Safeguarding Policy

1. My Safeguarding Responsibility

As the sole tutor and owner of Leap Learning, I hold safeguarding responsibility personally and directly. There is no committee, agency or office manager it can be passed to, and I would not have it any other way.

• A single point of accountability: I am responsible for the safety of every student in my room and on my calls, for the conduct of every adult present at a session, and for reporting any concern promptly and correctly.
• The standard I work to: my practice follows the guidance set out for those working with children in education, including Keeping Children Safe in Education (Part 3), and I keep this policy, my risk assessment and my contact records aligned with it.
• Safety comes before teaching: if a room, a platform setting, a group dynamic or a student's state means a session is not safe, it does not run until it is. No lesson is worth the risk.
• Knowing the young person, not only the grade: I take an interest in each student's wellbeing and record anything that affects their learning, confidence or safety, so nothing important sits only in my memory between sessions.

This policy is reviewed at least once a year and whenever something changes — a new platform, a new venue, an incident, or new national guidance. The version on this page is always the current one.

2. Safer Recruitment & DBS Checks

Because there is only one adult in this business, the checking is simple and absolute: the one adult is the checked adult.

• Enhanced DBS check: I hold an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate with a children's barred-list check. It is current, and I am glad to show it — or a clear photograph of it — at the free consultation, before you commit to anything.
• Renewed on schedule: my disclosure is reapplied for at the end of each DBS cycle rather than left to lapse, so there is never a gap between certificates.
• Identity and references: my identity has been verified, and professional references from my years as a classroom teacher and science lead are available to a family on request.
• Premises and insurance: my teaching space carries public liability insurance, and the full address is shared privately with parents before the first lesson so you know exactly where your child is going.
• No unvetted adults: I do not use cover tutors, volunteers, agency staff or students on placement. If I am unwell or away, a session is cancelled and rescheduled — never handed to an adult you have not met or checked.

If you would like to verify my certificate yourself rather than take my word for it, say so and I will arrange it. No tutor worth using minds.

3. Protections for Students Under 18

Almost every Leap Learning student is under 18, so consent, contact and communication routes run through the parent or guardian rather than the child.

• Consent first: enrolment, recordings, photographs and any additional support are agreed with a parent or guardian before they happen. A student's own view is always heard and respected, but the decision sits with the adult responsible for them.
• Contact routes: I speak with students only through channels a parent has approved, and a parent is copied on scheduling and progress. There is no private messaging, no personal phone number exchanged, no social-media contact between me and a student.
• Where lessons happen: in-person tuition runs only in my own dedicated teaching space near Wymondham. I do not teach in students' homes and I do not give lifts in my car.
• Arrival and departure: a parent or a named adult hands over and collects each student at the door. Nobody is left waiting outside alone or on the premises before or after their slot.
• Visible and open: lessons are never held behind a locked door, and parents are welcome to wait on site, to see the room, and to sit in on or listen to any session at any time — no notice needed, no explanation required.
• Professional and physical boundaries: I do not give or accept money or gifts, do not share my own personal or financial problems with students, and do not initiate physical contact. Where a younger or anxious student needs reassurance, it is given in words, in an open space, with the parent's knowledge.

Students with an education, health and care plan, a diagnosis, or a history of anxiety-related absence are covered by exactly the same protections, with the adjustments we agreed at consultation. An additional need never lowers the safeguarding standard.

4. Online Lesson Safety

Sunday online groups are live lessons with real children on camera, so the platform settings matter as much as the teaching does.

• Protected meetings: every session runs behind a password or unique link that is never posted publicly, with waiting rooms enabled so nobody can join before I admit them.
• Admitted by name: students are let in against the group list, cameras stay on during the lesson, and the meeting is closed promptly at the advertised finish time rather than left open.
• Chats and files: in-lesson chat is for working answers only and is switched off afterwards. Any materials are shared with the whole group with parents copied, never to one student privately.
• Recordings: a session is recorded only where the group and their parents have agreed in advance. Recordings go to that group only, are kept only as long as they are useful, then deleted.
• Right time, right place: online sessions run inside the Sunday timetable window only — not late in the evening — and I never join a student's personal account, server or gaming platform.
• Supervised at home: a parent knows when the lesson is running and where the student is working. I ask that students join from a shared or open room at home rather than one they can lock themselves in.

If a platform update changes its privacy or safety settings and I cannot confirm they are still safe, the session is moved or cancelled rather than run as it is.

5. Safer Practice Inside Small Groups

Small groups of four and six are the heart of what I teach, and they need their own attention — a child can feel unsafe in a group without a single word being said to them.

• Clear expectations: at the first session a group agrees how students speak to each other and to me. Unkindness about ability, appearance or a wrong answer is dealt with immediately and privately, and reported to parents if it repeats.
• Balanced attention: I watch who is quiet, who is being talked over and who is never asked a question, and I adjust rather than let an unhelpful pattern settle in.
• Sensible grouping: students are placed by exam board, tier and stage, so a much younger student never ends up alone among older teenagers by accident.
• Confirmed places: a group seat is only offered once a parent has confirmed the arrangement in writing, so I always know who is expected and who should have called if they did not arrive.

6. Reporting a Concern

Two situations matter here: a student telling me something worrying, and a parent raising something with me. Neither is kept quiet and neither is investigated by me alone.

1. 1If a student tells me something worrying: I listen without pressing them for detail, I never promise to keep it secret, and I write down what was said as close to their own words as I can, straight away. The concern is passed on the same day to the right statutory service — I do not investigate a child's disclosure myself.
2. 2If a student is in immediate danger: I call 999 and stay with them until help arrives.
3. 3If you have a concern about your own child's safety or wellbeing: tell me and I will act on it the same day, confirm to you in writing what I have done, and follow it through until it is resolved.
4. 4If your concern is about me: you should not have to raise it with the person it is about. Contact Norfolk County Council's children's safeguarding service or the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), who deal with allegations against adults working with children; for advice call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000. In an emergency, always 999.
5. 5What gets recorded: every concern, disclosure and referral is written up factually with date, time and outcome, kept securely, and shared only with the people who need it.
6. 6No penalty for asking: a concern that turns out to be nothing is a good result. Nobody's place, price or goodwill is reduced because a family asked a question.

7. Records, Review & Complaints

Safeguarding only works if it is written down and checked, not remembered and trusted.

• Safeguarding records: concerns, disclosures and referrals are stored securely with restricted access, kept only as long as they are needed, and handled under the same rules set out in my privacy policy.
• Annual review: this policy, the risk assessment for my teaching space, and my platform settings are reviewed at least once a year and after any incident.
• Complaints: if you are unhappy with how a safeguarding matter was handled, tell me first and I will respond in writing. If you would rather not, or remain dissatisfied, Norfolk County Council and the relevant national bodies listed below are available to you at any point.

A copy of this policy, my DBS certificate, and the current risk assessment for my teaching space are available to any parent on request. Questions about anything here are best sent to leaplearninguk@gmail.com, or you can ring or text me on 07359 068111.