FAQs

  The wellbeing of our students is highly important to us and we are committed to maintaining high standards of safety for them. We understand that children are a vulnerable group and their welfare must be looked after by any adult working with them. We abide by the law and will report any signs or concerns a child may be suffering from abuse. This safeguarding policy is in place to ensure all tutors are able to protect any children under their care and act appropriately to report concerns. 

Young Buds Tuition ensures that all of our tutors can work with children in a professional, sensitive and safe manner. Tutors must follow the procedures stated in this policy if they suspect a child is being abused or mistreated in any way. This concern must be communicated with the Designated Safeguarding Officer at Young Buds Tuition. The safeguarding officer will then decide how to proceed once all relevant information has been collected. Our tutors are legally obliged to report all safeguarding concerns to the safeguarding officer. 

The duty of a Young Buds Tuition Tutor 

In addition to abiding by our terms of service, any tutor delivering lessons to children through Young Buds Tuition must create a safe environment for them at all times. All online lessons will be recorded, and any lessons where a report has been made regarding the tutors conduct will be reviewed by the safeguarding officer. Young Buds Tuition will also provide to the police any recorded lessons where a criminal offence may have taken place.

Tutors must:

• Treat all children      with respect and dignity. 
• Ensure that no      children feel discriminated against regardless of their race, gender or      sexuality. 
• Speak and write only      in appropriate language with their students, and never use discriminatory      or offensive terms. 
• Maintain a strictly      professional tutor-tutee relationship and avoid sending any inappropriate      messages, emails of communications to a student. 
• Value the effort of      their students and maintain a positive attitude towards their students      work. 
• Only complete lessons      using the Joy Learning platform on the days and times arranged and agreed      by the student’s parent or guardian.
• Be sensitive to the      needs of any students with a disability and make good effort to adapt      lessons accordingly when requested.
• Create a suitable      tutoring environment with no inappropriate images, slogans, posters of      behaviour occurring in the background during a lesson. 
• Never send      unsolicited messages or communication to a student under any      circumstances. 
• Maintain an      environment that is free of inappropriate images or video during any      online lesson.
• Arrive on time for      their online lesson
• Check that the      student is comfortable to continue with a lesson and terminate the lesson      if a student is uncomfortable for any reason. 
• Be aware that all      lessons are recorded and may be reviewed by a student, parent or      administrative staff to ensure high quality lessons are taking place.
• Decline any friend      requests and block all connections from any students who make contact via      social media. 
• In addition to these      obligations, you must ensure that you do not:
• Never search for or      befriend your pupils on social media sites.
• Never open up any      form of communication, either face to face, over the phone or online, that      has not been approved by Young Buds Tuition.
• Never attempt to      obtain any details about their social media accounts, or extraneous      details regarding their social life.
• Never take      photographs or videos of your pupils, or request that they send you any      photographs or videos of themselves.
• Never coerce them to      engage in any illegal activity.

Procedures to follow if you are concerned about the wellbeing of a child

If you suspect a child has been bullied or abused you are to treat the matter seriously and bound by law to take the appropriate steps. You must report to the safeguarding officer immediately by phone or email and provide all information you have regarding the concern. They will then contact Social Services or the Police Child Protection Unit. Young Buds Tuition will supply any further information they might need in their investigations. Young Buds Tuition will not make any independent inquiries in the case of a safeguarding allegation. 

If a child discloses to a tutor that they have been the victim of abuse or know of the abuse of another child, the tutor must take this seriously and listen. The tutor must make it clear that any information provided by the child cannot be kept a secret and will have to be reported to the designated safeguarding officer in order to protect the child from further harm. The child should not be forced to disclose information and promises to keep the disclosure a secret must not be made or kept. If the child then refuses to provide any further information they should not be forced to do so, but the tutor must still report the incident to the Safeguarding Officer. When providing information to the safeguarding officer or police child protection unit, take care to communicate to them all the information the child has disclosed to you. As much as possible try to use the same words and phrases the child used. 

In the case that you suspect abuse without the child having made any disclosures, you should not question the pupil in attempt to get them to reveal any information. You should report your concerns to the designated safeguarding officer and not carry out any independent investigation or probe the student for information.

Handling confidential information

As a tutor you will have access to the personal information of several children, including their name and contact details. You have a legal obligation to keep this information confidential, in accordance with GDPR guidelines. This information must never be shared with anyone at any time under any circumstances. Any information you acquire in your role as a tutor must be considered confidential - this includes contact information and also your pupil's work, and any comments or grades relating to it.

The purpose and scope of this policy statement

Young Buds Tuition Ltd works with children and families as part of its activities. These include: Teaching mathematics and English to children aged 7-16. We liaise with parents about their child’s progress and about homework and its completion. We offer supplemental skills to pupils to allow them to best access their school curriculums. This is executed through Personalised Skills sessions.  

The purpose of this policy statement is:

• to protect children and young people who receive Young Buds Tuition Ltd’s services. This includes the children of adults who use our services

• to provide parents, staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.

This policy statement applies to anyone working on behalf of Young Buds Tuition Ltd including senior managers and the board of trustees, teachers, volunteers, sessional tutors, agency staff and students.

Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England/Northern Ireland/Scotland/Wales [select the relevant nation]. A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from nspcc.org.uk/child protection.

We believe that:

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

• we have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

We recognise that:

• the welfare of the child is paramount

• all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have a right to equal 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

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

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

• valuing, listening to and respecting them

• appointing a nominated child protection/safeguarding lead, a deputy child protection/safeguarding lead and a lead trustee/board member for safeguarding

• developing child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures which reflect best practice

• using our safeguarding procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately

• creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise

• developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures

• sharing information about child protection and safeguarding best practice with children, their families, staff and volunteers via leaflets, posters, group work and one-to-one discussions

• recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made

• providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures

• implementing a code of conduct for staff and volunteers

• using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately

• ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place

• ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance

• recording and storing information professionally and securely.

Related policies and procedures

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies and procedures, including:

• Procedures for responding to concerns about a child or young person’s wellbeing

• Dealing with allegations of abuse against a child or young person

• Role of the designated safeguarding officer

• Managing allegations against staff and volunteers

• Safer recruitment policy and procedures

• Adult to child supervision ratios

• Code of conduct for staff and volunteers

• Anti-bullying policy and procedures

• Online safety policy and procedures for responding to concerns about online abuse

• Photography and image sharing guidance

• Child protection records retention and storage policy

• Whistleblowing policy

Contact details

Young Buds Tuition Ltd has a Designated Safeguarding Officer who is the first point of contact for any tutors who are concerned for a student and suspect they may be unsafe or being mistreated in any way. The safeguarding officer has completed the necessary training and follows clear procedures if they are informed of any safeguarding concerns. All reported safeguarding concerns will be recorded and detailed in a clear and well organised format containing all the information provided to them and will detail the actions they have taken regarding any concerns. 

Designated Safeguard Lead

Name: Jerome Buddoo

Phone/email: 07958 539 887, info@youngbudstuition.co.uk

Deputy child protection lead

Name(s): Francis Akhigbe

Phone/email: 07961 497 097, info@youngbudstuition.co.uk

NSPCC Helpline

0808 800 5000

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.

This policy was last reviewed on: Monday 8th April 2020