For parents and guardians
So you can have confidence in the school.
Choosing a dance school should feel straightforward. Search the National Dance Safe Register, read the status, and ask a few good questions. Everybody deserves to be safe. This page is here to help you get there.
Start with the status
Enhanced. Everything required for Accredited, plus a teacher qualification pathway and the required insurance cover. This is the strongest mark on the Register.
Accredited. The school met every core Safe Dance Standard requirement, including enhanced DBS and barred-list checks for teaching staff, when it was assessed.
Listed / unverified. The school is on the Register and has not been assessed. That is not a school to avoid. It means you should make your own checks, as you would with any activity your child joins.
What to ask any dance school
These are reasonable questions to ask any school, and a good school will be happy to answer them:
- Does the school have a safeguarding policy, and who is the designated safeguarding lead?
- Are the people teaching my child background-checked (enhanced DBS, or the equivalent in your nation)?
- Is there someone first aid trained present in classes?
- Does the school have public liability insurance?
- What are the teachers' qualifications or training?
- How does the school handle an accident, or a concern about a child?
- Can I stay and watch, or see the space where classes are held?
A school that cannot or will not answer these questions is worth thinking carefully about.
If a school is Enhanced or Accredited
It means we have made a check against a standard. It does not replace your own judgement, and it does not mean the BDSA runs the school. Trust your instincts as well as the Register.
If you have a concern about a school
If you have a safeguarding concern about a school, use BDSA BeSafe, the dedicated reporting service. Call 0800 917 9081, email besafe@bdsassociation.com, or visit bdsabesafe.co.uk.
BDSA BeSafe reporting details