Romance Academy Charter

THE ROMANCE ACADEMY CHARTER

Our aim as Romance Academy is to provide a holistic relationship and sex education resource that equips young people to reject casual sex and practice faithfulness.

Our vision is for transformed lives. We help young people make intelligent choices about sex and relationships. We want to see them grow in confidence and self-esteem, have a positive vision of family and community life and be challenged to take the next step in their personal and spiritual journey.

We at the Romance Academy require all our trained leaders to join us in committing ourselves to the following standards as we serve young people in our community work and seek to model trust:

WE WILL PROVIDE AN INCLUSIVE SERVICE TO YOUNG PEOPLE BY:

1. Serving and respecting all young people regardless of their gender, race, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or physical and mental capability.

2. Acknowledging the freedom of people of all faiths or none both to hold and to express their beliefs and convictions respectfully and freely, within the limits of the UK law.

3. Never imposing our Christian faith or belief on others.

4. Developing partnerships with other churches, voluntary groups, statutory agencies and local government wherever appropriate in order to create an effective, integrated service for our young people avoiding unnecessary duplication of resources.

5. Providing and publicizing regular consultation and reporting forums to stakeholders and the wider community regarding the effective development and delivery of the Romance Academy work and our responsiveness to young people's actual needs.

WE WILL VALUE ALL INDIVIDUALS IN A WAY THAT IS CONSISTENT WITH OUR DISTINCTIVE CHRISTIAN ETHOS BY:

1. Creating an environment where young people, volunteers and employees are encouraged and enabled to realise their potential.

2. Assisting our young people, volunteers and employees to take responsibility for their own learning and development, both through formal and informal training opportunities and ongoing assessment.

3. Developing an organizational culture in which individuals learn from any mistakes made and where excellence and innovation are encouraged and rewarded.

4. Promoting the value of a balanced, holistic lifestyle as part of each individual’s overall personal development.

5. Abiding by the requirements of employment law in the UK and implementing best employment practices and procedures designed to maintain our distinctive ethos and values.

WE WILL DEVELOP A PROFESSIONAL APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT, PRACTICE AND FUNDING BY:

1. Implementing a management structure, which fosters and encourages participation by staff at all, levels in order to facilitate the fulfillment of the Romance Academy's goals and visions.

2. Setting and reviewing measurable and timed outcomes annually, and regularly to evaluate and monitor our management structure and output, recognizing the need for ongoing organizational flexibility, development and good stewardship of resources.

3. Doing all we can to ensure that we are not over-dependent on any one source of funding.

4. Implementing best practice procedures in terms of Health and Safety and Child Protection in order to protect our staff, volunteers and young people.

5. Handling our funding in a transparent and accountable way and to give relevant people from outside our organization/project reasonable access to our accounts.

Adapted from "The Faithworks Charter" Principles for Churches and local Christian agencies committed to excellence in community work and service provision in the UK.