Keeping your child safe with a tutor

Ashdown Primary School does not recommend individual tutors, or tutoring for children outside school. It may be appropriate for some, and for many others it will not be.

However, this is the advice from the Local Safeguarding Children's Board on keeping your child safe with a tutor:

•Hire a tutor who has up-to-date DBS clearance (Disclosure and Barring Service)

•Ask the tutor for details of two referees, and follow them both up with a phone call.

•Ask the tutor for details of the parents of some current or former students, and follow them up with a phone call.

•Check to see whether the tutor is properly accredited and qualified by asking to see evidence such as certificates, and then contact the relevant accreditation body or organisation.

•Ask the tutor pro-active questions, listen for inconsistencies in information you are being told and observe body language.

•Be clear where the tutoring will take place and who will be present. You may wish either to be present in the same room, or to leave the door open and enter the room at random. Your child’s bedroom is not a suitable study space.

•Trust your instincts, and don’t be afraid of calling off the lessons if you or your child feels uncomfortable.