Safeguarding Policy
The purpose and scope of this policy
The purpose of this policy statement is:
to protect children and young people who receive Atom Learning’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 Atom Learning, including senior managers, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, 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 the United Kingdom. A summary of the key legislation is available from nspcc.org.uk/learning.
Policy
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
all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, 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
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:
On the Atom Learning Platform:
having a safe and confidential method for children to report problems which is constantly monitored via our Q&A box in lessons and Problem Reports on the Atom Learning platform
making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern
ensuring that any concerns are escalated to the appropriate authorities
valuing, listening to and respecting children
appointing a nominated child protection lead for children and young people, a deputy and a lead trustee/board member for safeguarding
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 staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently
recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance
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 staff and volunteers 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
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
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
requiring all student accounts to be linked to a supervisor account. Students using Atom Prime will only be able to access Atom outside of school hours (registered as 8:30am-4pm on the platform) with a fully activated Parent Portal.
During our online group lessons:
constant supervision during online lessons by a member of the Atom team (the ‘Co-Trainer’) as well as the teacher leading the session
preventing the sharing with attending children of any private details beyond the first name of any Atom employee or associate
always gaining parental consent if a child’s camera will be on for interactivity purposes during an online lesson
collecting physical addresses of all live lesson attendees
preventing the interaction between children in an unsupervised environment
monitoring all interactions through the teacher and co-trainer
recording all interactive lessons for safeguarding purposes, before permanently deleting any recordings within two weeks
children are expected to maintain classroom level behaviour during online lessons and we recommend supervision by parents to ensure behaviour
Conducting DBS checks of all teachers and Co-Trainers who participate in live lessons
During our 1:1 tutoring sessions:
providing guidance and assistance to all our tutors involved in 1:1 sessions with children on safeguarding best practice
having a reporting system in place for our tutors to raise any concerns
providing this document and other resources to parents
children are expected to maintain classroom level behaviour during tutoring sessions and we recommend supervision by parents to ensure behaviour
conducting DBS checks of all tutors hired to represent Atom Learning
Before our 1:1 tutoring sessions:
ask parents to provide client managers with two contact telephone numbers, child’s DOB, child’s school, current address and an emergency contact number
Staff safeguarding
We take the safeguarding of our staff incredibly seriously. Any kind of harassment, abuse, bullying or discrimination directed towards a member of the Atom team is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Reports of any and all instances of harassment will be investigated and may result in the termination of the tuition contract.
Contact details
Nominated child protection lead
Name: Gemma Ackerley
Email: [email protected]
Deputy child protection lead
Name: Emily Carmichael
Email: [email protected]
Deputy child protection lead
Name: Juliette Ryan
Email: [email protected]
Senior Trustee for safeguarding and child protection
Name: Tim Osborne
Email: [email protected]
NSPCC Helpline 0808 800 5000
This policy statement came into force on 07/09/2020. We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually. This policy statement and accompanying procedures were last reviewed on 03/10/2023.