Dear Parents and Students

Part of our Safeguarding Policy in PUMA and Movewell TKD relates to taking photos and videos.

We refer to

• classes and gradings and CLOSED Forums, and
• tournaments and seminars as OPEN Forums

Whether it’s a CLOSED Forum or OPEN Forum determines if photos and videos can be taken or not. A basic definition of a CLOSED Forum is something a student has to attend to progress in their taekwondo, such as classes and gradings etc. and these don’t have spectators (except parents and next of kin). An OPEN Forum is an optional event that a student can chose to attend where there are likely to be spectators and or other martial arts people such as tournaments and seminars etc.

Why do we do this? There are a few reasons; we have a proactive approach to safeguarding our students who are under 18 by not readily publicising who they are and where they train; some people prefer not to have a presence for themselves or their children on social media or the internet, and we respect that; finally, there are some people (of all ages) that need to know they can practice taekwondo in a CLOSED Forum environment for legal reasons – PUMA and Movewell TKD can offer this by providing a safe place for everyone to learn taekwondo.

Here is a quick DO’s and DONT’s to help you know when it’s ok to take photos and videos

• DO – It’s ok to take photos and videos at tournaments, OPEN Forum
• DO – We all want to record successes and achievements; following a grading or a presentation in class ask the instructor at the end for a picture of yourself or child being present with their belt/certificate or award. This way the moment can be recorded without anyone else who doesn’t need to be in the photo.
• DO REMEMBER– If you want to post a photo or video on social media that you took at an OPEN Forum think about who might be in them as they may not want to appear on social media
• DO REMEMBER – If you are posting a photo or video to social media of your child’s success at a tournament and there are other children in the picture you know, it might be courteous to check their parents are ok with them being in the photo
• DO REMEMBER – If you’re are unsure if a its ok to take photos and videos just ask the Instructor 
• DONT – Take photos and videos of a class under any circumstance
• DONT – Take photos and videos in gradings under any circumstance
• DONT – Take photos and videos of Little PUMA Gradings under any circumstance

A fairly lengthy post but one of great importance that is useful to refresh on from time to time.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask Mr Evans

Taekwon!