What You Need to Coach at Bury Rangers

Before you can take a session unsupervised at Bury Rangers, you need four things in place. They aren't optional, they aren't club preferences, and they aren't paperwork for its own sake — every one of them exists because a child's safety depends on it. Here they are, in the order you need to do them. 1. Safeguarding Children Do this first. It's mandatory for anyone working with young people in football, and it's a prerequisite for the coaching course — you cannot enrol on Introduction to Coaching Football without it. It's online, self-paced, and takes roughly 90 minutes to two hours. It currently costs £30. Your certificate appears on your FAN and is valid for two years, after which you renew by retaking it — and the recertification is free. Book it here: https://learn.englandfootball.com/courses/safeguarding/safeguarding-children-course 2. Introduction to First Aid in Football Also mandatory, also a prerequisite for the coaching course. Online, self-paced, and covers what to do for a conscious or unconscious player — from common injuries through to sudden cardiac arrest. It currently costs £30 and the certificate is valid for three years. If you've read our Medical Emergency Action Plans for our pitches, this is the training that makes them useful. Knowing where the nearest A&E is doesn't help much if you don't know what to do in the ten minutes before the ambulance arrives. Book it here: https://learn.englandfootball.com/courses/medical/introduction-to-first-aid-in-football 3. Introduction to Coaching Football This is the coaching qualification itself, and the one you can only start once the two courses above are complete and in date. It's delivered online through a mix of live webinars, e-learning modules and coach developer support, with a short assessment at the end. You must be 16 or over. Expect to pay around £100, though the FA has listed it at different prices — check the booking page before you commit. Funded places exist and are worth applying for. The FA runs a partially funded programme where you pay only £24, and a fully funded programme in partnership with Chase where the cost is covered entirely. Both include the Safeguarding and First Aid courses. Apply through the Funding Eligibility Form on the course page — but apply before you book, because discounts can't be applied after payment. Responses take up to five weeks, so start early. Book it here: https://learn.englandfootball.com/courses/football/introduction-to-coaching-football A note on platforms: the FA is moving its courses to a new system called My Learning. Follow the links from the course page rather than any bookmark you've saved, or you'll end up in the wrong place. 4. An FA DBS check This one is different from the others, and it's where most people get confused. You cannot book a DBS yourself. It has to be initiated by the club. Our Welfare Officer starts the process through the FA Club Portal, you then receive an email from First Advantage asking you to complete your application, and the Welfare Officer verifies your identity documents. Only then does it go off for processing. What you need is an Enhanced Criminal Record Check with the Children's Barred List, and it must be renewed every three years. Anyone aged 16 or over in a potentially unsupervised role with under-18s must have one — that's every coach and every assistant coach at this club, no exceptions. So don't wait for us to chase you. Contact the Welfare Officer and ask to be started on the process. The sooner you do, the sooner you can be on a pitch. If you're renewing an existing check, you can keep coaching once the renewal is submitted and showing as in progress on the Club Portal. More on the FA's DBS requirements: https://www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/safeguarding/section-3-safer-recruitment-and-dbs-checks How you get your money back You pay for the courses up front, and the club reimburses you in full once you've successfully completed them. To claim, keep receipts of for all courses.