Safeguarding within EDClass to keep children safe online 

The EDClass platform treats safeguarding as its highest priority and we constantly update our training and procedures to adhere to the KCSIE (2023 guidance). Safeguarding our young people, teaching staff and staff is paramount as stipulated in the KSCIE (2023). We have numerous safeguarding tools in our online live classrooms and support chats, which let us know how students are daily. This also includes alert mechanisms, video/chat support, marking and various other industry-leading tools. Our safeguarding policy can be viewed here.

All staff are enhanced DBS checked which is updated regularly. Our Senior Safeguarding team are trained at DSL level and they have strong relationships with local authorities. Our teaching staff are also trained at DSL level, list 99 checked, safer recruited and it is mandatory for all EDClass staff to be trained in:

Our Senior Safeguarding Team are industry-leading experts and have passed their Designated Safeguarding Lead course, with a strict hierarchy in the processes and reporting system. They have also undertaken the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Children and Adults course alongside having strong relationships with local agencies.  

Live teaching and support within EDClass offering a safe and secure learning environment

EDClass offers a safe and secure live and recorded learning environment with engaging face-to-face teaching and well-being support. The learning application and our live classroom have been designed to help break barriers to learning with experienced UK-qualified teachers using the personalised e-learning aspects.  

Our methodology is unique! Our UK teachers (based in our offices in Dinnington, Sheffield) are recorded delivering topics and this is streamed live to our students who are placed on a seat. This series of lessons build a pathway of learning that is individualised and flexible. Students then complete the series of lessons with further interactive e-learning lessons and other resources as part of the topic and pathways. We provide access to exams, mocks, quizzes and questions alongside the live and pre-recorded lessons as part of the series of lessons (learning pathways) to assess, test and monitor their knowledge, understanding and progress. 

Our live classroom enables students to change and learn at their own pace with our UK-qualified teachers. The students can have one screen, two screens, or manipulate the view so that it assists their learning. They can personalise every aspect

We have a range of teachers, support and wellbeing workers to assist learners in all aspects when they are online learning live, on-demand or independently. Alongside the live teaching element, your students can be offered just the content with pre-recorded sessions or access: 

• live teaching sessions or on-demand sessions
• a timetabled approach where live and pre-recorded lessons are scheduled 
• drop-in sessions
• a learning schedule 
• live support 
• live interactions and engagements with our teachers as they progress through the learning resources
• teaching or tutoring on 1-1 or 1-20 / class or year group 
• ad-hoc sessions for learners to have online support when requested

We are proud that our online education and live classroom, our on-demand library of video lessons, and structured pathways allow your students to learn, progress and be educated at their optimum achievable rate. Our all-in-one collaboration platform helps deliver effective education via text-based, video, and audio communications. We have the facility for staff to deliver from school or at home at a moment's notice to ensure there is never a time when our support is not available to your students whilst remaining compliant with government guidelines. 

Alternatively, we can help work in partnership with your establishment to deliver support and online education using our teaching and support staff to provide a safe and secure online education provision. Our live classroom allows face-to-face teaching and interaction with screen sharing and video conferencing. We have a successful, tried and tested, contingency plan in place. Allow the live classroom in EDClass to be part of your online education strategy. 

How EDClass safeguards and protects your learners in line with KCSIE (2023) 

• The webcam shows the learner in 1st person
• Emergency safety alert button
• Face-to-face learning
• Meet and greet with tutors and wellbeing officers daily
• Constant engagement, monitoring, and interaction with our teaching team
• Support specific conversations with the teaching team when on pre-recorded, live or e-learning lessons 
• All the microphone chats, written communications, voice recordings and face-to-face chats in lessons and support areas are recorded and can be viewed live by the school and accessible after by request
• Attendance greeting for am and pm requirements where applicable
• Every keystroke is recorded for engagement
• The system has an active learning and location referencing mechanism that is related to artificial intelligence that tracks eyes and body movements
• All parents, staff and learners can view progress and chat logs
• Idle time is tracked and recorded alongside answers written
• All teaching chats are recorded and monitored by the DSL and can be accessed live by the school / SLT
• Each entry to new learning, forum discussion and classroom is PIN coded and encrypted by the wellbeing controller
• Every learner using EDClass is unique and special cases can activate a tailored alert and support structure within their learning timetable.
• EDClass has a tailored alert system based on each student’s inactivity on the system.

Absent students can be at risk of several dangers so they must be safeguarded even when they are not attending school. KCSIE 2023 outlines how: 

“All staff should be aware that children being absent from school or college, particularly repeatedly and/or for prolonged periods, and children missing education can act as a vital warning sign of a range of safeguarding possibilities. Early intervention is essential to identify the existence of any underlying safeguarding risk and to help prevent the risks of a child going missing in future.”

How we safeguard live teaching in line with KCSIE (2023)

Students can access the support mechanism within EDClass instantly once they are logged on to our online live portal classroom and seats. This is where teachers and assistants can be seen live teaching and supporting your students. Once in a seat, the live stream starts for safeguarding and the learner can ask for assistance anytime via face-to-face, verbal chat, instant chat, written chat and question-and-answer sessions.

The one-to-one support, live teaching and live support (chat) enable any teacher to assist in any student learning.

The live classroom within EDClass also has the facility to track off-site students learning to ensure that staff can maintain constant contact with learners who are being educated externally. Our teaching staff are available to the student at the click of a button and will help guide students through their learning. The work students complete will also be marked by EDClass teachers. All video recordings are saved and sent directly to your IT technicians to store and back up for data protection, child protection and safeguarding protocols.

EDClass can help schools and centres to instantly educate students who have difficulty attending a mainstream provision due to illness, shielding, behaviour, pastoral or access issues. We provide a safe and secure learning environment for hard-to-reach students, allowing them to achieve, whilst offering educators our online platform and safeguarding tools. This will help each student reach their full potential in a controlled and safe environment. EDClass staff can educate students on specific timetabled pathways via live video stream which is recorded to safeguard teachers, school staff and students. Learners follow a unique pathway for themselves and receive support when they require it. 

Within EDClass there is the facility to speak, support, and teach face-to-face via our live classroom and live support mechanism. 

For safeguarding purposes, all the chat, recordings, backups, alerts and aspects are still paramount to the process. All live lessons can be streamed live for teacher/student viewing and are also recorded and automatically backed up and saved to ensure safeguarding all around. These can be viewed by schools live and also request the feed. The students would be able to ask for and receive help, feedback, comments, and direction from our support members, ensuring all students can progress within EDClass. You and your organisation can see the chat live with the student and teacher. The video can work chat-wise and can be muted. The students can follow any path, timed and date stamped for their learning. The students click on this button to activate the chat and live support whilst learning which is then where the live chat/face-to-face chat occurs. Yes, this is also recorded, saved and tracked. 

Live lessons and tutoring can also occur from this point too which can be engaged by the teacher or the student. Once clicked it takes them straight into learning. The learning, idle and question time is recorded. The files are encrypted and sent to the school every evening once learning and the sessions have been completed. All videos are automatically to you via your SFTP and stored in a folder for safeguarding. Every file is saved, encrypted and sent to the school.

This facility enables us to further support students and the needs of those involved with these individuals in furthering their education. The difference between this and our normal support is that there is more supervision used for the students learning off-site.

Intervention, interaction and engagement are key

Integrating early intervention for these students is crucial. The key to supplying the right support, at the right time and the right place, is identifying the specific needs of students and ensuring they are fully safeguarded in settings they are most comfortable with. 

School refusers may still want to be educated and those who cannot attend for reasons, such as medical grounds or mental health, can benefit from EDClass’ online provision that supports successful reintegration. Online learning opens a variety of possibilities that allows them to feel safe and means they can focus primarily on developing their knowledge.

Extra safeguarding procedures in place within the EDClass system

Once implemented, EDClass and our staff can deliver high-quality education and support to impact those students whose behaviours are exploited outside of school. We have numerous safeguarding tools in our online virtual classrooms, which include students offsite letting us know how they are daily. 

Safety Questionnaires - Students will complete a safety questionnaire at the beginning of a session to confirm that they feel safe, have the correct equipment and are ready to learn. The questions can be edited and personalised to suit individual students.

Alerts - While on the system, students will have access to an alert button. If at any point there is an emergency or change in circumstances, the student can use the alert button to alert the relevant staff at your establishment via; email, text and phone call.

Chat Logs - All written, spoken and face-to-face communication between your students and our tutors are recorded is backed up for safeguarding purposes. All chat logs, videos and audio from your students and teachers using the virtual classroom are recorded and exported to your establishment.

Screen view - the screen can be viewed by the partner schools and access the streams at any time live.

Safeguarding concerns around poor attendance - Our safeguarding team and account managers will contact schools immediately for any safeguarding or attendance issues.

Tracking everything - Every comment, engagement and communication by your pupils and our staff within the live lessons, recorded sessions and support areas of EDClass are recorded. All of this can be viewed live by the school and are accessible after request. These are reviewed by the Designated Safeguarding Lead officer daily and any issue is reported to the school immediately.

Reports - For progress, attendance and learning can be viewed instantly and can be exported. Inspection reports are automatically downloaded. 

Working in partnership to address key government guidance and legislation

EDClass staff enables a partnership to be created so that we can educate students on specific timetabled pathways. Our unique safeguarding tools have been developed with these students in mind to give educators the best opportunity to deliver lessons to off-site students whilst monitoring their behaviour and safety.

We record everything. We save our face-to-face, text and verbal communications directly to your server for child protection and safeguarding. The progress of answers, questions and knowledge are instantly tracked in our live activity tracker. Meanwhile, a manager in charge of EDClass in schools in Multi-Academy Trusts can have eyes on learning to see every learner under the control of the manager, school or MAT account and can view all:

• the teachers' interactions
• sessions delivered 
• pre-recorded and e-learning lessons
• the live and written support chat logs
• teaching and learning discussions
• attendance logs
• safeguarding alerts and issues
• every action performed by EDClass staff and pupils
• the live classroom sessions
• any other thing taking place whilst the webcam is recording (for safeguarding purposes!)

Our safeguarding team

Our senior safeguarding team is made up of industry-leading experts who have passed their Designated Safeguarding Lead course, with a strict hierarchy in the processes and reporting system. They have also undertaken the Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults course. Students can access the support mechanism within EDClass instantly once they are logged on to our online virtual portal classroom and seats. This is where teachers and assistants can be seen live teaching and supporting your learners.