Safeguarding Policy

1. Purpose and scope

ExamVault is used by children typically aged 9–11. We take our responsibility to keep them safe online seriously. This policy sets out the principles we follow, how concerns are raised, and who is responsible.

It applies to everyone who uses the service — children, parents, guardians, tutors, tuition centre staff — and to everyone working on the ExamVault team.

2. Legal framework

Our approach is informed by:

• Working Together to Safeguard Children (statutory guidance for child protection in England).
• Keeping Children Safe in Education (statutory guidance for schools — relevant where centres use our platform).
• The ICO Age Appropriate Design Code (Children's Code) — privacy-by-default for online services likely to be accessed by children.
• The Online Safety Act 2023, where applicable to the service's features.
• UK GDPR + Data Protection Act 2018 — see our Privacy Policy.

3. What we believe

• Every child has the right to use the service safely and without distress.
• Parents and guardians are the primary safeguarders of their children; our role is to provide a safe environment and to escalate concerns to them or to the appropriate authority.
• Safety must be designed in from the start, not added later.

4. On the ExamVault platform

The platform is designed so that child users cannot encounter the risks common to social or community-based services:

• No peer-to-peer communication. Children cannot message, friend, or see other children on the platform. There are no public profiles or comment sections.
• No user-generated content visible to children. The only content children see is curated practice questions and worked answers produced (or reviewed) by our team.
• Centre-contributed content is moderated. When a tuition centre contributes questions to the platform, an ExamVault administrator reviews each contribution before it is shown to any child.
• No advertising or third-party tracking aimed at children. We don't sell ad space, we don't build behavioural profiles of children, and the Emma chatbot is restricted to ExamVault topics by design.
• Minimum data collection. We collect only what's needed to deliver practice papers and track progress. See the Privacy Policy for the full list.
• Adult accountability. An adult (parent, guardian, or tutor) creates and manages every account. The adult provides consent on the child's behalf and is the contact for any communications from us.

5. Content safety

Practice questions and explanations are produced through a combination of generative-AI assistance and human review. Our team reviews material for age-appropriate language, accurate content, and absence of distressing or unsuitable themes before it goes live.

If you encounter any content on the platform that you believe is inappropriate for a child (offensive language, distressing imagery, factual errors that could mislead a learner), please report it via the contact form with the question reference. We aim to review and act on reports within 2 working days.

6. Reporting a safeguarding concern

If you are worried about a child's immediate safety (including a child in danger of harm right now), call 999 or the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000. Do not rely on email or our contact form for emergencies.

For non-emergency concerns related to a child's use of the ExamVault platform — for example:

• A child appears to be accessing the service without an adult's knowledge.
• A child's account contains data that looks suspicious or incorrect.
• Inappropriate content on the platform.
• Any other welfare concern arising from a child's use of the service.

Email our Designated Safeguarding Lead at [safeguarding@examvault.co.uk] or use the contact form and select “Safeguarding” as the topic. We aim to respond within 24 hours during working days.

7. Named contacts

8. Staff and contractors

Anyone working on the ExamVault product who could come into contact with child data (engineers, content reviewers, customer-support staff, contractors) is briefed on this policy and on the practical implications of the UK Children's Code. We retain a record of who has access to what data and review access rights periodically.

We do not employ staff who deliver live tuition or one-to-one online sessions with children. If we ever extend the service to include those features, we will add DBS-check requirements and online-session safeguarding training before launching.

9. External resources

If you need support or want to learn more about online child safety:

• NSPCC — child protection helpline (0808 800 5000) and online safety resources.
• Childline — free confidential support for children up to age 19 (0800 1111).
• CEOP Safety Centre — report online sexual abuse or grooming to the National Crime Agency.
• Internet Watch Foundation — report criminal online imagery.
• Information Commissioner's Office — UK data protection regulator.

10. Policy review

We review this policy at least annually, and sooner if there are material changes to the service or to relevant legislation. The date at the top of this page reflects the last review.