SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN POLICY

Erin Johns Educational Services (t/a Neurodiversity Tutor) believes that it is always unacceptable for a child or young person to experience abuse of any kind and recognises its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and young people, by a commitment to practice, which protects them. This policy applies to all staff, freelancers, virutal assistants or anyone working on behalf of Erin Johns Educational Services. 

Legal Framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from: https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-protection-system/england/ .

Erin Johns Educational Services  operates following the guidance and requirements of Keeping Children Safe in Education. Policies are reviewed annually, with more frequent updates and adjustments in response to changes in legislation / statutory guidance / reviews of internal practice etc. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1161273/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2023_-_statutory_guidance_for_schools_and_colleges.pdf

Policy Statements

We recognise that: 

  • the welfare of the child/young person is paramount.

  • all children, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse.

  • working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.

The purpose of the policy: 

  • to provide protection for the children and young people who receive services from Erin Johns Educational Services.

  • to provide guidance on procedures for staff, freelancers and volunteers in the event that they suspect a child or young person may be experiencing, or be at risk of, harm.

We will seek to safeguard children and young people by:

  • valuing them, listening to and respecting them.

  • adopting child protection guidelines through procedures and a code of conduct for adults.

  • ensuring all adults are DBS checked.

  • sharing information about child protection and good practice with children, parents and adults.

  • sharing information about concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving parents and children appropriately.

Reporting Safeguarding Concerns

If a child/young person discloses to an adult within the services that they are being abused, or if there are safeguarding concerns with regards to a child/young person who is being tutored; we will:

  • Confirm that we have heard what the child/young person has said and that we will take the allegations seriously.

  • We will not prompt, asking leading questions or interrupt.

  • Record (write down) what we have been told, as soon as we can, using exact words where possible. 

  • Record (write down) and make a note of the date, time, place and people who were present during the disclosure.

  • Ensure we have made a safeguarding referral regarding this child/young person as soon as possible. This referral could be to the relevant local authority, the police, the NSPCC, or to another appropriate body. 

  • If we are concerned that the child is in immediate danger we will call the police.

ONLINE SAFETY

Legal Framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. 

Summaries of the key legislation and guidance are available on:

Policy Statements

We believe that:

  • children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind

  • children should be able to use the internet for education and personal development, but safeguards need to be in place to ensure they are kept safe at all times

We recognise that:

  • the online world provides everyone with many opportunities. However, it can also present risks and challenges

  • we have a duty to ensure that all children, young people and adults involved in our organisation are protected from potential harm online

  • we have a responsibility to help keep children and young people safe online, whether or not they are using Erin Johns Educational Services’ network and devices

  • all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, have the right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse

  • working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare and in helping young people to be responsible in their approach to online safety

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:

  • providing clear and specific directions to staff, freelancers and volunteers on how to behave online through our behaviour code for adults

  • supporting and encouraging the young people using our service to use the internet, social media and mobile phones in a way that keeps them safe and shows respect for others

  • supporting and encouraging parents and carers to do what they can to keep their children safe online

  • developing clear and robust procedures to enable us to respond appropriately to any incidents of inappropriate online behaviour, whether by an adult or a child/young person

  • reviewing and updating the security of our information systems regularly

  • ensuring that usernames, logins, email accounts and passwords are used effectively

  • ensuring personal information about the adults and children who are involved in our organisation is held securely and shared only as appropriate

  • ensuring that images of children, young people and families are used only after their written permission has been obtained, and only for the purpose for which consent has been given

  • providing supervision, support and training for staff, freelancers and volunteers about online safety

  • examining and risk assessing any social media platforms and new technologies before they are used within the organisation

If online abuse occurs, we will respond to it by:

  • having clear and robust safeguarding procedures in place for responding to abuse (including online abuse)

  • providing support and training for all staff, freelancers and volunteers on dealing with all forms of abuse, including bullying/cyberbullying, emotional abuse, sexting, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation

  • making sure our response takes the needs of the person experiencing abuse, any bystanders and our organisation as a whole into account

  • reviewing the plan developed to address online abuse at regular intervals, in order to ensure that any problems have been resolved in the long term

The range of online safety issues are classified into four areas of risk:

  • Content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful content, for example: pornography, fake news, racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, anti-Semitism, radicalisations and extremism.

  • Contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users; for example: peer to peer pressure, commercial advertising and adults posing as children or young adults with the intention to the groom or exploit them sexual, criminal, financial or other purposes.

  • Conduct: online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm: for example, making sending and receiving explicit images (e.g. consensual and non-consensual sharing of nudes and semi-nudes and/or pornography, sharing other explicit images and online bullying

  • Commerce: risks such as online gambling, inappropriate advertising, phishing and or financial scams. If you feel your pupils, students or staff are at risk, report it to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (https://apwg.org/)

Accessing Online Learning

Online learning takes place via Zoom. Sessions will be accessed via a session link provided by the Erin Johns Educational Services to tutors and students which specifies the time and day. Tutors and students must only work together in the formally scheduled session, on the times and dates scheduled.

All Zoom sessions are subject to the privacy and security settings within the Zoom platform. As a minimum, this requires a waiting room and/or a passcode for entry. Tutors must verify the identity of attendees upon entry to the waiting room. Screen names must reflect

the name of the student. If there are concerns, do not admit the attendee before completing a follow up check including:

  • Direct message to the waiting room

  • Contact with parent / carer

Recorded Sessions

One to one sessions can be recorded on request and will only be shared between the tutor and client. This is hosted by Zoom on the cloud and automatically deleted after 30 days.

Group sessions are recorded and hosted by Zoom on the cloud and automatically deleted after 30 days. Sessions will only be shared between the tutor and those signed up to the group.

ANTI-BULLYING POLICY AND PROCEDURES

Definition

  • Bullying is deliberately hurtful behaviour, usually repeated over a period of time, where it is difficult for the victims to defend themselves.

  • Bullying is identified within the description of ‘Child on Child Abuse’ in Paragraph 35 of KCSIE (September 2023)

  • It can cause considerable distress to children, to the extent that it affects their health and development and can be a source of significant harm, including self-harm and suicide.

  • Bullying encompasses a range of behaviours which may be combined and may include:

    • Verbal Abuse (name calling, saying nasty things)

    • Physical Abuse (hitting, pushing, assault)

    • Emotional Abuse (making threats, undermining, excluding from friendship groups etc)

    • Cyber/Online bullying (exclusion from activities; threatening/upsetting/abusive messages; creation or sharing of embarrassing/malicious images or videos; ‘trolling’; voting for or against someone in an abusive poll; setting up or contributing to hate sites about a particular child or group of children; creating fake accounts, hijacking or stealing online identities to embarrass a young person or cause trouble in their name)

  • Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based forms of child physical, sexual and emotional abuse can include bullying via mobile telephones or online (internet) with verbal and visual messages (NSPCC, 2017).

  • Bullying can be a form of discrimination, particularly if it is based on a child’s race, religion or belief, gender identity, sexuality or disability.

Policy Statements

Erin Johns Educational Services will under no circumstances tolerate bullying of children, and will take immediate action as outlined below.

Actions:

  • Tutors will set a good example for children, and ensure that it is made clear that bullying will not be tolerated at any time.

  • If an incident of bullying is reported, the tutor alerted will reassure and support the students involved and contact others if necessary.

  • If an incident of bullying is witnessed by an adult, that adult may need to take action to separate the children, and if necessary contact the parents of the child/ren to deal with the matter.

  • If the incident is serious, Erin Johns Educational Services will consider banning the bully (or bullies) from future courses or sessions (once a full and fair investigation has taken place).

When responding to online bullying:

  • Make sure that children know not to retaliate online or to reply to any bullying messages or content

  • Make sure children know how the can take steps to prevent online bullying from happening again, e.g. blocking contacts, leaving a chat room etc.

  • Check whether the bullying content has been shared with anyone else

  • If bullying content has been circulated online:

    • If appropriate, ask the person responsible to remove the content

    • Contact the host (eg. the social networking site) to request that content is removed

  • Contact the NSPCC Helpline to seek advice: (https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/our-services/nspcc-helpline/ )

Updated: August 2024