How Fennby actually protects children, and how to report a concern.

Governed against recognised UK frameworks

Our safeguarding approach is built with direct reference to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE), Working Together to Safeguard Children, and the UK GDPR / ICO Children's Code (Age Appropriate Design Code). We don't treat these as boxes to tick once — our safeguarding policy is reviewed at minimum annually, and immediately after any incident or relevant regulatory change.

Schools and local authorities carrying out due diligence are welcome to request our full policy documents directly.

A named Designated Safeguarding Lead

Fennby names a Designated Safeguarding Lead and at least one Deputy DSL before any tutor is matched with a child. The DSL is responsible for safeguarding policy, incident response, liaison with local authority Children's Services and the police where relevant, and an annual review of every safeguarding process we operate. Contact details for the DSL are visible from every chat interface and every logged-in screen on the platform — never buried in a settings menu.

How we vet every tutor, plainly explained

1. Identity verification against government-issued ID
2. Enhanced DBS check, including a barred-list check for anyone working with children
3. Reference checks covering prior work with children where applicable
4. A signed agreement covering safeguarding responsibilities, confidentiality, IP, and conduct standards
5. Completion of Fennby's safeguarding and platform-conduct training module (8 modules, tracked to completion)
6. Ongoing DBS re-verification on a scheduled basis — an expired or overdue check automatically suspends new assignments

No tutor can be assigned a child until every one of these steps is complete — this is enforced as a database constraint, not just a process a human might forget to follow. A tutor whose status changes to "suspended" has every upcoming session automatically cancelled in the same transaction, so there is never a window where a suspended tutor still appears able to meet a child.

Our promise: every message, visible to you

Any message involving your child is visible to you, in real time, without exception. There is no private channel between an adult and a child anywhere on Fennby. Every message is attached to a learner and a thread; row-level security in our database makes a parent-invisible child message architecturally impossible, not merely against policy. If a family opts into WhatsApp or email notifications, replies are bridged back into the same logged, parent-visible thread — the bridge never creates a blind spot. Automated language monitoring also flags concerning patterns for our safeguarding team to review, independent of what either party reports.

What happens when a concern is raised

1. Any parent, child, tutor, teacher, or platform user can report a concern from any screen
2. The report reaches the DSL and Deputy DSL immediately — not on a scheduled batch
3. The DSL opens a case, assesses priority, and begins the appropriate response
4. Where required, we escalate to local authority Children's Services or the police
5. Every action taken is logged in an immutable audit trail — nothing about a safeguarding case can be silently edited or deleted, by anyone, including admins
6. Outcomes are recorded, and the case remains reviewable even after resolution

Data protection, in detail

UK GDPR and the ICO Children's Code govern everything we collect. We practise data minimisation — only collecting what's necessary for safeguarding, academic progress, and safe service delivery. Chat logs, session notes, and uploaded images are retained only as long as necessary, then automatically deleted or anonymised on a defined schedule enforced by scheduled database jobs, not manual housekeeping.

Parents can request export or deletion of their child's data at any time, subject to safeguarding-record retention obligations that may require us to retain certain records even after a deletion request — this will always be stated clearly, never buried in small print.

Honest about our evidence

We track academic progress, engagement, wellbeing signals, and safeguarding outcomes from day one, so that Fennby can eventually be independently evaluated — in the tradition of Education Endowment Foundation and Youth Endowment Fund evaluations — rather than asking anyone to simply take our word for impact.

Where evidence is early-stage or limited, our reporting says so plainly rather than overstating results. This restraint is itself part of what makes the evidence credible later — and it's the same discipline we bring to safeguarding: rigorous, not just reassuring.

Accessibility statement

Fennby is built to meet WCAG 2.2 AA as a minimum across every screen — keyboard navigable, screen-reader tested, visible focus states throughout, and full support for reduced-motion preferences. Our colour system avoids harsh contrast and high-saturation colour by design, in line with the ICO's Age Appropriate Design Code and to support neurodivergent children specifically.

Common questions