Policy

Safeguarding policy

Last updated 9 November 2026

Skybound Tutoring is committed to keeping every child who learns with us safe. This policy explains how our tutors are checked, the rules for our online lessons, and what happens if someone raises a concern. It applies to everyone connected with Skybound: the founders, tutors, parents and students.

1. Our commitment

The welfare of the child comes first. Every child has the right to be safe, and every adult connected with Skybound shares responsibility for that. Please read this policy alongside our Privacy policy and Terms.

• The welfare of the child comes first in every decision we make.
• Every child has the right to be protected from harm.
• Safeguarding is shared between us, our tutors and parents.
• We take every concern seriously and act on it promptly.
• We handle personal information about safeguarding fairly and only as far as needed.

2. Who is responsible

Our Designated Safeguarding Leads are the founders, Dhruv Upadhyay and Yash Sanghani. Either of us will deal with a concern, and both of us see every concern that is raised.

Contact: [email protected]. Please put "Safeguarding - Urgent" in the subject line.

If your concern is about one of the founders, you do not have to go through us. Contact your local authority's Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), the NSPCC or the police directly.

3. Who does what

• Skybound checks tutors before they start, keeps these rules, deals with concerns and keeps a record.
• Tutors follow this policy, keep clear professional boundaries, and report any worry to us straight away.
• Parents help by making sure lessons take place in a suitable space at home, and by talking to us openly if anything worries them.

4. How our tutors are checked

No tutor teaches a child with Skybound until all of the following are complete.

• Enhanced DBS check with a check against the children's barred list. A disclosure that raises a safeguarding concern means the tutor is not approved.
• Safeguarding training, completed before the first lesson.
• Two references, checked before approval, ideally from a previous tutoring, teaching or other relevant setting.
• An observed trial lesson, so we have seen how the tutor teaches and speaks to students before they work with a family.
• Subject and grade checks, so each tutor teaches only what they have achieved top grades in.

A tutor can be suspended or removed at any time, including while a concern is being looked into.

5. Rules for online lessons

• Lesson link. Lessons take place on Zoom or Google Meet, whichever the parent prefers. Tutors must not ask a student to move to another app or a personal account.
• Parents are welcome. A parent or another responsible adult may sit in on, or be within earshot of, any lesson at any time. We encourage this, especially for first sessions and younger students.
• Contact goes through parents. Tutors and founders communicate with the parent or guardian, by WhatsApp or email. A tutor does not message a student privately. If a student needs to be in a message group, a parent must be in it too, and there are no one-to-one chats between a tutor and a student.
• No personal contact. Tutors must not connect with students on social media, or use personal phone numbers, email or messaging apps to contact them.
• Group lessons. Groups are limited to five students. Every rule on this page applies in the same way. Students are not given each other's contact details.
• No gifts or private arrangements. Tutors must not give or accept gifts, arrange to meet a student in person, or arrange tutoring outside Skybound.
• Recording. Lessons are not recorded unless the parent agrees. The parent can agree by message or in conversation, and the tutor will tell the student at the start of the lesson. A recording is kept securely, is not shared, and is deleted within 30 days unless there is a safeguarding reason to keep it.
• Learning space. Parents are asked to make sure the student joins from a suitable space at home, such as a living room or kitchen table, rather than a bedroom where possible.
• Appropriate conduct. Tutors must be professional at all times. Language, surroundings and materials must be suitable for a school-age student.

6. Recognising a concern

Concerns can take many forms. Examples include:

• physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or neglect;
• online grooming or exploitation;
• bullying or harassment, including online;
• a tutor behaving in a way that crosses a boundary, even if it seems small.

Our tutors are asked to stay alert to signs that a child may be at risk, and to tell us the same day.

7. Reporting a concern

If you are worried about a child's safety, a tutor's conduct, or anything that does not feel right, please tell us straight away. You do not need to be certain something is wrong.

• Email [email protected] with "Safeguarding - Urgent" in the subject line.
• If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. Do not wait for a reply from us.
• For urgent advice that is not an emergency, the NSPCC helpline is 0808 800 5000.

8. What happens after a report

1. Acknowledge. We acknowledge your concern, normally within 24 hours.
2. Assess. We look into it. This may include pausing the tutor's lessons.
3. Act. Depending on what we find, this may mean no further action, a warning, retraining, or permanent removal. Where required, we report to the DBS, the LADO or the police.
4. Record. We keep a confidential record of the concern and what we did, for as long as it is needed for safeguarding and legal reasons.
5. Follow up. We keep the family who raised the concern informed as far as confidentiality allows.

9. Sharing safeguarding information

Data protection law is there to help keep children safe, not to stop us doing so. Where a child may be at risk, we may share the information that is needed with the police, the local authority or the DBS. We share only what is relevant and no more, and we act in the child's best interests. Our Privacy policy explains how we handle personal information.

10. Laws and guidance we follow

Our approach is informed by the Children Act, the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, and the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. We also treat the government's Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance as good practice, although it does not apply to us directly because we are not a school.

11. The limits of our role

Skybound is an online tutoring service. We are not a school, and this policy does not replace the role of parents, carers or the statutory authorities.

12. Review

We review this policy at least once a year, and whenever something changes in how we work.