Safeguarding Policy

ExtraClasses is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all learners, especially children and young people under 18. We apply strict safeguarding controls at every stage of the platform — from tutor verification and messaging to lesson delivery and post-lesson reporting.

• Parent/guardian account required. Students under 18 must be linked to an approved parent or guardian account before they can book a lesson, message a tutor, or make any payment.
• Message approval. Messages from under-18 students to tutors are first sent to the linked parent for review. Tutors do not receive the message until the parent approves it.
• Booking approval. Any lesson booking request from an under-18 student is held pending parent approval before payment can proceed.
• Payment control. Only parents or guardians can complete payment for under-18 learners.

• Identity check. Every tutor must verify their identity before teaching on the platform.
• Qualifications review. Tutors submit qualification documents which are reviewed by our team before being shown publicly on their profile.
• DBS / background checks. Tutors who teach learners under 18, or who offer in-person lessons, must provide a valid enhanced DBS certificate or equivalent. Teaching these lesson types is automatically blocked if this requirement is not met.
• Right to work. Where required, tutors must provide evidence of their right to work in the UK.
• Approval required. No tutor goes live on the platform without explicit admin approval of all required documentation.

• On-platform only. All communication between students and tutors must take place through the ExtraClasses messaging system. Sharing phone numbers, personal email addresses, social media handles, home addresses, external meeting links, or any other off-platform contact details is prohibited.
• Automatic detection. Our system scans every message for potential off-platform contact attempts. Detected content is blocked or held for review.
• Parent supervision. For under-18 learners, parents can see the full message thread and must approve outgoing messages before delivery.
• Flagging & reporting. Any user can flag a conversation for our safeguarding team. Flagged conversations are reviewed within 24 hours on business days.

• Online lesson links are only generated for confirmed, paid bookings. Links cannot be shared externally.
• For under-18 learners, the parent may be granted observer access to the online classroom.
• Tutors must not use external video tools (e.g. personal Zoom accounts) in place of the platform classroom.

If you have a safeguarding concern — about a tutor, a student, or any content on the platform — please contact us immediately:

• Email: safeguarding@extraclasses.co.uk
• In-platform: Use the “Report” button in any conversation or booking to raise a concern directly with our team.

We take all concerns seriously. Safeguarding reports are escalated to a designated safeguarding officer and are treated confidentially.

All safeguarding-related decisions — including message approvals, tutor suspensions, and booking overrides — are recorded in an immutable audit log with the acting user, timestamp, and outcome. This log can be reviewed by authorised administrators and disclosed to relevant authorities if required.

Safeguarding records, including flagged messages and case notes, are retained for a minimum period as required by applicable law. Financial and lesson records are retained according to our Privacy Policy.