Safe Online Learning
Online education should take place through structured, professional and age-appropriate arrangements.
ONLINE SAFETY & DIGITAL SAFEGUARDING
Keeping Learners Safe Across the Digital World
Reconnect Learning's Online Safety Policy sets out how we support safe online tuition, professional digital communication and appropriate use of technology across our education provision.
Online safety forms part of safeguarding. Our approach includes virtual learning, digital communication, online exploitation, harmful content, social media, artificial intelligence and emerging digital risks.
OUR ONLINE SAFETY ARRANGEMENTS
Digital safeguarding across online education
Approved platforms and professional accounts
Professional communication and boundaries
Attendance and welfare monitoring
Clear reporting routes for online concerns
Awareness of grooming, sextortion and exploitation
AI, deepfake and manipulated-content awareness
Platforms
Approved
Accounts
Professional
Communication
Boundaried
Welfare
Monitored
Concerns
Reported
DIGITAL SAFEGUARDING
Online safety is part of our wider safeguarding responsibility
Technology can create valuable opportunities for learners to access education, particularly where attendance, SEND, anxiety, health or other barriers make face-to-face education difficult.
Those opportunities also require clear safeguards. Staff and tutors are expected to use professional systems, maintain appropriate boundaries, recognise indicators of online harm and report concerns promptly.
OUR ONLINE SAFETY PRINCIPLE
Online harm is a safeguarding concern and should be treated with the same seriousness as harm that occurs offline.
OUR COMMITMENT
Safe learning, professional communication and prompt safeguarding action
Digital Safeguarding
Online grooming, cyberbullying, sextortion, harmful content and exploitation are treated as potential safeguarding concerns.
Professional Communication
Staff follow clear expectations around accounts, email, messaging, platforms, contact and records.
POLICY COVERAGE
What the Online Safety Policy covers
The policy supports safe online education, responsible technology use and appropriate responses to digital safeguarding concerns.
Online learning safety
Digital safeguarding
Safe communication
Professional boundaries online
Cyberbullying
Online grooming
Sextortion
Harmful online content
Sharing images safely
Social media risks
Gaming and messaging risks
Online radicalisation
AI-generated risks
Deepfakes and manipulated content
Filtering and monitoring
Reporting online concerns
Data and account security
Live-session expectations
Online attendance and welfare
Recording and evidence retention
UNDERSTANDING ONLINE RISK
The four areas of online risk: content, contact, conduct and commerce
Content
Exposure to harmful, misleading, sexual, violent, extremist or age-inappropriate material.
Contact
Risk arising from communication with unsafe adults, peers, groomers, scammers or exploiters.
Conduct
Risk linked to behaviour such as bullying, harassment, unsafe posting or sharing images.
Commerce
Risks involving scams, gambling-style features, in-app purchases, advertising, data harvesting or financial exploitation.
SAFE ONLINE TUITION
Clear expectations for virtual learning sessions
Approved Platforms
Online sessions should take place through agreed systems and professional accounts.
Professional Conduct
Staff and learners are expected to communicate appropriately and maintain professional boundaries.
Secure Communication
Personal accounts and inappropriate or unapproved contact routes should not be used.
Attendance Monitoring
Attendance, punctuality and missed sessions can form part of the agreed online-learning arrangements.
Welfare Awareness
Concerns about a learner's presentation, environment or wellbeing should be shared through safeguarding routes.
Clear Reporting
Learners, families and staff should understand how online-safety and safeguarding concerns can be raised.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AI, deepfakes and manipulated content
Digital risks continue to evolve. Artificial intelligence can be used to create convincing false images, video, audio, messages and identities.
Learners should be encouraged to question what they see online, protect personal information and report content that feels unsafe, threatening, sexualised or manipulative.
EMERGING RISKS
Technology may be used to create or amplify harm
Deepfake images, audio and video
AI-generated sexual or abusive content
Impersonation and identity misuse
Misinformation and manipulated evidence
Automated grooming or coercive messaging
Unsafe use of personal information
PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES
Clear digital boundaries protect learners and practitioners
Staff & Tutor Expectations
Use professional accounts and approved systems
Do not connect with learners through personal social media
Keep communication relevant to education and welfare
Maintain appropriate language, dress and setting
Record and report concerning communication
Follow agreed contact times and routes
Learner & Family Expectations
Join through the agreed account or link
Use respectful and appropriate communication
Do not record or share sessions without permission
Protect passwords and personal information
Report anything unsafe or uncomfortable
Follow attendance and cancellation arrangements
DIGITAL SAFEGUARDING RISKS
Online harm can take many different forms
Cyberbullying
Bullying, harassment or intimidation through messages, social media, gaming or other digital spaces.
Grooming
Manipulative contact intended to build trust, exploit vulnerability or facilitate abuse.
Sextortion
Threats or coercion involving sexual images, videos, messages or fabricated material.
Image Sharing
Risks linked to taking, sending, forwarding, saving or redistributing personal or sexualised images.
Social Media
Exposure to harmful content, unsafe contacts, harassment, misinformation or privacy risks.
Gaming & Messaging
Risks may arise through chat functions, unknown contacts, purchases or coercive interaction.
Online Radicalisation
Exposure to extremist material, harmful narratives or individuals seeking to influence a learner.
Scams & Financial Exploitation
Attempts to obtain money, account access, personal information or financial details.
Harmful Content
Material relating to abuse, violence, self-harm, sexual content or other potentially harmful themes.
REPORTING ONLINE CONCERNS
Online safeguarding concerns should be shared promptly
Online harm may become visible during tuition, through communication with a learner or because a child, parent or professional shares information.
Staff should not carry out their own safeguarding investigation. Relevant information should be recorded and passed through the appropriate safeguarding route.
Contact Safeguarding Team →Useful information may include:
What the learner has said or disclosed
Relevant usernames or account information
Dates and times
Web links or platform information
Screenshots where safe and appropriate
Any threats, coercion or immediate risk
Actions already taken
RESPONDING TO ONLINE CONCERNS
From recognising a concern to safeguarding action
1
Recognise
Identify behaviour, content or contact of concern.
2
Respond
Listen appropriately and consider immediate safety.
3
Record
Capture factual and relevant information.
4
Report
Share through the safeguarding route.
5
Escalate
DSL considers next steps and external action.
SCHOOLS, LOCAL AUTHORITIES & PROFESSIONALS
Clear digital-safeguarding assurance for online provision
Reconnect Learning recognises the importance of professional online systems, clear communication routes, attendance oversight and safeguarding escalation when education is delivered remotely.
Approved online-learning arrangements
Professional communication expectations
Attendance and welfare monitoring
Online safeguarding escalation
Data and account-security controls
AI and emerging-risk awareness
Online safety changes as technology changes
Digital platforms, artificial intelligence, communication tools and online safeguarding risks continue to develop. Online-safety arrangements should therefore remain responsive to changes in technology, guidance, systems and emerging risk.
The Online Safety Policy should be read alongside Reconnect Learning's Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy, professional-conduct expectations, data-protection arrangements and relevant online-learning procedures.
Where an online concern indicates that a child may be at risk of harm, the matter should be treated as a safeguarding concern rather than solely as a technology or behaviour issue.
ONLINE SAFETY FAQs
Questions about our online-safety arrangements
Does safeguarding apply to online tuition?
Yes. Safeguarding responsibilities apply to online learning just as they do to face-to-face provision.
What platforms are used for online tuition?
Online sessions should take place through agreed systems and professional accounts appropriate to the provision being delivered.
Can tutors use personal social-media accounts with learners?
Professional boundaries require staff and tutors to use appropriate professional communication routes rather than personal social-media relationships with learners.
What happens if something concerning happens during an online session?
Relevant information should be recorded and reported through Reconnect Learning's safeguarding procedures.
What is online grooming?
Online grooming can involve an individual building trust, exploiting vulnerability or manipulating a child through digital communication for harmful purposes.
What is sextortion?
Sextortion involves threats, coercion or demands connected with sexual images, videos, messages or other intimate material.
Does the policy cover artificial intelligence?
The policy recognises emerging digital risks including AI-generated material, impersonation, deepfakes and manipulated content.
Can an online concern become a child-protection concern?
Yes. Online activity may indicate grooming, exploitation, abuse, radicalisation or another safeguarding risk requiring further action.
Should staff investigate online safeguarding concerns themselves?
No. Staff should preserve relevant factual information and report concerns through safeguarding routes rather than conducting their own investigation.
How do I report an online safeguarding concern?
Concerns connected with Reconnect Learning provision can be raised through the safeguarding team at safeguarding@reconnectlearning.co.uk.
Where can I download the Online Safety Policy?
The full policy can be accessed using the download links on this page.
Where can I find Reconnect Learning's other safeguarding policies?
Safeguarding and wider compliance documentation is available through the Policies & Compliance section.