The English Schools’ FA (ESFA) is the National Governing Body for Schools’ Football in England. Established in 1904, the ESFA now runs over 40 National Schools’ & Colleges’ cup competitions for boys and girls, as well as County and District Association representative teams.
As part of its commitment to safeguarding, and as a service to its Members, the ESFA is required to periodically randomly check that parents, coaches and players are aware of the safeguards in place to protect the welfare of children.
The ESFA National Safeguarding volunteers have been appointed to help the association conduct these random checks with Associations, conducting visits to check that Association records are accurate and team personnel are compliant. They have been tasked with attending ESFA representative fixtures around the country and talking to everyone involved to get a better understanding of local Association activity on a local level.
The letter below gives more detail on the purpose of the safeguarding support visit and what their visit will include:
The following volunteers have been appointed to the role of National Safeguarding Volunteer:
Reporting concerns
If you have any concerns at all or are worried about the safety of a child, please visit this page for advice on how to report these concerns.
ESFA Safeguarding policies
All of the ESFA’s safeguarding policies and further information regarding the safeguarding of children in schools’ football can be found here.
Safeguarding for children
The ESFA have put together some resources to help educate both young people and adults about how they can stay safe in schools’ football. These resources and information can be found here.
Whistleblowing
If you believe that your concern is not being taken seriously or handled in the appropriate way, the FA’s whistleblowing policy can be found here for information on what to do next.
If you are interested in becoming a National Safeguarding volunteer with the ESFA, or have any questions or queries about the National Safeguarding volunteers activities please contact Sarah DaCosta or Martin Duffield on Sarah.DaCosta@schoolsfa.com and Martin.Duffield@schoolsfa.com.
Feedback
To provide feedback from our National Safeguarding Volunteer Visits, please contact us using the form below.