Safety
We do not rely on people being good. We built the system so that someone who wanted to harm a child would have no opportunity — even if they got through our checks.
1. Who can get in at all
Our teachers are school and university students aged 16–19. Students teach students; there are no adult strangers in the lessons. To be approved you need an ID check, two references that we genuinely contact, a video interview and a trial lesson.
2. Never alone
Lessons are group lessons only, never one to one. Every lesson has two volunteers — a group cannot start with one. A coordinator can join any lesson at any moment without warning, and volunteers are told this before they are approved.
3. Private messaging does not exist
A teacher cannot message a student privately. This is not a switched-off feature — the capability is not in the system. There is only the group chat, which everyone sees. Contact details are shown to nobody. Moving a student to WhatsApp, Telegram or Instagram means immediate removal, and the students know this too, so that such a request looks wrong to them straight away.
4. We store almost nothing
About a student we store a first name, an age band, home language, level, attendance and test results. We do not store a surname, address, photo or phone number. If our database leaked tomorrow it would be a list of first names and scores — you could not find a particular child with it.
5. Anyone can report a problem
The button is on every screen — for students, volunteers and partners. The report goes to the responsible adult and a coordinator, but never to the person's own teacher. It can be sent anonymously.
6. Everything is written down
Every lesson leaves a record: who taught, who attended, when, and which lesson it was. Every report and every action taken on it is stored with a date.
Our volunteers are children too
Our teachers are 16–17, so we are responsible for them exactly as we are for the students. Volunteers under 18 need a parent's consent. And a volunteer can report a problem about a student, a partner or a coordinator — including about us.
Our volunteers are school and university students, so there are no adult strangers around the children. Lessons are group lessons only, never one to one, and always with two teachers. The ability to message a student privately does not exist in the system. We store no surnames, addresses or photos. A coordinator can enter any lesson without warning and reads every message, and the "Report a problem" button goes to a named adult, not to the teacher.