Safeguarding at Alef Al-Quran Academy
Rules our teachers must follow
These are conditions of teaching with us, not guidance. A teacher who breaks any of them stops teaching with us that day.
- The teacher’s camera stays on for the entire lesson. There are no exceptions for any reason.
- A teacher will never ask to be alone with a child, and will never ask a parent to leave the room.
- Teachers do not give out or ask for phone numbers, email addresses or social media accounts.
- All lesson arrangements, changes and cancellations go through the academy, never privately between a teacher and a child.
- Teachers do not arrange to meet a child or family in person.
- Teachers do not ask a child for photographs or personal information beyond what is needed for the lesson.
Your rights as a parent
- You may join any lesson at any time, without notice and without giving a reason.
- You may change teacher at any point, without explaining why.
- You may ask what checks we have carried out on your child’s teacher, and we will answer specifically.
- You may stop lessons at any time.
Reporting a concern
If anything in a lesson makes you or your child uncomfortable, contact us directly. You will not be routed through a general enquiry form and you will not be asked to raise it with the teacher first.
We will respond within one working day. Where a concern relates to a child’s safety, the teacher will not teach any further lessons while it is being looked into.
What we do not currently offer
We think you are entitled to know our limits rather than discover them.
DBS checks. Our teachers are graduates of Al-Azhar University and are based in Egypt. A UK Enhanced DBS check searches UK police records only, so for someone who has never lived in the UK it would return nothing meaningful even if it could be obtained. We therefore do not claim that our teachers are DBS checked, and we would encourage you to question any academy with overseas teachers that does.
Lesson recording. We do not currently record lessons. This is why the camera rule and your right to join any lesson matter so much - they are what stands in place of a recording.
A UK-based Designated Safeguarding Lead. We do not currently have one. Concerns are handled directly by the academy.
If you are worried about a child’s immediate safety
Contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000, or the police on 101. In an emergency, call 999. Do not wait for us.