Ellesmere College affiliation application

Updated 23 September 2024

Swim England has confirmed the affiliation of a new club at Ellesmere College.

The affiliation application has been approved by the Swim England Board after a review and recommendation by a barrister of King’s Counsel, Katherine Apps KC.

The full report can be found here.

The Club, Governors and School have agreed a number of assurances, recorded within the report:

1. All Swim England rules and policies apply without exceptions: All accept that affiliation means that all of Swim England rules apply. This includes the Parents Code of Conduct.
2. Concurrent and simultaneous; Swim England Rules and School rules will apply concurrently and simultaneously. This may require some doubling up of processes and duties; it may mean some incidents are treated differently. Sharing of information is necessary for each to assess and mitigate risks in its setting (which might be the same or different). This is what the law requires and it is understood and will occur.
3. Memorandum of Understanding; As with all School Clubs, the School will sign a Memorandum of Understanding ensuring that relevant safeguarding information will be shared with Swim England’s safeguarding team (as is already mandatory under the legislative scheme, but this adds a contractual dimension to it and is conditional to affiliation: without appropriate information sharing that is obstacle free, affiliation is not lawfully possible).
4. Affiliation is a yearly process and is subject to review yearly: The new rules and position mean that monthly monitoring information will be supplied.
5. A welfare survey will be done by Swim England Safeguarding with the members every 6-12 months for the first 3 years. This is being trialled with some clubs and is wholeheartedly supported by the Club Executive and the School.
6. Insurance: The School will maintain its insurance for the Club operations and continue cover for the two non pupil members.
7. Access for the independent Welfare Officer: the Club is on school premises. The independent (non staff) Welfare Officer will have access to premises without need for an appointment. She will essentially be treated as a governor for access purposes. She will also have access to the online case management system.
8. Safe recruitment checks will be carried out for all adults in the club.
9. Use of libel and defamation law: Threats to sue Swim England for defamation law or libel law relating to child safeguarding will not be made.

The Swim England Board would like to thank Katherine Apps KC for the comprehensive review and clear recommendations, and additionally, all those who contributed to the review.

Swim England is dedicated to making its sports and activities accessible, inclusive and safe.

It thanks those individuals who came forward to raise concerns and continues to fully recognise and acknowledge the suffering they experienced. The organisation’s commitment to them, and the entire aquatics community, is that it will continue to strive to create a better future for everyone involved in aquatics. It also encourages anyone with concerns of any kind across its sports to come forward. Contact us at [email protected] or call 01509 640700 (option 1 for Swim England and then Option 3 for safeguarding).

The organisation will now support the formation of the new club working alongside the School and Governors including the implementation of the assurances, recorded within the report.