Safeguarding Policy

Read this before proceeding:

At Tempo Tuition, safeguarding is everybody’s business. This page outlines everything that we do as a company to keep our services safe for children and young people. It’s our big governing document (it is very big, over 4,000 words). That’s why we’ve created summaries – you can find them below.

Below is two documents: firstly, the Safeguarding Policy Statement and, secondly, the Safeguarding Procedures. The policy statement outlines the the rationale behind our approach to safeguarding (the who, what, when, why, and where!). The procedures are a list of steps that tutors, staff, and students should follow in the event that the safety or wellbeing of a student is at risk.

We recommend that you give it a read. All tutors must read the Policy Statement and the Procedures as apart of their training. If you are a little shy on time, our summaries can be found below. We hope they help. Note: the summaries are for informational purposes and should not be used as procedures by tutors.

Safeguarding for Tutors (summary)

Tempo Tuition Safeguarding Policy Statement

Updated 28th April 2023

The purpose and scope of this policy statement

Tempo Tuitionis committed to the safety and protection of children and young people during their work with our tuition services. Our commitment to safeguarding is supreme and is the first and most important consideration when every decision is made within the company.

This policy is written for the protection of all children (under-18s) and students (including mature students) who work with Tempo Tuition Tempo Tuition and is a mandatory governing document for every tutor, employee, and volunteer who work with us.

The purpose of this policy statement is:

To protect children and young people who receive Tempo Tuition’s services from harm. This includes the children of adults who use our services.

To provide staff and volunteers, 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 Tempo Tuition , including senior managers, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff, contractors, and students.

Legal framework

A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from nspcc.org.uk/childprotection.

Supporting documents

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies, procedures, guidance and other related documents:

Tempo Tuition Safeguarding Procedures (see below)
Code of conduct for tutors and staff
Code of conduct for parents, guardians and students
Tempo Tuition Complaints Procedures find here
Relevant legislation (see above)

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 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 identity, 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.
Extra safeguards may be needed to keep children who are additionally vulnerable safe from abuse.

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by

Valuing, listening to and respecting them.
Appointing a nominated child protection lead for children and young people.
Adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers.
Developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures.
Providing effective management for tutors and staff through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all tutors and staff know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently.
Creating a dedicated channel for tutors for safeguarding concerns and immediate advice, including quick links to relevant safeguarding advice, policies and procedures.
Recruiting and selecting tutors and staff safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made.
Recording and storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance (find our particular privacy policy under www.t empomobile.co.uk/privacy-policy

Sharing information about safeguarding, online safety and good practice with children and their families via leaflets, posters, group work and one-to-one discussions.
Making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern.
Using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families, and carers appropriately.
Using our procedures to manage any allegations against tutors and staff appropriately.
Ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place (see our complaints policy at www.tempomobile.co.uk/complaints
Ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, tutors and staff, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance.
Building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.
We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.

Contact details

Our designated safeguarding officer is:

James Burgess jim@tempomobile.co.uk

NSPCC Helpline: 0808 800 5000

Emergency Services: 999 (emergency)

Tempo Tuition Safeguarding Procedures

Updated 28th April 2023

Introduction, Aims & Purpose

Tempo Tuitionis committed to the safety and protection of children and young people during their work with our tuition services. Our commitment to safeguarding is supreme and is the first and most important consideration when every decision is made within the company.
This policy is written for the protection of all children (under-18s) and students (including mature students) who work with Tempo Tuition and is a mandatory governing document for every tutor, employee, and volunteer who works with us.
These procedures are the governing rules and regulations for which every tutor and staff member must abide by. All members of the Tempo Tuition team are familiar with the procedures and have them readily accessible for purposes of reference.

Safeguarding Governance

Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO)

The DSO will be provided with the appropriate level of training to enable them to fulfil their responsibilities in supporting and guiding tutors and staff on safeguarding matters. The training should be updated every two years. They are responsible for responding to initial concerns or disclosures.

The DSO will:

Provide ready and accessible support and guidance to all staff, tutors and trustees on safeguarding matters.
Manage all safeguarding reports and act as liaison for statutory services during any criminal or safeguarding investigation.
Ensure that serious incidents relating to safeguarding are reported immediately and managed effectively.
Report allegations against trustees, staff, or tutors to the relevant Local Authority and Disclosure and Barring Service as appropriate.
Ensure accurate records of all safeguarding concerns and the secure storage of all safeguarding records.
Provide a quality assurance and review function for all safeguarding concerns.
Work with all the SLT to inform of serious or untoward safeguarding incidents as appropriate.
Ensure the adoption, implementation and auditing of all policies and strategies in relation to safeguarding.

Further information on the role and responsibilities of the Designated Safeguarding Officer can be found in the statutory guidance KCSIE 2022.

The Designated Safeguarding Officer is James Burgess You can contact him directly at jim@tempomobile.co.uk

Tutors and Staff

At Tempo Tuition, all tutors and staff have a shared responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. They should know how to recognise, respond to, report and record any safeguarding concerns.

All staff and tutors are responsible for following the company’s safeguarding procedures for reporting any concerns related to abuse or neglect or suspected abuse or neglect of any child or young person immediately.

In an emergency, tutors and staff will be expected to report urgent concerns directly to the relevant statutory agency, including potentially the police and/or child protective services.

Online Safety

Tempo Tuition takes a holistic approach to online safety that aims to protect tutors and students in their use of technology, and specifically our site. All communication conducted between tutors and students shall be recorded and shall take place via Microsoft Teams or email, as stated in our

Tutor Code of Conduct.

This means that personal details such as social media information must remain private and confidential.

By using random checks and regular quality assurance, we aim to be able to identify, intervene in and escalate any concerns where appropriate. In addition, all Teams chats will include the designated safeguarding officer. All lessons conducted on the Tempo Tuition platform are recorded and kept for random safeguarding checks and quality assurance.

As outlined in KCSIE 2022 (Part 1:134), Tempo Tuition recognises the considerable breadth of issues classified within online safety, which have been categorised in the following four areas:

Content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate or harmful content; for example pornography, fake news, racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, anti-semitism, radicalism 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 people with the intention to groom or exploit them for sexual, criminal, financial or other purposes.
Conduct: personal 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 or financial scams.

All tutors are informed and are aware of the issues related to online safety. As a part of their role as a tutor, they are responsible for ensuring that the four areas of online safety are considered when interacting with children and young people.

Tempo Tuition ensures online safety is a constant running and interrelated theme through the development and implementation of all our services, policies and procedures.

Registration of Tutors (Safer Recruitment)

Under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, Tempo Tuitionis committed to carrying out specific vetting (enhanced DBS and barred list checks) on tutors and staff if they work with children and young people.

In order to deter and prevent unsuitable individuals and inappropriate behaviour through our services, Tempo Tuition has a rigorous and robust recruitment process which incorporates the specific “Safer Recruitment” requirements as highlighted in KCSIE 2022. These include:

Interview: All tutors must successfully pass a live interview before being permitted to operate through the Tempo Tuition tuition services.
ID Verification: All tutors will be required to provide proof of identification before or during their live interview. This will be verified by the Tempo Tuition interviewer during the live interview.
Health Declaration: Tempo Tuition requires that all tutors self declare that they are physically and mentally fit to conduct lessons, by asking them to sign the Terms and Conditions. All tutors are subject to periodic lesson observations and quality checks as a secondary control.

At Tempo Tuition , all tutors are required to have a valid enhanced Criminal Background check to tutor through our tuition services. Tempo Tuition considers a criminal background record check to be valid if it:

Is an up to date enhanced DBS check.
Is issued in the UK.
Details Children’s Barred List Information.
Is relevant to the tutor’s place of work and previous address history.

The Designated Safeguarding Officer have the right to immediately terminate a tutor’s use of Tempo Tuition services in the interest of the safety or wellbeing of a child or young person. This will be immediately communicated and reported as per these procedures.

Training

Tempo Tuition believes that training and raising awareness of safeguarding issues, policies and procedures is fundamental to the development and maintenance of a safer environment, safer organisation and safer tutors and staff. We ensure that appropriate safeguarding training is provided to all tutors and staff to assist them in:

Preventing abuse
Recognising abuse
Recording concerns
Responding appropriately to allegations of abuse
Knowing who to tell
And when information can be shared

Safeguarding training at the appropriate level to the role and responsibilities is a mandatory element of all inductions for tutors and staff. Furthermore, safeguarding training is not regarded as a “once only” activity, but as an ongoing development of skills and knowledge of safeguarding practices.

Further, Tempo Tuition takes their duty under section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 seriously, and have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into radicalisation and terrorism. We deliver annual compulsory PREVENT training to all tutors and staff, refreshed each August ahead of the new Academic year.

Reference Checks

All tutors are required to submit a reference check before being able to conduct lessons on the platform. Reference checks must be:

Addressed to Tempo Tuition
Either from previous employment, an academic source or a recognised professional who has been known to the applicant for a minimum of 6 months
Confirm dates of employment
Confirm that the candidate is suitable to work with children and young people

References will be asked on the application form. Tutors who fail to provide a valid reference will be unable to conduct lessons on the platform.

All lessons are eligible for random safeguarding and quality assurance checks. In these checks, Tempo Tuition are looking out for consistency in education quality and concerns related to the safety or wellbeing of the student. Tutors are provided with a full set of criteria for which their lessons will be measured against.

Whistleblowing

Tutors and staff should feel able to raise concerns about poor or unsafe practice and potential failures in the Tempo Tuition safeguarding policies and procedures. Appropriate whistleblowing procedures, which are suitably reflected in staff and tutor inductions, training, and the code of conduct, are in place for such concerns to be raised with the Tempo Tuition Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

Where a staff member or tutor feels unable to raise the issue with Tempo Tuition or feels their genuine concerns are not being addressed, other whistleblowing channels are open to them, including:

General guidance on whistleblowing can be found via Advice on Whistleblowing
The NSPCC’s What you can do to report abuse dedicated helpline is available as an alternative route for staff who do not feel able to raise concerns regarding child protection failures internally or have concerns about the way a concern is being handled by their school or college. Staff and tutors can call 0800 028 0285 – line is available from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, Monday to Friday and email: help@nspcc.org.uk.

Disclosures & Reporting (Procedures that should be followed if an incident occurs)

These policies should be read in conjunction with the Tempo Tuition Terms and Conditions and the Safeguarding Policy Statement (see above).

The following section sets out the procedures that should be followed if an incident occurs. There are different severities of behaviour which could be witnessed during a lesson. Some behaviour would warrant only a report to Tempo Tuition; other behaviour may be of a more serious nature where a direct report to the police may be necessary.

Each section below sets out the recommended procedure which should be followed. It is always the responsibility of the person alerted to the incident to take some action to protect the student or other person. Tempo Tuition will not be responsible for any con-compliance with the recommended procedure.

Note: these procedures are not an exhaustive list; therefore if an incident occurs that is not covered in this document, you are advised to contact Tempo Tuition, or the police if you believe that it may be a criminal matter.

Tutors

If a tutor sees/experiences:

Inappropriate language
The tutor will request, in a polite manner, that the student or other persons using inappropriate language refrains from doing so during the lesson session. If the language continues, the tutor will explain that they will terminate the session due to the language and will report the matter to Tempo Tuition (the Designated Safeguarding Officer) who will decide on any further use of the service by the student or other person involved. The tutor will have no further contact with the student unless by mutual agreement with Tempo Tuition. Any unsolicited contact from the student or other persons following the termination of the session should be reported to Tempo Tuition.
Inappropriate behaviour
The tutor will request, in a polite manner, that the student or other persons involved in the inappropriate behaviour refrains from the behaviour during the lesson session. If the behaviour continues the tutor will explain that they will terminate the session due to the behaviour and will report the matter to Tempo Tuition (the Designated Safeguarding Officer) who will decide on any further use of the service by the student or other person involved. The tutor should have no further contact with the student unless by mutual agreement with Tempo Tuition. Any unsolicited contact from the student or other persons following the termination of the session should be reported to Tempo Tuition.
Inappropriate or abusive images
Any display of adult pornographic images whilst in the presence of a student may constitute an offence under UK law. Any tutor witnessing the display of adult pornographic images by or towards a student should explain that the images should not be displayed during a lesson session, terminate the session and report the matter to Tempo Tuition (the Designated Safeguarding Officer).
Any display of child abuse images or indecent images of a child (for these purposes, a ‘child’ is defined as anyone under the age of 18 years) is an offence under UK law. Any tutor witnessing a display of indecent images of a child by or in the presence of a student should explain that due to the nature of the images they will terminate the session. The tutor should then inform the UK police. The tutor should also inform Tempo Tuition of the incident to ensure any recordings can be preserved and made available for any police investigation. The tutor should have no further contact with the student or any other person involved in the incident. Any unsolicited contact from the student or other persons following the termination of the session should be reported to the police and Tempo Tuition immediately.
This action should be taken so that the correct authorities can be alerted and can deal appropriately with the incident.
The display of any other images perceived to be inappropriate, either due to the age of the student or the content of the image shall be reported to Tempo Tuition (the Designated Safeguarding Officer) at the discretion of the parent/responsible adult.
Disclosure of/witness to abuse towards or in the presence of a student
Any physical or sexual abuse of a child is an offence under UK law. If a tutor receives information about such abuse from the student or other person present they should reassure the person that they can get assistance for them. It is the responsibility of the tutor to contact the UK police and report what has been witnessed.
If the tutor witnesses any such abuse first-hand they should immediately contact the police and report the incident. The tutor should also inform Tempo Tuition (the Designated Safeguarding Officer) of the incident to ensure any recordings can be preserved and made available for any police investigation. The tutor should have no further contact with the student or other person involved in the incident. Any unsolicited contact from the student or other persons following the termination of the session should be reported to the police and Tempo Tuition immediately.
Disclosure of inappropriate/sensitive information
During a lesson session sensitive information may be offered by a student or other person present. If the information relates to any kind of abuse the tutor should refer to ‘Disclosure of/witness to abuse towards or in the presence of a student’, above. The student or other person present should be discouraged from disclosing sensitive information by the tutor. If the information continues to be shared the tutor will determine the impact of the information and decide whether to continue or terminate the session and report the incident to Tempo Tuition (the Designated Safeguarding Officer).
Any information disclosed regarding the safety of a child should always be reported immediately to the UK police.

Students

If a student sees/experiences:

Inappropriate language
The student will inform a parent/responsible adult of the tutor using inappropriate language. The parent/responsible adult should ask the tutor to refrain from using inappropriate language during the lesson session. If the language continues the parent/responsible adult should explain that they will terminate the session and will report the matter to Tempo Tuition, who will decide on any further use of the service by the tutor. The student and parent/responsible adult should have no further contact with the tutor unless by mutual agreement with Tempo Tuition. Any unsolicited contact from the tutor after termination of the session should be reported to the Tempo Tuition.
If a parent/responsible adult is not present or readily available the student should report the language as soon as possible to a parent/responsible adult who will take the decision to report the incident.
Inappropriate behaviour
The student will inform a parent/responsible adult of the tutor using inappropriate behaviour. The parent/responsible adult should ask the tutor to refrain from using inappropriate behaviour during the lesson session. If the behaviour continues the parent/responsible adult will explain that they will terminate the session due to the behaviour and will report the matter to Tempo Tuition who will decide on any further use of the service by tutor. The student, parent/responsible adult should have no further contact with the tutor unless by mutual agreement with Tempo Tuition. Any unsolicited contact from the tutor after termination of the session should be reported to Tempo Tuition.
If a parent/responsible adult is not present or readily available the student should report the behaviour as soon as possible to a parent/responsible adult who will take a decision to report the incident.
If the behaviour is of a sexual nature towards a student by a tutor, the student should immediately inform a parent/responsible adult and terminate the session. The parent/responsible adult should inform the UK police and Tempo Tuition immediately.
Inappropriate or abusive images
Any display of adult pornographic images whilst in the presence of a student may constitute an offence under UK law. Any student witnessing the display of adult pornographic images by a tutor should immediately terminate the session and report this to a parent/responsible adult who should inform the UK police.
Any display of child abuse images or indecent images of a child (for these purposes, a ‘child’ is defined as anyone under the age of 18 years) is an offence under UK law. Any student witnessing a display of indecent images of a child should immediately terminate the session and report this to a parent/responsible adult, who should inform the UK police.
The parent/responsible adult should also inform Tempo Tuition of the incident to ensure that any recordings can be preserved and made available for any police investigation. The student, parent/responsible adult should have no further contact with the tutor involved in the incident. Any unsolicited contact from the tutor following the discontinuation of the session should be reported to the police and Tempo Tuition immediately.
This action should be taken so that the correct authorities can be alerted and can deal appropriately with the incident.
The display of any other images perceived to be inappropriate either due to age of the student or content of the image shall be reported to Tempo Tuition at the discretion of the parent/responsible adult.
Disclosure of/witness to abuse
Any physical or sexual abuse of a person is an offence under UK law. If a student receives information about such abuse from the tutor or other person present they should immediately inform a parent/responsible adult. It is the responsibility of the parent/responsible adult to contact the UK police and report what was witnessed.
If the student witnesses any such abuse first-hand they should immediately contact a parent/responsible adult who should immediately inform the UK police. The parent/responsible adult should also inform Tempo Tuition of the incident to ensure that any recordings can be preserved and made available for any police investigation. The student, parent/responsible adult should have no further contact with the tutor involved in the incident. Any unsolicited contact from the tutor following the termination of the session should be reported to the parent/responsible adult immediately.
This action should be taken so the correct authorities can be alerted and can deal appropriately with the incident.
Disclosure of inappropriate/sensitive information
During a lesson, sensitive information may be offered by a tutor (If the information relates to any kind of abuse the student should refer to ‘Disclosure of/Witness to abuse’). The tutor should be discouraged from disclosing sensitive information by the student, parent/responsible adult. The parent/responsible adult will determine the impact of the information and decide whether to continue or terminate the session and report the incident to Tempo Tuition.
Any information disclosed regarding the safety of a child should always be immediately reported to the UK police.
Any tutor reported by a parent/responsible adult will be suspended from the site until the incident has been investigated by the appropriate authority. The parent/responsible adult may be informed of the resolution if appropriate.

Parents/responsible adults

As per the policy statement, the parent/responsible adult has primary responsibility for the welfare and safety of the student during a lesson and should be present or available to deal with any concerns or incidents reported by the student.

It is also the duty of the parent/responsible adult to ensure the wellbeing of the child if they have been affected by anything said or done by the tutor.

If a parent/responsible adult is alerted by the student to any inappropriate behaviour/language or information by the student or they witness any inappropriate behaviour/language or information by the tutor, they should immediately speak to the tutor, state their concern and inform them they are terminating the session. The incident should then be reported to Tempo Tuition to take appropriate action. As there is a recording of the session available, the parent/responsible adult may review the session before taking further action.

The parent/responsible adult should have no further contact with the tutor involved in the incident. Any unsolicited communication from the tutor should be reported to the police and Tempo Tuition as soon as possible.

If a parent/responsible adult is alerted by the student to any inappropriate or abusive images or they witness any inappropriate or abusive images displayed by the tutor, they should immediately speak to the tutor, state their concern and inform them they are terminating the session. The parent/responsible adult should inform the UK police (if appropriate) and (in all cases) Tempo Tuition of the incident.

Any tutor reported by a parent/responsible adult will be suspended until the incident has been investigated by the appropriate authority. The parent/responsible adult will be informed of the resolution if appropriate.