were informed and are again advised that the entry from Central car park is for 1 term only before we revert to South car park and the entrance at the bottom end of the long corridor. I understand the entrances will be manned and access will be members of the Sports Village classes only. This is in the control of New College and we are informed of developments when they are cleared. There is no simple “NOW” solution, the issues will be discovered and resolved as we go along. We ask for your continued co-operation. Watch out for any changes required during the next stage of building /demolition.

Our club is currently seeking a receptionist to be at our own desk by the double doors in the cafe area. The advert has been posted for 3 weeks but so far we have had no suitable applicants.

New College is recruiting a duty manager and a receptionist in due course.

This is a period of great change for New College as it seeks to engage with the community. It is a development that can only help us. It is no different to a sport or leisure centre. There are other challenges to face when the school term starts, car parking, mixed populations as school finishes, other user groups within the building.

From 4.30 onwards each evening and at weekends no other users should have access to the gymnastics centre. Only our club staff and New College authorized staff could have any business in the gymnastics centre.

The entire NEW COLLEGE site is CCTV monitored and is in fact private ground. Only persons with business should be on the site.

Clearly there are some concerns and we are working on a solution that will take us through the next few months. Groups with specific concerns may consider organising themselves to create a rota of waiting room guardians. It would help us, it would help the children and it would take the immediate pressure off the coaching staff.

 Page 17 and 18

DUTY OF CARE

“DUTY OF CARE...” has become an often used, misquoted and misunderstood statement.

The Children Bill was granted Royal Assent on 16 November 1989 and became an Act.

As a club we have been faced with meeting our responsibilities under   the Act for 25 years.

We have been working with Health and Safety officers, Sport England, Education, British Gymnastics and Social Services to ensure that we are up to date in our thinking and actions. 

It is a complex and far reaching set of Laws and has been redefined, revisited, amended, interpreted and added to over the years. Sport and children’s activities have been the subject of many case studies. Within our current panel of expertise and experience we have a Sport UK Welfare, Children’s and Vulnerable Persons lecturer, 2 qualified nurses (one paediatric), a former residential child care officer, a DES registered teacher and a legal adviser.

All our staff is CRB/DBS certificated, and all key staff are part of a rolling 3 year First Aid program (1 holds First Aid at work, 8 have emergency first aid, 4 others are booked onto refresher courses during the next term and we are hosting an resuscitation course for all staff in the next term.

All our qualified gymnastics coaches have attended the NGB Child Protection course and the 2 senior club officers have advanced certification in Child and Vulnerable Persons Welfare from British Gymnastics.  

We have an understanding and practical experience of the Children’s Act that allows us to assess the risks to children in both our venues.

We are not a school with specific additional legal obligations. We are expected to apply policies for Child Protection and Welfare where the outcomes and benefits are in proportion to their application.

In any situation involving children, the Duty of Care is a partnership between the parents, the venue and the Club. The transitional periods between parents, venue and Club must be carefully managed.

We enlist the co operation of parents who have a parental Duty of Care to ensure that their delivery and collection of their children to and from the Gymnastics Centre entrance is reasonably within the time limitations of the class attended.

The Club takes responsibility for a child during the published times of the classes. The Duty of Care should be a partnership which does not place undue responsibility for children on club staff or the venue. Excessively early drop offs and late pickups put pressure on Club staff and venue.  

New College is a private site. Anyone who comes through its gates must have business on site. CCTV is in place and there are College staff on site at all times. That presence will be greatly increased when the glass entrance doors and main receptions are completed and staffed. This is expected to be at the start of the winter term.  

The Club is working with a local government funded office to provide a temporary receptionist at the Gymnastics Centre desk. This is ongoing.

It remains that whilst we have a Welfare and Safety strategy, parents who wish to have a closer guardianship of their child are permitted to wait in the waiting room/cafe area during classes.

A clear issue at present is the need of children to leave the class to make toilet visits. This is discussed in the section TOILETS.

Its remains our specific goal to ensure that we meet our obligations under the law and provide the child and vulnerable members of the club every protection possible.

DUTY OF CARE IS A PARTNERSHIP

Page 19

CHANGES TO CLUB CLASSES OCTOBER 2014

Why change anything?          

·         We operate on 5 year development plans for membership, training programs and finances.

·         Each year we review every class.

·         We have circumstances of staffing, facilities, contracts and conditions.

·         We have National, Regional and County and City sport plans to accommodate.

·         Sport and Leisure ideas CHANGE; what people like and what is “cool” to be doing.

·         The Club has been open since 1968, a coming together of several independent classes and groups. Our Clarendon facility has been open since 1984, New College since 2009.

·         We have several satellite and outreach classes and programs across the City and County.

·         Our timetable has 500 members in around 60 hours of classes each week.

What are the major circumstances driving change now?

·         New facilities at New College, refurbishment at Clarendon.

·         New British Gymnastics and Sport England training programs.

·         New contracts for staffing.

·         New contract hours for City premises staff in particular no bank holiday working.

·         Financial structures of income and expenditure. We are funded ONLY from the fees paid.

When are the changes starting?

·         All changes start from week commencing September 29^th 2014 which is also the start of the new year for British Gymnastics membership and insurance.

How many classes in a club year?

• We guarantee 48 weeks a year of classes to monthly paid members. We close 1 week in JULY and we close 2 weeks at Christmas. We have 1 flexible week each year. 52 minus 4 = 48.

·         All regular fees are monthly and assume 48 weeks divide by 4 =12 equal monthly payments.

·         There is no reduction for missed classes, holidays or illness. Membership is annual.

Are al    Are all classes changing?

·         NO. We list here only the classes that have changes.

·         If your class is NOT on this list then it will be the same as last year.

·         Where you have a problem with a clash of other activities we will always try hard to find you a space in an alternative class.

         What classes are changing?

1.          NEW COLLEGE. Starting  the week commencing MONDAY ^29th September

              To simplify the problems that we have with Bank holidays we must swop NEW COLLEGE Monday (general gymnastics classes with monthly fees) with a Friday (Freestyle with pay as you play) .This brings all FREESTYLE classes to a Monday to simplify apparatus set ups.

            NEW COLLEGE                        Monday           5 – 6-30             Junior Freestyle

            NEW COLLEGE                        Friday              4-5                   Gymnastics (age 5-7)

            NEW COLLEGE                        Friday              5-6                   Gymnastics (ages 8-11

2.         CLARENDON PARK.   Starting  the week commencing MONDAY 29th September

            Saturday class time will change to 9am-11am.

            The Friday 4.30 -6.30 class will be transferred to a Saturday 9-11am

            CLARENDON               Friday              4.30 – 6.30      NO CLASS

            CLARENDON               Saturday class time change now 9am-11am. MY CLUB SCHEME

            CLARENDON               Saturday          9am-11am      NEW CLASS.    MY CLUB SCHEME

3.         MY CLUB SCHEME      Starting  the week commencing MONDAY 29th September

            This is a new Sport England and British Gymnastics initiative. We will gather up the       following existing classes into the scheme.

            New College    Tuesday           4.30 – 6.30 girls

            New College    Wednesday      6-8 girls and boys

            New College    Thursday         4.30 – 6.30 girls (note new time 5.30 – 7.30)

            Clarendon       Thursday         5-7 boy

            Clarendon       Saturday          9.30-10.30am girls and boys (note new time 9-11am and  transfer from Friday 4.30 – 6.30)

BEHAVIOUR

A complaint we receive at times is from parents (or class members) who say that a particular class member is behaving badly, disrupting the class and the enjoyment of other class members.

Whilst we try to keep good order and be patient with less attentive or easily distracted children we confirm that bad behaviour cannot be tolerated as an ongoing issue. In particular gymnastics as a sport carries specific risk with dynamic exercises or large apparatus. For the safety of the individual and of other class members we reserve the right to suspend membership or refuse admission where we believe that the risks are unacceptable or that staff time is disproportionally attached to any one member displaying poor behaviour.

Our club and our staff are in place to help all involved to learn gymnastics and have an enjoyable time. We are under no obligation and indeed can never readily provide extra staffing to meet the needs of a single individual. Where we can we will always try to mediate with the child and the parents but the safety of that child and of other class members may require immediate action.

Parents of class members who have particular needs or who have already known behavioural issues must contact the Club Welfare officer Tony Ford; his contact numbers are on the club website and here.

tony.ford@hinckley-gymnastics-club.com

 Telephone Number: 07920440725

 HINCKLEY AND NEW COLLEGE GYMNASTICS CENTRES

 THE NEWS ABOUT THE NEWS

 HOW TO FIND THINGS OUT.

1. LOOK ON THE WEBSITE EACH WEEK.

 Find us at: www.hinckley-gymnastics-club.com

2. LOOK ON THE NOTICE BOARDS.

 FIND THEM ON THE WALL AT THE CLUB.