Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy

1. Our commitment

The safety of every child we teach comes before everything else — before growth, before revenue, before convenience.

We are an online tutoring service. Our tutors meet children over video, one-to-one, often without another adult in the room. We take that seriously. This policy sets out exactly what we do to keep children safe, what we expect from our tutors, and how you can raise a concern.

We would rather lose a booking than cut a corner here.

This policy applies to everyone connected with TheLearningMaths: tutors, operations and administrative staff, contractors, and anyone else with access to students or their information — wherever in the world they are based.

2. Designated Safeguarding Lead

Every safeguarding concern goes to one named person.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) is responsible for:

• Receiving and investigating every safeguarding concern
• Making decisions about tutor suspension and removal
• Escalating serious concerns to the appropriate authorities
• Keeping this policy current and ensuring every tutor has read it

A concern can be raised directly with the DSL at any time, by anyone — a parent, a student, or a member of staff. It never has to go through your tutor.

3. How we vet our tutors

We want to be straightforward about how we check the people who teach your child.

Our tutors do not hold UK DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks, and we will never claim they do. A DBS check searches UK police records. It is only meaningful for someone who has lived and worked in the UK, and it would return nothing for a tutor based elsewhere. Any online tutoring company advertising “DBS-checked tutors” while employing international tutors is not being accurate with you.

Instead, every tutor goes through the following before they teach a single lesson:

We keep a documented file for every tutor containing each of the above. Full detail: How We Vet Our Tutors.

What vetting can and cannot do

We want to be honest: no background check makes a person safe. A clean record tells you what someone has been caught doing, not what they might do. That is why the controls in the next sections matter more than the checks above — and why we never rely on vetting alone.

4. Our tutors' code of conduct

Every tutor agrees to the following before they teach a single lesson. Breaching any of these is grounds for immediate removal.

Tutors must:

• Conduct every lesson through the company-provided video link
• Behave professionally, patiently and respectfully at all times
• Report any concern about a child's welfare to the DSL immediately

Tutors must not:

• Contact a student privately by any means — personal WhatsApp, phone, email, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, or any other channel
• Ask a student for their phone number, personal email, home address, or social media handles
• Accept a “friend” or “follow” request from a student
• Arrange to teach a student privately, outside TheLearningMaths
• Meet a student in person
• Share their own personal contact details with a student
• Discuss topics unrelated to the lesson that are not appropriate for a child
• Ask a student to keep anything secret from their parent
• Give or receive gifts, money or favours
• Photograph or screen-record a student

If a tutor ever contacts your child outside our platform, tell us immediately. It is a breach of this policy and we will act on it the same day.

5. How lessons are conducted

These are our safeguarding controls. They are not aspirations — they are how the service works.

5.1 Company platform only

Every lesson takes place on a company-generated Zoom or Google Meet link. Tutors are not permitted to use personal accounts or to create their own meeting links. This means every lesson is on a channel we control and can audit.

5.2 No private contact

All communication between a tutor and a family goes through TheLearningMaths.Scheduling, progress updates and questions are handled by our office, not by a tutor's personal phone. There is no legitimate reason for a tutor to have your child's private contact details, and we do not give them out.

5.3 Parents are always welcome — our primary safeguard

We do not record lessons. Instead, our strongest protection is simple and immediate: you may join or observe any lesson, at any time, without telling us in advance. You do not need permission and you do not need a reason. A tutor who is uncomfortable with a parent being present is a tutor who should not be teaching your child.

For younger children we recommend that lessons take place in a shared family space — a kitchen or living room — rather than in a bedroom, and that an adult is within earshot.

5.4 Data minimisation

Tutors are given only what they need to teach: your child's first name, year group, curriculum and subjects. They are not given your child's surname, date of birth, home address, school, photograph, or your contact details.

6. Recognising and responding to concerns

If a tutor has a concern about a child

Tutors are told: if a child says or does something that makes you worry about their welfare — at home, at school, or anywhere else — you do not investigate, and you do not promise to keep it secret. You report it to the DSL the same day.

If we have a concern about a tutor

Any concern about a tutor's conduct results in immediate suspension from all lessons while the DSL investigates. We do not wait for proof before removing a tutor from contact with children. A tutor who is later cleared loses a few days of work; a child who is harmed while we “gather evidence” loses much more.

Escalation

Where a concern indicates that a child may be at risk of harm, the DSL will escalate to the appropriate authorities — in the child's own country — regardless of the commercial consequences to us.

7. How to raise a concern

If you are worried about anything, tell us. You do not need to be certain. You do not need evidence. You will not be treated as a nuisance.

What happens next:

1. The DSL acknowledges your concern within 24 hours.
2. The tutor is suspended from all lessons immediately if the concern relates to their conduct.
3. The DSL investigates and speaks to those involved.
4. We tell you what we found and what we have done.
5. Where necessary, we escalate to the appropriate authorities.

You can also raise a concern anonymously, and you can raise one about a tutor who is not your child's. We would always rather hear a concern that turns out to be nothing.

8. Review

This policy is reviewed at least annually, and immediately after any safeguarding incident.

Questions? Email abdulr@thelearningmaths.com or see our Contact page. For service or data-protection complaints (not safeguarding), see our Complaints procedure.

THE LEARNING MATHS LTD · Company No. 16511724 · Registered in England and Wales · 124 City Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX