Safeguarding Policy

Kidslingo Safeguarding Policy and Procedures 

Kidslingo Ltd is fully committed to safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people. It recognises its responsibility to take all reasonable steps to promote safe practice and to protect children from harm, abuse and exploitation.

Kidslingo Ltd and its franchisees and tutors acknowledge the duty to act appropriately to any allegations, reports or suspicions of abuse. Paid staff, franchisees, tutors and volunteers will endeavour to work together to encourage the development of an ethos which embraces difference and diversity and respects the rights of children, young people and adults. 

Kidslingo Ltd and its franchisees believe that a child or young person should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe. We are committed to practice in a way that protects them.  

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of law and guidance that seeks to protect children, namely: 

• Children Act
• Children and Social Work Act
• United Convention of the Rights of the Child
• Data Protection Act
• Sexual Offences Act
• Protection of Freedoms Act
• Keeping children safe in education
• Prevent Duty Guidance
• Relevant government guidance on safeguarding children     

In implementing this child protection policy Kidslingo Ltd and its franchisees will:

• Ensure that all workers and self-employed tutors understand their legal and moral responsibility to protect children and young people from harm, abuse and exploitation;
• Ensure that all workers and self-employed tutors understand their responsibility to work to the standards that are detailed in the organisation’s Child Protection Procedures and work at all times towards maintaining high standards of practice;
• Ensure that all workers and self-employed tutors understand their duty to report concerns that arise about a child or young person, or a worker’s conduct towards a child/young person, to the organisation’s named person for child protection;
• Ensure that the named person understands his/her responsibility to refer any child protection concerns to the statutory child protection agencies (i.e. Police and/or Social Work);
• Ensure that any procedures relating to the conduct of workers and self-employed tutors are implemented in a consistent and equitable manner;
• Provide opportunities for all workers and self-employed tutors to develop their skills and knowledge particularly in relation to the welfare and protection of children and young people;
• Ensure that children and young people are enabled to express their ideas and views on a wide range of issues and will have access to the organisation’s Complaints Procedure;
• Ensure that parents/carers are encouraged to be involved in the work of the organisation and, when requested, have access to all guidelines and procedures;
• Endeavour to keep up-to-date with national developments relating to the welfare and protection of children and young people.  

Child Protection Procedures 

Section 1 – Introduction: 

These procedures have been designed to ensure the welfare and protection of any child and/or young person who accesses the language tuition and associated services provided by all individuals and companies operating a Kidslingo franchise granted by Kidslingo Ltd.

Kidslingo Ltd is committed to the belief that protecting children and young people is everybody’s responsibility and therefore the aim here is to provide guidelines that will enable all workers and volunteers to act appropriately to any concerns that arise in respect of a child/young person. 

Kidslingo Ltd is committed to the fair treatment of its staff, potential staff, licensees or users of its services, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, responsibilities for dependants, age, physical/mental disability or offending background. 

Section 2 – Recruitment:

These procedures apply to staff, franchisees and tutors and self-employed tutors operating under licence to Kidslingo Ltd. The following pre-employment checks must be carried out before an applicant takes up a position (employed or self-employed).

• Proof of Identity
• Evidence of the right to work in the UK
• Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service / Disclosure Scotland
• Evidence of relevant qualifications
• Life status
• 2 x references from current and/or most recent employment, work experience referee, or professional colleague.
• Where the person has worked or lived overseas for 3 months or more in the past 5 years there is a need to complete an overseas conviction assessment. It is their responsibility to obtain this via the respective body in the relevant country.
• In cases where the DBS / PVG disclosure contains prosecutions, cautions or similar information it is the responsibility of Kidslingo Head Office to carry out a risk assessment to determine whether the person is suitable to work with children.
• Self-declaration form.

A self-disclosure form gives candidates the opportunity to tell us confidentially about any unspent criminal convictions, child protection investigations or disciplinary procedures they have on their record. We also ask applicants to disclose any unprotected spent convictions and cautions.

Any offer made to the applicant must be subject to the completion of satisfactory checks.

Section 3 – Recognising the Signs and Symptoms of Abuse:

Appendix 1 provides definitions of abuse under the umbrella headings of Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Sexual Abuse and Neglect. All staff and franchisees need to familiarise themselves with these definitions. 

Concerns about a child or young person’s safety can come to light in many different ways.

Some examples are given below:

• a child or young person alleges that abuse has taken place or that they feel unsafe;
• a third party or anonymous allegation is received;
• a child or young person’s appearance, behaviour, play, drawing or statements cause suspicion of abuse and/or neglect;
• a child or young person reports an incident(s) of alleged abuse which occurred some time ago;
• a report is made regarding the serious misconduct of a worker towards a child or young person. 

Kidslingo Ltd will ensure that all of its franchisees complete Level 2 child protection training provided by the Flick e-learning platform.

Section 4 – A Named Person(s) for Child Protection:

Kidslingo Ltd has an appointed individual who is responsible for dealing with any child protection concerns. The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) within Kidslingo Ltd is:

Mrs Anna Neville telephone number: info@kidslingo.co.uk
Training:  NSPCC Introduction to child protection training (England and Wales), Child Protection Training HighClare School and Designated Safeguarding Lead Training (Level 3).

The role and responsibilities of the named person(s) are: 

• To ensure that all staff, franchisees and self-employed tutors are aware of what they should do and who they should go to if they are concerned that a child/young person may be subject to abuse or neglect.
• Ensure that any concerns about a child/young person are acted on, clearly recorded, referred on where necessary and, followed up to ensure the issues are addressed.
• The Named Person(s) will record any reported incidents in relation to a child/young person or breach of Child Protection policies and procedures. This will be kept in a secure place and its contents will be confidential. 

However, if any concerns are raised about children in an educational or childcare setting they should firstly be directed towards the Child Protection Officer in that setting.

Section 5 – Stages to Follow if you are Worried about a Child:

Kidslingo Ltd and its franchisees and tutors recognise that it has a duty to act on reports or suspicions of abuse. It also acknowledges that taking action in cases of child abuse is never easy and that the safety of the child should override any doubts or hesitations. When worrying changes are observed in a child’s or young person’s behaviour, physical condition or appearance staff will: 

Stage 1

• Listen carefully to what the young person has to say and take it seriously;
• Never investigate or take sole responsibility for a situation where a child/young person makes a disclosure;
• Always explain to children and young people that any information they have given will have to be shared with others.
• Notify the organisation’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) in the setting and the DSL at Kidslingo Ltd.
• Record what was said as soon as possible after any disclosure; the person who receives the allegation or has the concern should complete the pro-forma (see appendix 3) and ensure it is signed and dated.
• Respect confidentiality and file documents securely. 

Stage 2

The DSL(s) at the setting will take immediate action if there is a suspicion that a child has been abused or likely to be abused. In this situation the DSL at the setting will contact the police and/or the relevant local authority children’s department. 

The DSL can also seek advice and clarity about a situation that is beginning to raise concern through the NSPCC 24-hour National Child Protection Helpline on 0808 800 5000.

Specific advice about issues concerning South Asian children can be sought on the NSPCC National Child Protection Asian Helpline on 0800 096 7719. 

In the absence of a DSL at the setting, the DSL at Kidslingo will action the above.

Section 6 – Managing Allegations made against a member of Staff, Franchisee or Volunteer:

Kidslingo Ltd will ensure that any allegations made against a member of staff, a franchisee or a tutor will be dealt with swiftly and in accordance with these procedures:

• The DSL should be informed immediately. In the case of an allegation involving the DSL alternative arrangements should be sought to ensure that the matter is dealt with by an independent person. (Note: this could be a director or anyone within the organisation that is in a senior position within the organisation and believed to be independent of the allegations being made).
• The DSL should contact the local authority designated officer (Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) – who is based at the Child Protection Unit) for advice on how to proceed with the immediate situation. Outside of working hours the Emergency Duty Team can give advice and/or in the event of an emergency situation arising, the police.
• The individual who first received/witnessed the concern should make a full written record of what was seen, heard and/or told as soon as possible after observing the incident/receiving the report. It is important that the report is an accurate description. The DSL (if appropriate) can support the worker during this process but must not complete the report for the worker. This report must be made available on request from either the police and/or social services.
• Regardless of whether a police and/or social services investigation follows, Kidslingo Ltd will ensure that an internal investigation takes place and consideration is given to the operation of disciplinary procedures. This may involve an immediate suspension and/or ultimate dismissal / termination of Licence/franchise agreement dependent on the nature of the incident.       

Section 7 – Recording and managing confidential information:

• A pro-forma for recording concerns/allegations of abuse, harm and neglect is provided at Appendix 3. The person who receives the allegation or has the concern should complete the pro-forma.
• Kidslingo Ltd and its franchisees and tutors are committed to managing confidential information safely. Information relevant to a child protection case will be stored securely either in electronic or hard copy format and will only be shared with the relevant agencies involved in the child protection case. 
• Kidslingo Ltd supports the rights of children and young people to confidentiality unless it considers they could be at risk of abuse and/or harm. 

Section 8 – Disseminating/Reviewing Policies and Procedures:

This policy and procedure are made available to staff, franchisees, tutors via the Kidslingo Ltd Cloud Storage System. It is available to parents and carers upon request.

The policy and procedure will be reviewed on an annual basis taking into account legislation changes and feedback from staff, licensees, parents and carers. 

Kidslingo Ltd management will be responsible for the review of this policy and procedure.  

Appendix 1 

PHYSICAL ABUSE: is defined as deliberately hurting a child and causing physical harm (Department of Health, 2017; Department for Education, 2023; Scottish Government, 2023; Wales Safeguarding Procedures Project Board, 2020). It includes injuries such as:

• bruises
• broken bones
• burns
• cuts

It may involve:

• hitting
• kicking
• shaking
• throwing
• poisoning
• burning
• scalding
• drowning
• any other method of causing non-accidental harm to a child.

Physical abuse may also happen when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child. (Department for Education, 2023; Department of Health Social Services and Public Safety, 2017; Scottish Government, 2023; Wales Safeguarding Procedures Project Board, 2020).

Breast ironing or breast flattening, a practice of using hard or heated objects to suppress or reverse the growth of breasts, is a recognised form of child abuse (Crown Prosecution Service, 2019).

Emotional abuse: is the ongoing emotional maltreatment of a child, which can have a severe and persistent negative effect on the child’s emotional health and development (Department for Education (DfE), 20231; Department of Health, 20172; Scottish Government, 20233; Wales Safeguarding Procedures Project Board, 20204). It’s also known as psychological abuse.

Exposing a child to aggression, cruelty or abuse between others is also a form of emotional abuse (Doyle and Timms, 2014). Most forms of abuse include an emotional element, but emotional abuse can also happen on its own.

Children can be emotionally abused by anyone:

• parents or carers
• family members
• other adults
• other children.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is when a child is forced or persuaded to take part in sexual activities. This may involve physical contact or non-contact activities and can happen online or offline (Department for Education, 2023; Department of Health 2017; Scottish Government, 2023; Wales Safeguarding Procedures Project Board, 2020). Children and young people may not always understand that they are being sexually abused.

Contact abuse involves activities where an abuser makes physical contact with a child. It includes:

• sexual touching of any part of the body, whether the child is wearing clothes or not
• forcing or encouraging a child to take part in sexual activity
• making a child take their clothes off or touch someone else’s genitals
• rape or penetration by putting an object or body part inside a child’s mouth, vagina or anus.

Non-contact abuse involves activities where there is no physical contact. It includes:

• flashing at a child
• encouraging or forcing a child to watch or hear sexual acts
• not taking proper measures to prevent a child being exposed to sexual activities by others
• making a child masturbate while others watch
• persuading a child to make, view or distribute child abuse images (such as performing sexual acts over the internet, sexting or showing pornography to a child)
• making, viewing or distributing child abuse images
• allowing someone else to make, view or distribute child abuse images
• meeting a child following grooming with the intent of abusing them (even if abuse did not take place)
• sexually exploiting a child for money, power or status (child sexual exploitation).

Peer-on-peer sexual abuse;
Harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) is developmentally inappropriate sexual behaviour displayed by children and young people which is harmful or abusive (Hackett, S. (2014) Children and young people with harmful sexual behaviours. London: Research in Practice).

Peer-on-peer sexual abuse is a form of HSB where sexual abuse takes place between children of a similar age or stage of development. Child-on-child sexual abuse is a form of HSB that takes place between children of any age or stage of development.

Problematic sexual behaviour (PSB) is developmentally inappropriate or socially unexpected sexualised behaviour which doesn’t have an overt element of victimisation or abuse.

Neglect is not meeting a child’s basic physical and psychological needs (Department for Education, 2023; Department of Health, 2017; Scottish Government, 2023; Wales Safeguarding Procedures Project Board, 2020).

It is a form of child abuse that can have serious and long-lasting impacts on a child’s life – it can cause serious harm and even death.

The four main types of neglect are:

• physical neglect: not meeting a child’s basic needs, such as food, clothing or shelter; not supervising a child adequately or providing for their safety
• educational neglect: not making sure a child receives an education
• emotional neglect: not meeting a child’s needs for nurture and stimulation, for example by ignoring, humiliating, intimidating or isolating them
• medical neglect: not providing appropriate health care (including dental care), refusing care or ignoring medical recommendations (Horwath, 2007).

Neglect can happen at any age, sometimes even before a child is born. If a mother has mental health problems or misuses substances during pregnancy, for example, she may neglect her own health and this can damage a baby’s development in the womb (Haynes et al, 2015). 

Appendix 2 

Useful Contacts/Support Organisations 

If you have concern that a child is being harmed as a result of abuse or neglect, you must not keep these concerns to yourself. Keeping children safe is everyone’s responsibility. You need to ensure that you speak to the appropriate organisations who can listen to and record your concern, and then take appropriate action.

If you have reason to believe that a child is at immediate risk of harm, contact the police on 999. 

NSPCC Child Protection Helpline – The NSPCC Child Protection Helpline is a free 24hour service that provides counselling, information and advice to anyone concerned about a child at risk of abuse. Telephone: 0808 800 5000 – Email: help@nspcc.org.uk 

The NSPCC Asian Child Protection Helpline (0800 096 7719) is a free, multilingual service for the UK’s Asian communities providing counselling, information and advice to ANYONE who is concerned about the welfare of a child, including:

• Parents, carers or relatives who need advice
• Children or young people in need of help and advice
• Education, health and social welfare professionals seeking culturally sensitive advice and information.  

Policy last updated January 2024 by Anna Neville, DSL. To be reviewed January 2025.