Safeguarding policy

Last reviewed August 2026 · Reviewed annually · Applies to Irene Egbuawa and to every tutor engaged by Irene Nexus

1. Our commitment

Irene Nexus provides one-to-one online tuition to children and young people, and to adults preparing for French proficiency examinations. The welfare of every child we teach comes before every other consideration, including commercial ones. Where a safeguarding concern and a business interest conflict, the safeguarding concern wins.

Irene Egbuawa, our founder and lead educator, holds the British Council Understanding Child Protection certification and acts as our designated safeguarding lead. Any concern raised under this policy comes to her directly.

2. Who this policy covers

It applies to Irene Egbuawa, to every tutor engaged by Irene Nexus whether employed or contracted, and to anyone else acting on our behalf. Accepting this policy in full is a condition of teaching for us.

3. Recruiting and vetting tutors

No tutor meets a student until all of the following are complete:

• Identity verification. We confirm identity against government-issued photographic identification.
• Qualification checks. We verify claimed degrees, teaching qualifications and professional registrations, including TRCN registration where applicable.
• Two professional references. Both are taken up and followed up by us directly, not accepted as written testimonials. At least one must be from a recent education employer.
• A safeguarding conversation. Every tutor is taken through this policy and must confirm in writing that they accept it.

Where a tutor is based in a country that offers criminal record checking for people working with children, we ask them to obtain one and share it with us. We recognise that such schemes are not available everywhere, and we do not treat their absence as a substitute for the checks above — we treat the checks above as the minimum in all cases.

4. How lessons are conducted

• Lessons take place on Google Meet using accounts we control. Tutors do not teach on personal accounts or on platforms we have not approved.
• Sessions are recorded. Recording is standard, not exceptional, and both the parent and the student are told before the first lesson.
• Parents may join or observe any lesson at any time, without arranging it in advance and without giving a reason.
• Cameras stay on for both tutor and student for the duration of the lesson.
• Tutors teach from an appropriate setting — a room suitable for a professional lesson, dressed as they would be in a classroom.
• Lessons are never rearranged privately between a tutor and a student. Scheduling goes through the parent.

5. Communication

This is where most online safeguarding failures begin, so our rule is absolute.

• Tutors do not contact students privately. Not by message, email, social media, gaming platform or any other channel.
• All communication runs through the parent or guardian, including lesson materials, homework, feedback and scheduling.
• Tutors do not accept friend or follower requests from students, and do not follow students' accounts.
• Tutors do not give students personal contact details or ask for theirs.
• Gifts, money and favours are not exchanged in either direction.
• Adult students preparing for French examinations may correspond with their tutor directly. The rules above exist to protect children and apply to every student under 18.

A tutor who breaches this section is removed from teaching immediately while we investigate.

6. Recordings and data

• Recordings are stored in access-controlled storage available only to Irene Egbuawa and, where a specific review is needed, the tutor concerned.
• Parents may request any recording of their own child's lesson at any time, without giving a reason.
• Recordings are retained for one school term and then deleted, unless they are needed for an open safeguarding or complaint investigation.
• Recordings are never used for marketing, never published, and never shared with anyone outside Irene Nexus except where we are required to disclose them to a relevant authority.
• We collect the minimum personal data we need in order to teach: contact details for the parent, and the student's first name, year level and learning needs.
• We do not sell or share personal data with third parties for their own purposes.
• You can ask us to delete your data at any time and we will, subject to any records we are legally required to keep.

We teach families in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, and we handle personal data in line with the obligations that apply in those places, including Nigeria's NDPR, the UK GDPR and Canada's PIPEDA. Our full privacy notice sets out the detail.

7. Recognising and responding to concerns

Tutors teaching one-to-one sometimes see things a crowded classroom misses. Every tutor is expected to notice and to act — not to decide alone whether something is serious enough to mention.

Concerns that must be reported to the designated safeguarding lead the same day include: a disclosure by a student about harm; visible injuries or distress a student cannot or will not explain; a marked and unexplained change in behaviour or presentation; anything suggesting a child is unsafe at home or online; and any concern about the conduct of another tutor.

If a student discloses something, the tutor will listen without pressing for detail, will not promise to keep it secret, will not investigate themselves, and will record what was said in the student's own words as soon as the lesson ends.

8. Raising a concern with us

If you are worried about anything at all — a lesson, a tutor, something your child has said — contact Irene Egbuawa directly on WhatsApp at +234 805 532 6411 or by email at theirenenexus@gmail.com, marking it for her attention.

We will acknowledge your concern within one working day and tell you what we are doing about it. While a concern about a tutor is being looked into, that tutor does not teach.

If a child is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services first. We are a tutoring provider, not an emergency service, and we would always rather you called them before you called us.

9. What we are not

We are teachers. We are not clinicians, counsellors or investigators. We do not diagnose learning difficulties or mental health conditions, and where we think a family would benefit from professional assessment we will say so plainly and leave that decision with you.

10. Reviewing this policy

This policy is reviewed at least once a year, and immediately after any safeguarding incident, any change to how we deliver lessons, or any change in the countries we serve. It was last reviewed in August 2026.