Setting up your junior club

Before your club can enrol any under-18 member, you must declare a safeguarding scope. This is a one-time setup step carried out by the Chairman or Secretary. The platform will block every junior invitation until the declaration is on record.

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The three postures

Every club on Badminton Clubhouse has one of three safeguarding postures:

| Posture | Who can join |

|---|---|

| Adults only (default) | Adults only - no junior enrolments permitted |

| Mixed | Both adults and juniors |

| Juniors only | Junior-focused clubs (all members are under 18) |

You choose Mixed or Juniors only during setup. You can switch between them later, subject to the constraints below.

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Precondition 1: a Designated Safeguarding Lead

You must have at least one active club member who holds the Welfare Officer role. This person is your Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) and their name is recorded alongside your safeguarding posture.

If you do not have a Welfare Officer yet:

1. Go to Admin > Team.
2. Find the relevant member (or invite them if they are not yet on the platform).
3. Assign the Welfare Officer role.
4. Return to Admin > Settings > Safeguarding.

The platform checks this in real time. The Enable junior membership toggle will be greyed out until a Welfare Officer exists.

For more on roles, see Roles and Permissions.

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Precondition 2: the three required consents

Your club must have all three of these consent categories active:

• Photography and media - permission to photograph and film juniors at club activities
• Participation in activities - agreement that the child can take part in the sport
• Emergency medical treatment - authorisation for first aid and emergency treatment if needed

These categories are normally pre-populated the first time you visit the safeguarding settings page. If any are missing or deactivated, the settings page will show a warning with a link to the consent configuration.

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Enabling junior membership

Once both preconditions are satisfied:

1. Go to Admin > Settings > Safeguarding.
2. Under Junior section, toggle Enable junior membership on.
3. A confirmation dialog appears. Review the summary and confirm.
4. Choose your posture: Mixed or Juniors only.
5. Save.

The system performs a final check of both preconditions before saving. If anything is not in place, it will surface the gap rather than saving a partial state.

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How the admin area adapts

The moment your posture is saved, the admin sidebar updates:

• Juniors appears under the People section (the junior register)
• Junior pathway settings become available
• Welfare holds become visible on the safeguarding hub
• The Members page gains an Adults / Juniors / All filter (Mixed clubs only)

Adults-only clubs see none of these items. Switching to Mixed or Juniors only reveals them; switching back hides them again.

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The gate before the child

The safeguarding posture is a hard gate. If a guardian receives a junior invitation email and attempts to accept it before the posture is active, they will see a clear message that the club has not yet enabled junior membership. The acceptance journey cannot be completed until the posture is in place.

This means you can prepare and send junior invitations in advance, but the guardian cannot complete acceptance (and the junior will not appear on your roll) until you have finished setup. This is by design.

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Switching posture after setup

You can change the posture after setup within these limits:

• Mixed to Juniors only (or vice versa): allowed at any time.
• Back to Adults only: only permitted when there are no active junior members on the roll. If active juniors exist, the control is locked until each junior is archived or their membership lapses.

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Related articles

• Running a Junior Club (overview)
• Running a Junior Section
• Roles and Permissions
• Junior memberships and fees
• Safeguarding and adult oversight