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Arcstone Tutors

Last updated 8 August 2026 • Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025

Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy

Our commitment to protecting children and young people, and what every tutor and member of staff must do to keep them safe. This policy applies to everyone who works with Arcstone Tutors and to every lesson we run.

We review this policy at least once a year, and sooner if guidance or the law changes.

1. Our Commitment

Arcstone Tutors believes that a child or young person should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people we work with and to keep them safe, and we are committed to working in a way that protects them. The welfare of the child always comes first.

2. Recognising Abuse

Everyone who works with us must be able to recognise the forms abuse can take. You do not need to be certain. A concern is enough to report. The last three below are the risks most specific to teaching a child online.

Physical abuse

Deliberately hurting a child - hitting, shaking, or otherwise causing physical harm. Online, we may only ever see it second-hand: an unexplained injury a child mentions or shows on camera.

Emotional abuse

Persistent emotional mistreatment - constant criticism, threats, humiliation, or making a child feel worthless or unloved.

Sexual abuse

Forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware. This includes non-contact abuse online, such as making a child watch or produce sexual images.

Neglect

Persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical or emotional needs, likely to damage their health or development.

Online grooming & child sexual abuse and exploitation

Building a relationship or trust with a child to manipulate, exploit, or abuse them - including attempts to move a child off-platform, to private messaging apps, or to meet in person.

Sexual harassment & sharing of nude images

Unwanted sexual comments or conduct, and the sending, requesting, or sharing of nude or semi-nude images of or by a child.

Radicalisation

Being drawn into extremist ideology or terrorism. Under the Prevent duty, tutors report concerns to the DSL, who decides on any referral.

3. Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

The DSL takes lead responsibility for safeguarding, receives every concern, and decides on referrals to external agencies.

Lead Name

Tariq El-Jumaily

A deputy DSL will be appointed as the team grows. Until then the DSL is the single point of contact for safeguarding, and concerns still go to the escalation routes below if the DSL is ever unavailable.

4. Tutor & Staff Responsibilities

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. Every tutor and member of staff agrees to these as a condition of working with us, and they form part of the Tutor Agreement.

Safeguarding training

Every tutor completes safeguarding training as part of onboarding, before their first lesson: how to recognise the signs of abuse, the online-session rules, and how to report a concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead. Training is refreshed periodically, and again after any material change in the law or in our procedures.

  • Treat the safety and welfare of the child as the first priority, ahead of the lesson, at all times.
  • Complete safeguarding training as part of onboarding before your first lesson, and keep it current through periodic refreshers.
  • Recognise the signs of abuse above and report any concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead the same day - you report, you do not investigate.
  • Never promise a child confidentiality, and never interview or question a child about a disclosure yourself.
  • Keep every interaction on the platform: never share personal contact details - personal phone, personal email, or social media - never move a lesson or conversation to a private app or any channel other than Arcstone, and never meet a student in person. This protects you as much as the child, and keeps an auditable record.
  • Follow the online-session rules below without exception, and raise anything that feels wrong - a "low-level" concern about another tutor still gets reported.

5. Tutor Vetting

  • Identity verification and right-to-work checks.
  • Verification of academic qualifications.
  • At least two professional reference checks.
  • DBS checks handled internally where appropriate - parents can request a DBS-checked tutor.

6. Keeping Online Lessons Safe

Teaching a child over video carries risks a classroom does not. These rules manage them, and apply to every lesson.

  • Lessons take place in the in-platform video room, not a personal Zoom or phone call, so they can be safeguarded.
  • Both people join from anywhere private and quiet, so the lesson is not interrupted or overheard.
  • All parent-tutor messaging stays on-platform, where it is monitored and an automated scanner flags attempts to share contact details or move off-platform.
  • A parent or carer can be present or nearby for any lesson, and is always welcome to.
  • Personal phone numbers, personal email, social media, and outside-platform meeting requests are never exchanged between a tutor and a child - all contact happens on Arcstone, and nowhere else.
  • Lessons are not recorded, but the in-lesson chat and any shared worksheets or files are kept as safeguarding records that the Designated Safeguarding Lead can review.
  • Anything a child discloses during or around a lesson is passed to the DSL immediately, following the reporting steps below.

7. Reporting Concerns

01

Record the concern immediately with factual detail.

02

Report the concern to the DSL within 24 hours.

03

DSL determines if referral to Local Authority (MASH) is required.

8. Our Response Commitment

Every parent↔tutor conversation happens on-platform, where our safeguarding scanner automatically flags attempts to share contact details or move off-platform, and anyone can report a message. Reports - whether raised by a user or auto-flagged - go straight to a monitored admin queue.

We aim to first-review every safeguarding report within 24 hours.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead reviews the conversation, decides whether to escalate, and can suspend or remove a tutor immediately where there is any risk to a child. Reported messages are preserved even if later edited or deleted, so nothing can be hidden after the fact.

9. Escalation Path

Where a concern goes beyond what we handle on the platform, the DSL escalates to the appropriate external authority:

  • Immediate danger

    999

    A child is at immediate risk of harm. Call the police first, then notify the DSL.

  • Local authority (MASH)

    Local Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub

    A safeguarding concern that is not an emergency - the DSL refers to the child's local MASH for assessment.

  • LADO

    Local Authority Designated Officer

    An allegation is made against a tutor or member of staff. The DSL must contact the LADO within one working day.

  • NSPCC helpline

    0808 800 5000

    For advice when unsure whether a concern meets the threshold for referral.

10. Policy Status & Review

This policy is adapted from the principles of Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025 for a non-school, online, one-to-one tutoring context. We are not a school, so we align with that guidance rather than claim statutory status under it. It is reviewed at least once a year, and straight away after any serious incident or change in the law or statutory guidance.

Last updated 8 August 2026. Questions about this policy go to the Designated Safeguarding Lead at admin@arcstonetutors.co.uk.