Changing and Changing Rooms policy
General points
- At King’s College Taunton swimming pool there are three changing rooms. They consist of the following:
- An open-plan mens changing room, showers and toilets.
- An open-plan womens changing room, showers and toilets. The women’s changing room contains two sections, and a section of one of these is fitted with a privacy curtain.
- A small disabled changing room, shower and toilet.
- Pool users and parents/carers are reminded that King’s College Taunton swimming pool is used by pupils of the senior and prep schools; staff and students from visiting schools; community swim families; school staff and their families; visitors and external hirers and their customers/users. As such, whilst the Pool Manager and the Commercial Events and Lettings Manager have taken steps to separate groups of pool users, they cannot guarantee who may/may not be in the pool building at any one time.
- It is the preference of the facility managers that pool users arrive beach-ready, and wear a dry-robe type coat, over their swimming kit to take-off and put-on before and after participating in aquatic activities.
- In no circumstances, should pool users dress and/or undress poolside. This includes parents/carers dressing and/or undressing children poolside.
- Disabled users should always be given priority access to the disabled changing room.
- During and after swimming lessons, adult spectators should not use the toilets in the men's and women's changing rooms. At these times, adult spectators may use the disabled toilet (when it is not required by a disabled user).
- All pool users must remove their shoes before entering the changing room or going poolside.
- ‘Agreements to come pool-ready' and/or buffer zones between sessions are factored into pool bookings for external hirers to try to give different groups of users exclusive use of the changing rooms (and to avoid overlap between different groups of users). The Pool Manager and the Commercial Events and Lettings Manager will communicate these to external hirers and external hirers must relay these to their users.
- As a general rule, in the absence of other specific instructions to the external hirer, pool users should enter the changing room no more than 5 minutes before the start of their session. Furthermore, pool users should be clear of the changing room within 10 minutes of their session finishing.
Behaviour in changing rooms
- Pupils of King’s College Taunton Senior and Prep Schools must act, at all times, in accordance with their School’s behaviour policy.
- Additionally, members of Kings’ College Taunton (closed) Swimming Club are reminded that they must also abide by the Swim England Athletes Code of Conduct which can be viewed at the following link: https://uk.gomotionapp.com/team/tauntonkings/page/pupils-swimming-club/codes-of-conduct
- Community swimming families must act, at all times, in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Community Swimming Children and their Parents and/or Guardians which can be viewed on the community swimming website at the following link: https://uk.gomotionapp.com/team/tauntonkings/page/home
Safeguarding in changing rooms
- A key element of our changing rooms policy deals with safeguarding in changing rooms.
- Mobile phones and devices should not be used under any circumstances in the changing room area, during Swim England regulated activity.
- All use of mobile devices in a changing room must be reported to King’s College Taunton pool staff and, in the case of hirers, the Club or Organisation’s Welfare Officer.
- Adults should not enter the changing rooms during sessions for children. The only exception is during swimming lessons and in the case of emergency. These exceptions are covered below.
Parents/carers in changing rooms
- Parents/carers are only allowed in the changing rooms to support their own child/children changing before and after community swimming lessons, and/or to take them to the toilet during a lesson. (The King’s Community Swimming programme requires that parents/carers of children age 8 and under remain at the pool during lessons in case of toilets trips, or behavioural issues etc. External hirers must communicate their requirements in terms of expectations of parental responsibility to their users.)
Exceptional circumstances
- In the event of an emergency, a member of staff may enter the changing rooms to check on a child. It is best practice for two persons to look for the Member (the second person could be another member of staff or a parent/guardian.
- If a child is left unaccompanied at the pool for a community swimming lesson or squad session, the teacher or coach will allow them to go to the toilet unattended if requested. If the child has not returned poolside within 5 minutes (or if they appear to be upset when leaving), the coach/teacher must request that a suitable person checks on them. It is best practice for two persons to look for the Member (the second person could be another member of staff or a parent/guardian).
Incidents
- If a complaint is received about an incident that has occurred in the changing room between a the organisation running a session and any other person, the organisation running the session has a duty to act upon that concern as appropriate. If the incident involved possible risk to children or adults at risk, you must also make pool management aware. If the incident involves a person not associated with the organisation running a session, the pool manager must be made aware and consideration given as to whether the statutory agencies need informing.
Published April 2024
