My Primary & Secondary Tutor Safeguarding Policy

All children have an absolute right to a childhood free from abuse, neglect or exploitation. My Primary and Secondary Tutor believes that in all matters concerning child protection and safeguarding, the welfare and protection of the young people we work with is of paramount consideration. All adults involved in My Primary and Secondary Tutor activities and who come into contact with children, have a duty of care to safeguard and promote their welfare.

Some children may be additionally vulnerable as a result of individual circumstances. This policy and the procedures contained within it, exist not to discourage adults from being involved in the work of My Primary and Secondary Tutor but to ensure, as far as possible, that people who may abuse children do not get the opportunity to do so. My Primary and Secondary Tutor will give equal priority to keeping all children and young people safe regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

There is a duty placed upon us to ensure that all adults who work with or on behalf of our young people are competent, confident and safe to do so. Adults working for My Primary and Secondary Tutor are responsible for their own actions and behaviour and should avoid any conduct that would lead a reasonable person to question their motivation or intention.

The purpose of this policy statement is:

• to protect children and young people who receive My Primary and Secondary Tutor’s
• services from harm. This includes the children of adults who use our services; and
• to provide tutors, as well as children and young people and their families, with the
• overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.

This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of My Primary and Secondary Tutor.

The Owner/Lead Tutor of My Primary and Secondary Tutor will:

• Offer support and training to all staff and volunteers who work with My Primary and Secondary Tutor.
• Ensure that all My Primary and Secondary Tutor staff and volunteers are sufficiently vetted and have the correct level of qualifications or experience to work with children.
• Act as the main point of contact in the event of any allegation or disclosure.

Owner/Lead Tutor of My Primary and Secondary Tutor

• Karen Simpson
• Email: karen@myprimaryandsecondarytutor.com

For the purpose of this policy, a young person is defined as any person under the age of 18.

Recognition and Definitions of Abuse

My Primary and Secondary Tutor recognise that:

• the welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we take;
• working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare;
• all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have an equal right to protection from all types of harm or abuse;
• some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues; and
• extra safeguards may be needed to keep children who are additionally vulnerable safe from abuse.

The below are commonly recognised as examples of abuse:

• Physical Abuse: physical injury to a child where there is knowledge or reasonable suspicion, that their injury was inflicted or knowingly not prevented.
• Neglect: the persistent or severe neglect of a child that results in serious impairment of the child's health or development (both physical and mental).
• Emotional Abuse: the persistent or severe emotional ill-treatment of a child which has a severe adverse effect on the behaviour and emotional development of that child.
• Sexual Abuse: the involvement of dependent, developmentally immature children and adolescents in sexual activities they do not truly comprehend, to which they are unable to give informed consent.
• Extremism: A vocal or active opposition to fundamental human values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.
• Grooming: When someone builds an emotional connection with a child or a young person to gain their trust for the purposes of sexual abuse or exploitation.
• Self Abuse: Any means by which a child or young person seeks to harm themselves. This can take lots of physical forms, including cutting, bruising, scratching, hair-pulling, poisoning, overdosing and eating disorders.

Procedures

In all cases related to child protection and safeguarding, the main procedure is to listen to and respect children, and to treat the allegation seriously, in strict confidence and immediately contact My Primary and Secondary Tutor Owner/Lead Tutor.

In the event of My Primary and Secondary Tutor Owner/Lead Tutor being contacted, the following protocol will be followed:

• 1. The information will immediately be passed on to the parent and the school’s child protection and safeguarding lead(s).  Where the schools child protection lead cannot be contacted, the Police Child Protection Unit will be contacted in the first instance. 
• 2. The school shall follow the school's procedure for contacting the local Police Child Protection Unit or the Social Services Department of the relevant Local Authority (the Authorities). My Primary and Secondary Tutor owner/lead tutor and other tutors shall support the parent and school with any action that the parent or school deems appropriate and shall undertake reasonable endeavours to provide the parent and school with any assistance or documents.
• 3. My Primary and Secondary Tutor owner/lead tutor and other tutors shall not, under any circumstances, undertake any independent investigation or questioning (as this may jeopardise any enquiry) unless or until My Primary and Secondary Tutor owner/lead tutor is given authorisation by the parent or school or the Authorities. Following authorisation, My Primary and Secondary Tutor owner/lead tutor and other tutors may independently follow up on the allegation.
• 4. All allegations or suspicions shall be referred to the parent or school no matter how insignificant they seem to be or when they occur. Any information about suspicious behaviour or circumstances will be passed to the local Police Child Protection Unit or the local Social Services within 24 hours or as soon as is reasonably practicable.

In the event that a young person discloses abuse to a tutor of My Primary and Secondary Tutor they shall:

• 1. Allow the young person to speak without interruption, encouraging them to tell you only what they feel comfortable telling and be accepting and non-judgemental about what is said. They will not ask investigative or leading questions of any kind.
• 2. Advise the young person that they will offer support, but that they MUST pass what they are told and are not able to keep anything as confidential. If they refuse to tell them anything unless they promise to keep it a secret, inform them that they want to help and that there is one person they have to tell. If the young person then refuses to tell them any more, they must respect their decision and report this incident.
• 3. Ensure that the young person is not immediately at risk of any further abuse.
• 4. Immediately after a disclosure, contact the owner/lead tutor at My Primary and Secondary Tutor.
• 5. Report the facts as they know them/ or understand them, including the pupil’s name and the account given to them by the young person using the words that they used as well as including any other information they feel is relevant.
• 6. Provide this detailed information to the owner/lead tutor at My Primary and Secondary Tutor as soon as they are able. My Primary and Secondary Tutor shall retain a copy of all such notifications in accordance with UK GDPR guidelines.

In the event that a tutor suspects abuse, but it has not been disclosed by the young person the tutor shall:

• 1. Not discuss their suspicions with the young person in question or conduct any form of investigative work.
• 2. Report the facts as they know them/ or understand them, including the pupil’s name and the account given to them by the young person using the words that they used as well as including any other information they feel is relevant.
• 3. Provide this detailed information to the owner/lead tutor of My Primary and Secondary Tutor as soon as they are able. My Primary and Secondary Tutor owner/lead tutor shall retain a copy of all such notifications in accordance with UK GDPR guidelines.

If a tutor receives an allegation about any tutor (including the person hearing the allegation)they shall:

• 1. Immediately contact the owner/lead tutor of My Primary and Secondary Tutor.
• 2. Report the facts as they know them/ or understand them, including the names of relevant adults and/or young people and the account given to them using the words that they used as well as including any other information they feel is relevant.
• 3. Provide this detailed information to the owner/lead tutor of My Primary and Secondary Tutor as soon as they are able.
• 4. My Primary and Secondary Tutor owner/lead tutor shall retain a copy of all such notifications in accordance with UK GDPR guidelines.

If you deal with the personal data of young people (including names, year and school) tutors of My Primary and Secondary Tutor shall:

• 1. Handle all information with sensitivity and confidentiality and in accordance with UK GDPR guidelines.
• 2. The information should be kept securely and not be made available to others without the authority of the My Primary and Secondary Tutor owner/lead tutor.

Recruitment and Training

My Primary and Secondary Tutor maintain a high standard in recruiting tutors. All tutors at My Primary and Secondary Tutor must have an enhanced Disclosure check before they can begin working with pupils.

Every tutor must be able to fulfil one of the following:

• Have an existing enhanced DBS/PVG check not more than 3 years old verified by a member of My Primary and Secondary Tutor staff, with the disclosure number included in their contract.
• Arrange with My Primary and Secondary Tutor to have a new enhanced DBS/PVG check processed by My Primary and Secondary Tutor should their check be more than 3 years old.

All tutors at My Primary and Secondary Tutor will receive training on the contents of this policy as part of their induction. All tutors at My Primary and Secondary Tutor will be aware that by receiving such training they are confirming that they understand their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding.

The Code of Conduct

All adults coming into contact with children and young people through My Primary and Secondary Tutor work must comply with this Safeguarding Policy and the Code of Conduct.

The Code of Conduct states you must:

• Treat all young people with respect.
• Be aware that social networking sites are in the public domain if not protected by privacy settings. Strongly consider strengthening any privacy settings so that young people would not be able to access your online profiles and be privy to any information you would not want in the public domain.
• Block any young people that approach you online.
• Recognise that special caution is required when discussing sensitive issues with young people.
• Challenge unacceptable behaviour and report all allegations/suspicions of abuse to the My Primary and Secondary Tutor owner/lead tutor.
• Operate within My Primary and Secondary Tutor procedures in the event of any disclosure/concern.
• Raise any questions or concerns about child protection and safeguarding with My Primary and Secondary Tutor owner/lead tutor.
  Conduct yourself in an appropriate manner at all times when delivering sessions online.

You must not:

• Seek out or add young people on any social networking site.
• Respond to any online communication from a young person, for example on a social networking site.
• Share any personal contact details with young people, or, seek out their personal contact details.
• Arrange to meet a young person outside of the allocated tutoring time.
• Act in a manner that excludes the young people you are working with.
• Make suggestive or derogatory remarks in front of young people.
• Have inappropriate physical or verbal contact with young people.
• Show favouritism to any individual.
• Be under the influence of alcohol or other substances when working on activities involving young people.
• Take photographs of young people unless for the purpose of sharing with parents to inform about what pupils are learning. These photographs will only be shared with the pupil’s parent and with their prior knowledge and written agreement and must be deleted once they have been shared.

This policy will be formally reviewed once per year.

Last updated: November 2024