Child Safety at Beacon Musical Society

Beacon Musical Society (BeaMS) is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people who participate in our productions, workshops, and events.

Our Commitment

BeaMS implements the NSW Child Safe Scheme as administered by the Office of the Children's Guardian. We maintain a child-safe culture where children's safety is embedded in everything we do — from auditions to opening night.

How to Use This Page

The Key Policies section below highlights our most important documents — including our Child Safety Policy and Codes of Conduct. All participants, volunteers, and staff are required to be familiar with these documents. Supporting documents provide additional procedures, checklists, and reference material that underpin our child safety program.

Reporting a Concern

If you have a concern about the safety or wellbeing of a child involved in a BeaMS production, please contact our Child Safety Officer immediately. You can also report directly to the Office of the Children's Guardian at ocg.nsw.gov.au or to Police if there is immediate risk.

What's New — March 2026

These policies were reviewed and updated in March 2026. A brief summary follows; the documents themselves are the full record.

New documents

Code of Conduct — Young Members. A dedicated code for members under 18, written in accessible language and with a photo and video consent form attached. Young members and their parent or guardian read and sign it together.

Child Safety Response Guide. A short quick-reference covering what to do if a concern arises. Designed to be read in a few minutes so members can act confidently in the moment. It is a companion to the full Reporting Procedure, not a replacement.

Child Safety Officers — Role Descriptions. Explains our Child Safety Officer structure and who holds which responsibilities.

Annual Review Checklist and Member Induction Checklist. Internal process documents that show how we keep these policies current and how new members are onboarded.

What has changed

Two-tier CSO structure. Child Safety Officers now operate at two levels — Show CSOs for each production, and Executive CSOs at the organisation-wide level.

Supervision framework rewritten. The supervision Code of Conduct now covers both a dedicated children's ensemble (with chaperones) and young members cast in the adult ensemble, giving us a clear framework for both scenarios.

Age threshold raised to under 16 in the Supervision Code of Conduct, the Policy on Exposure to Adult Themes, and the Policy on Auditions and Casting. This aligns with the age boundaries in the NSW Crimes Act 1900 already referenced in our Child Safety Policy.

Members Code of Conduct. Content is materially unchanged; members will be asked to sign the updated version during their next induction cycle.

Branding. All documents now use the Beacon Musical Society (BeaMS) name following the organisation's transition from EUCMS.

What this means in practice

Young members and their parents or guardians will be asked to sign the Young Members Code of Conduct and complete photo and video consent. At the start of each production the cast and crew will be told who the Show CSO is. New members going through induction will receive the full document set, and existing adult members will be asked to re-sign the Members Code of Conduct during their next induction cycle.

A detailed Change Summary — Supervision Code of Conduct is available below for anyone who wants the full reasoning behind the supervision framework change.

Policies are reviewed annually or following any significant incident. Last policy review: March 2026.