Staying safe in your lessons

This page explains how we keep students safe in lessons. It sits alongside our Safeguarding Policy and our tutoring agreement (Families and Service Terms, section 5).

Lessons are online

All our lessons take place in NSEMM's online classroom. Every tutor has a DBS check at the level their role needs, and safeguarding training, before they teach.

A parent or carer nearby

If a student is under 18, they should be in a shared part of the home, with a parent or carer aware. Bedrooms are best avoided.

Cameras

• In one-to-one lessons, the tutor and the student keep their cameras on.
• In group lessons, students keep their cameras off and the tutor's stays on.
• Tutors join from a quiet, professional place where no other adults can be seen.

Every lesson is recorded

We record every online lesson to keep students and tutors safe, and to check the quality of teaching. We only teach recorded lessons.

• The lesson's own tutor, the student and their parent or carer can watch it. The student and parent can watch it for 7 days after the lesson.
• Our admin, leadership and safeguarding staff can watch recordings for safeguarding, training and lesson audits.
• Every time a recording is opened, it is logged.
• Each recording is deleted 90 days after the lesson. If a recording is linked to a safeguarding concern, we keep it as part of the safeguarding record.
• Please don't record, screenshot or share lessons yourself.

Our Privacy Notice explains more.

Lessons are mainly in English

Lessons are taught mainly in English, so our safeguarding team can understand and check every recorded lesson. A tutor may use a word in your home language if it helps, and an interpreter can join if we agree it first.

Keep contact on our system

• All contact with a tutor goes through the lesson room and our messages.
• Tutors never give out a personal phone number, email address or social media account, and they must not ask for yours.
• If a tutor contacts you or your child outside our system, don't reply. Keep the message and report it to us.

Online safety

• Our systems are set up to block harmful content during lessons.
• We can't control the filters on your home internet, so please set up parental controls on the devices your child uses.
• If anything harmful or illegal appears in a lesson, the tutor stops the lesson and reports it.
• Bullying through our systems is treated as a safeguarding concern.

If something worries you

• If a child is in immediate danger, call 999 first. Then tell us.
• Otherwise, report a concern on our form. You don't need an account, you can report without giving your name, and you get a reference number.
• If your worry is about our safeguarding lead or their deputy, tell the LADO first (Nottingham City Council, 0115 876 5166). Then email [email protected] to say only that you have a concern and that the LADO has it. The whole board sees that inbox, and our Lead Trustee for Safeguarding deals with it.

The National Society for Education, Mentoring and Media is a registered charity (number 1209673).