Prevent
Set clear boundaries, safer working practices and approved communication arrangements.
LANGLEAR
SAFE ONLINE LEARNING
SAFEGUARDING
& CHILD
PROTECTION
Policy and reporting procedure for Langlear's online tutoring service
01
Our safeguarding commitment
Langlear is operated by Langlear LLC, a limited liability company registered in New Mexico, United States. Langlear is committed to providing online language and academic lessons in which children and adults are treated with dignity, listened to and protected from avoidable harm. The welfare and best interests of a child are a primary consideration in every safeguarding decision.
This policy applies to Langlear, Tutors within the Langlear tutor network, tutor applicants, Students, Parents/Guardians, contractors and anyone acting on Langlear's behalf. A child means any person under 18.
Recognise
Remain alert to signs, disclosures, online risks and patterns that may indicate harm.
Respond
Act promptly, record accurately and refer concerns to an appropriate person or authority.
Support
Treat the child fairly, avoid blame and take proportionate protective action.
Safeguarding roles
| Safeguarding Lead | Langlear Safeguarding Lead. Responsible for receiving concerns, deciding immediate protective measures, maintaining secure records, making or supporting referrals and reviewing this policy. |
|---|---|
| Tutors | Must follow this policy, maintain professional boundaries, complete required safeguarding learning and report concerns immediately. Tutors must not investigate concerns themselves. |
| Parents/Guardians | Provide accurate information, remain appropriately involved in a young learner's arrangements and report concerns promptly. |
| Langlear | Maintains reporting routes, applies proportionate safeguards, supports fair handling of allegations and cooperates with competent authorities. |
02
What safeguarding covers
Safeguarding is broader than responding to confirmed abuse. It includes preventing harm, promoting welfare, identifying concerns early, maintaining safe professional practice and taking action when a child may need protection or support.
Physical abuse
Deliberate physical harm, inappropriate restraint, poisoning or fabricating or inducing illness.
Emotional abuse
Persistent humiliation, threats, rejection, coercive control, exposure to frightening conduct or serious bullying.
Sexual abuse
Contact or non-contact sexual activity, sexualised communication, grooming, exploitation, exposure to sexual content or requests for images.
Neglect
Persistent failure to meet basic physical, emotional, educational or medical needs where this is likely to cause harm.
Online harm
Cyberbullying, grooming, coercion, image-based abuse, harmful content, impersonation, doxxing or unsafe private contact.
Exploitation
Sexual or criminal exploitation, trafficking, forced labour, financial exploitation or pressure to benefit another person.
Discrimination and identity-based harm
Racist, religious, sexist, disability-based or other discriminatory abuse, including targeted harassment.
Other serious risks
Domestic abuse, self-harm, suicidal risk, forced marriage, honour-based abuse, radicalisation, missing episodes or unsafe caregiving.
Possible indicators
Indicators may include unexplained injuries, marked changes in behaviour, fear of a particular person, sexualised behaviour inconsistent with age, repeated hunger or poor care, concerning comments, sudden withdrawal, unsafe online contact or a direct disclosure. An indicator is not proof, and absence of visible signs does not mean that harm is absent.
03
Reducing risk before lessons begin
Langlear uses proportionate checks and assessment when considering Tutors. No recruitment process can eliminate all risk, and no check should be described as completed unless Langlear has received and verified suitable evidence.
Expected recruitment controls
Identity
Verify the applicant's identity and contact information using appropriate documents and live or recorded interaction.
Experience and suitability
Review teaching experience, qualifications where relevant, subjects or languages offered, intended age groups, motivations and professional boundaries.
Introductory video and assessment
Assess communication, professionalism, interaction, teaching approach and response to safeguarding scenarios.
References and background checks
Obtain references and criminal-record or barred-list checks where legally available, appropriate to the role and reasonably practicable. Record the type, date, country and limitations.
Agreement and guidance
Require acceptance of the Tutor Agreement, Tutor Handbook, this policy, approved communication rules and reporting duties.
Ongoing suitability
Review concerns, complaints, conduct and significant changes. Langlear may pause opportunities while suitability is assessed.
Matching and information sharing
Before a Tutor accepts an opportunity, Langlear should share only the Student information needed to assess the match. More detailed information should be provided only after acceptance and only where relevant to teaching, reasonable adjustments, safety or safeguarding.
Parents and consent
A Parent/Guardian must authorise arrangements for a Student under 18 and provide accurate age and relevant welfare information. Langlear may require additional adult involvement or decline an arrangement if safe delivery cannot be established.
04
Safe one-to-one online teaching
All lessons must remain professional, observable through appropriate records and connected to the approved Langlear teaching relationship.
Approved platform
Use the Official Google Meet Link established or approved for that Tutor-Student teaching relationship unless Langlear authorises an alternative.
Appropriate setting
Tutor and Student should use a suitable, quiet area. The visible background, clothing, language and conduct must be appropriate for education.
Parent/Guardian awareness
The Parent/Guardian should know when lessons occur and how to contact Langlear. Langlear may require them to be present or readily available where risk or age makes this appropriate.
Camera use
Camera use may support interaction and safety but must be proportionate to the Student's circumstances. A camera must never be used to pressure a child to reveal private spaces or information.
No recording by default
Lessons must not be recorded, photographed or screenshotted unless Langlear and all relevant participants authorise this in advance and applicable consent and privacy requirements are satisfied.
Lesson content
Materials and conversation must be age-appropriate, educational and consistent with professional boundaries. A Tutor should redirect unsuitable topics and notify Langlear where necessary.
Unexpected events during a lesson
- If an unknown person joins, remove or block access where possible and notify the group.
- If inappropriate content appears, stop screen sharing or the lesson, preserve only necessary evidence and report it.
- If a Student appears distressed or unsafe, respond calmly, seek appropriate adult or emergency help and report promptly.
- If privacy cannot be maintained, pause and rearrange the lesson rather than continuing unsafely.
05
Professional boundaries
All tutoring-related communication with a Student or Parent/Guardian introduced through Langlear must take place within the Langlear WhatsApp Group or another channel expressly approved by Langlear.
| Required | Prohibited |
|---|---|
| Keep scheduling, homework, lesson questions, cancellations and technical arrangements in the group. | Private tutoring-related messages, disappearing messages or secret communication with a child. |
| Use respectful, clear and age-appropriate language. | Sexualised, romantic, threatening, humiliating, discriminatory or manipulative language. |
| Maintain an educational relationship and redirect inappropriate conversation. | Seeking emotional dependence, treating a child as a confidant or encouraging secrecy from a Parent/Guardian or Langlear. |
| Use only authorised lesson links and professional accounts where provided. | Adding a child on personal social media, sharing personal accounts or moving contact off-platform. |
| Share materials necessary for learning through approved channels. | Requesting or sharing intimate images, unnecessary personal photographs, home addresses or live location. |
| Let Langlear handle payment administration. | Direct payments, gifts of significant value, private tuition offers or financial dependence. |
Physical contact and in-person meetings
Langlear's ordinary service is online. A Tutor must not arrange to meet a child in person through the Langlear relationship unless Langlear and the Parent/Guardian have expressly approved a separately risk-assessed arrangement. A Tutor must never visit a child's home or invite a child to a private location without that approval.
Gifts and personal relationships
Small educational acknowledgements may be acceptable where transparent and approved. Tutors must not exchange secret gifts, money, intimate communications or favours, or develop a romantic, sexual, exploitative or otherwise inappropriate relationship with a Student.
06
What to do when something worries you
Make the situation safe
If danger is immediate, contact the emergency services or child-protection authority where the child is located. Do not delay emergency action while trying to reach Langlear.
Listen and reassure
Stay calm. Take the child seriously. Explain that they did the right thing by speaking. Do not promise secrecy; explain that information may need to be shared to help keep them safe.
Do not investigate
Do not confront the alleged person, conduct an interview, ask leading questions or attempt to decide whether the account is true.
Record promptly
Write the date, time, context, people present, the child's own words where possible, observable facts and actions already taken. Separate fact from opinion.
Report immediately
Contact the Langlear Safeguarding Lead as soon as possible and on the same day. Mark the message “URGENT SAFEGUARDING CONCERN”. Do not rely solely on posting sensitive details in a group.
Preserve and protect
Do not delete relevant messages. Preserve necessary evidence securely, avoid forwarding it unnecessarily and follow instructions from the Safeguarding Lead or competent authority.
Minimum report information
- Child's name and location, if known
- Date, time and how the concern arose
- Exact words or observable facts
- People involved or present
- Immediate safety action already taken
- Reporter's name and contact details
07
Concerns about a Tutor or adult
An allegation may indicate that an adult who works with children has harmed or may have harmed a child, may have committed an offence involving a child, may pose a risk of harm, or may be unsuitable to work with children. An allegation is different from an ordinary service complaint or a concern about teaching quality, although the same information may raise more than one issue.
Langlear's immediate response
- Protect the child and consider whether emergency or public-authority action is needed.
- Record the allegation accurately and restrict information to those who need it.
- Avoid alerting or questioning the subject in a way that could compromise evidence or safety.
- Consider temporarily pausing lessons, communication or new opportunities while the matter is assessed.
- Seek advice or make a referral to the authority responsible where the child or alleged conduct is located.
- Provide a fair opportunity for the subject to respond when and to the extent that doing so is safe and does not conflict with authority instructions.
- Document decisions, reasons, referrals, outcomes and any continuing safeguards.
Neutral temporary measures
Pausing lessons, removing access or changing a Tutor may be necessary to protect those involved and preserve a fair process. These measures do not by themselves mean that an allegation has been proven.
Concern involving the Safeguarding Lead
If a concern relates to the Langlear Safeguarding Lead or there is a genuine conflict of interest, do not report it only through Langlear. Contact the police, emergency service, child-protection service, education regulator or safeguarding authority responsible for the child's location. A Parent/Guardian may also seek independent legal or safeguarding advice.
Malicious or mistaken information
A concern that is unsubstantiated is not automatically malicious. Langlear will not penalise a person for raising a genuine concern in good faith. Knowingly false or deliberately harmful allegations may be addressed separately after safeguarding risks have been assessed.
08
Reporting beyond Langlear
Because Langlear operates internationally, the correct public authority depends on where the child is physically located, where the alleged person is located and where the conduct occurred. Langlear will not use a single country's procedure as a substitute for checking the relevant local route.
Immediate danger or crime in progress
Contact the local emergency service or police immediately. Give the child's location and the clearest available facts.
Suspected abuse or significant risk
Contact the relevant child-protection or social-care authority and follow its referral instructions. Police involvement may also be appropriate.
Allegation about a person working with children
Use the local route for allegations against adults in positions of trust. In England this commonly includes the Local Authority Designated Officer process.
Online sexual abuse or harmful content
Preserve necessary evidence, report through the platform where safe, and contact the appropriate police or specialist reporting service.
Information sharing
Privacy law does not prevent necessary and proportionate safeguarding action. Langlear should identify the purpose and lawful basis, share only relevant information, use a secure method, record what was shared and why, and correct material inaccuracies. Consent may be appropriate in some cases but is not always required, particularly where seeking it would increase risk or obstruct protection.
Parents/Guardians
Langlear will normally involve the Parent/Guardian unless doing so may place the child or another person at greater risk, prejudice an investigation, conflict with authority instructions or be otherwise inappropriate. The child's views should be heard and considered according to age and understanding.
Confidentiality
Safeguarding information is shared on a need-to-know basis. Tutors, Students and Parents/Guardians must not post allegations publicly, conduct their own investigation or circulate sensitive information beyond those responsible for protection and fair handling.
09
Records, learning and policy review
Safeguarding records
Records must be factual, dated, attributable, securely stored and separated from ordinary lesson notes where practicable. Access is limited to people with a safeguarding or legal need. Retention depends on the child's age, seriousness, continuing risk, authority guidance and applicable law; safeguarding records must not be destroyed merely because the teaching relationship ends.
Training and supervision
The Safeguarding Lead will maintain role-appropriate safeguarding knowledge and training and refresh it regularly. Tutors working with children must receive induction on recognising concerns, responding to disclosures, online safety, professional boundaries, reporting routes and information handling. Completion dates and refresher needs must be recorded.
Monitoring and review
Langlear will review this policy at least annually and sooner after a serious incident, material service change, identified weakness or relevant legal development. Reviews should consider patterns in concerns, response times, training, platform risks and whether children and Parents/Guardians can report concerns easily.
Implementation and ongoing controls
- The Safeguarding Lead will maintain appropriate training and refresh safeguarding knowledge regularly.
- Langlear will maintain a confidential safeguarding report process, incident register and secure storage location.
- Langlear will maintain referral information for emergency, child-protection and allegations-management services in active Student and Tutor markets.
- Langlear will record the recruitment checks actually completed for each Tutor and will not describe an unchecked Tutor as “background checked”.
- Concerns involving the Safeguarding Lead must use the independent public-authority route described in this policy.
- This policy will be kept consistent with the Tutor Agreement, Tutor Handbook, Welcome Pack, Student Terms and Privacy Notice.
- Tutors must receive this policy and provide recorded acknowledgement before teaching children.
- Students and Parents/Guardians will be given a clear and accessible route for reporting concerns.
- Langlear will review local safeguarding and reporting requirements when actively operating in a new country.
Approved byLanglear Management
Effective date16 August 2026
Next review16 August 2027