Safeguarding & Child Protection

The British Learning Centre is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of every child who studies with us. This policy sets out how we do that, and what every member of staff must do. It applies to all staff, volunteers, contractors and visitors at our Pattaya and Bangkok centres, and covers every lesson, activity and trip we organise, on site or off.

1. Purpose and scope

1. The British Learning Centre is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of every child who studies with us. This policy sets out how we do that, and what every member of staff must do.
2. Our aims are to protect children from maltreatment; to prevent impairment of their mental and physical health or development; to ensure they receive safe and effective care; and to enable every student to achieve the best possible outcomes.
3. This policy applies to all staff, volunteers, contractors and visitors at our Pattaya and Bangkok centres, and covers all lessons, activities and trips we organise, on site or off.
4. Most of our students attend another school full time. That shapes our role: we may be the setting that first notices a concern, and we may be the only adults a child feels able to tell. Where a concern relates to a student who attends another school, we share it with that school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead as well as taking our own action.
5. This policy is published here, is given to every member of staff at induction, and is provided to parents on request.

2. Legal and local framework

The British Learning Centre operates in Thailand and follows Thai law. We also apply UK Department for Education guidance as our standard of best practice, because we are a British school and our parents expect British standards.

Thai law and procedure

• The Child Protection Act B.E. 2546 (2003)
• The Penal Code of Thailand — the sections dealing with offences against children
• Ministry of Social Development and Human Security guidance
• The Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019)

UK guidance we apply as best practice

• Keeping Children Safe in Education, DfE (2026)
• Working Together to Safeguard Children, DfE (2023)
• Guidance for Safer Working Practice for those working with children and young people in education settings (February 2022)

Where UK structures do not exist here

UK guidance refers to local authorities, Children’s Services, LADOs and child protection conferences. None of these exist in Thailand. Where UK guidance would send a referral to one of them, we contact instead:

• the local police — 191
• the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security — 1300
• Childline Thailand — 1387
• the Designated Safeguarding Lead at the student’s full-time school

We do not claim to operate a UK statutory process. We claim to apply UK standards of recognition, recording and reporting, through the routes available to us in Thailand.

3. Our ethos

1. The welfare of the child is paramount.
2. Students must feel safe, valued, listened to, and able to raise a concern without fear. A child who tells us something will be taken seriously, supported, and never made to feel they have created a problem.
3. All staff maintain an attitude of “it could happen here”. Safeguarding failures happen in settings where people assume they could not.
4. We never promise a child that we will keep a secret. Every child is told, in language they understand, what will happen to what they have said.
5. We recognise that children may not feel ready to tell someone they are being harmed, may not know how, and may not recognise what is happening to them as harmful.
6. Where a concern arises, the child’s own wishes and feelings are taken into account in deciding what to do — but they do not determine it, and a child’s request that nothing be done does not prevent us acting.

4. Roles and responsibilities

Every member of staff, volunteer and visitor

1. It is the responsibility of everyone who works at or visits the British Learning Centre to follow this policy and to work in a way that safeguards our students.
2. Every member of staff must be able to recognise the signs of abuse and neglect, and must know how to report a concern.
3. It is not the role of any member of staff to investigate a concern or to decide whether a disclosure is true. The role is to recognise, record and report.

The Founder

1. The Founder, Mr Ashleigh Bignall, has overall responsibility for safeguarding at the British Learning Centre. He is also the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
2. The Founder is responsible for appointing the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead and ensuring cover is always available; for ensuring safer recruitment is followed; for ensuring this policy is followed by all staff; and for ensuring that any member of staff can raise a concern about poor or unsafe practice and have it dealt with properly.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead

1. The Designated Safeguarding Lead takes lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. He is available in person or by phone during all operating hours.
2. The DSL advises staff on child welfare and child protection, decides what action to take on a concern, and makes referrals to the police, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, or a student’s full-time school.
3. The DSL maintains safeguarding records, keeps them confidential and secure, and ensures every member of staff has received safeguarding induction and the annual refresher.
4. The DSL knows which of our students are experiencing welfare or safeguarding difficulties, and considers the effect of those difficulties on attendance, engagement and progress.

The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

1. The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, K. Chaveewan Khongwattanasakchai (Sherry), School Manager, acts in the DSL’s absence and carries the same authority when doing so.
2. Where a concern is about the Founder, the Deputy DSL is told so that the school can take immediate steps to keep the student safe — but the report itself goes to the local police on 191.
3. The Deputy DSL completes the same formal DSL training as the DSL.

5. Training and induction

1. Every new member of staff and every volunteer must read this policy in full and Part One of Keeping Children Safe in Education, and must complete and sign the Safeguarding Induction Sheet, before they teach their first lesson or have any contact with students. No one begins work with students before this is complete.
2. At induction, every new member of staff is also given the Teachers’ Code of Conduct and the Behaviour Management Policy, is told who the DSL and Deputy DSL are, and is shown how to record and report a concern.
3. All staff are sent this policy annually as a refresher, and receive safeguarding updates at least once a year.
4. The Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead complete formal DSL training and refresh it at least every two years. Training dates are recorded on the Central Record.
5. Visitors, contractors and anyone working temporarily on site are given the Safeguarding Induction Sheet and told who to speak to.

6. Recognising abuse and neglect

You are not expected to diagnose anything. You are expected to notice, and to pass on what you noticed.

1. Abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused by an adult or adults, or by another child or children.

The four categories

Signs that should make you report

None of these on its own proves anything. Any of them is enough reason to tell the DSL.

• Injuries that are unexplained, poorly explained, or in unusual places
• A marked change in behaviour — withdrawal, aggression, clinginess, distractibility, sudden reluctance to go home
• A child who seems frightened of a particular adult, or reluctant to be alone with them
• Sexual knowledge or behaviour that does not fit the child’s age
• Consistently poor hygiene, hunger, inadequate clothing, or untreated medical needs
• A drop in engagement or attendance without explanation
• Self-harm, or talk of self-harm or suicide
• Anything a child says that worries you, however small it sounds

Do not decide it is probably nothing. A single small concern recorded now is what allows a pattern to be seen later. Reliance on memory, without a written record, is how children get missed.

If a child tells you something

• Listen. Do not interrupt, and do not ask leading questions.
• Do not promise to keep it secret. Tell the child you will have to pass it on to keep them safe.
• Write down what was said, in the child’s own words, as soon as you can.
• Do not investigate, and do not speak to the person the child has told you about.
• Report to the DSL in person the same day.

7. Managing a concern

What you do

1. Report the concern immediately, in person, to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead. Do not wait until the end of the day, and do not send it by message.
2. Record it on the Safeguarding Concern Form before you leave the building. Where there is an injury, record its size, shape and location and complete a body map.
3. Where a child is in immediate danger, call the police on 191 or, for a medical emergency, 1669 — first. Then tell the DSL.
4. Where the concern is about a member of staff, follow section 9.
5. If you feel a concern you have raised is not being acted on, raise it again with the DSL, and if it is still not acted on, contact Childline Thailand on 1387 or the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security on 1300 yourself. A concern must always lead to help for the child.

What the DSL does

1. The DSL considers what action to take, seeking advice where needed, and records the decision and the reasons for it.
2. Where the concern meets the threshold for referral, the DSL contacts the police, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, or Childline Thailand as appropriate.
3. Where the student attends another school full time, the DSL passes the concern to that school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead.
4. The DSL records the concern, the action taken, the decisions reached and the outcome, and reviews open concerns regularly.
5. Where a concern does not meet the threshold for referral, the DSL still records it and monitors it. Concerns often accumulate rather than arrive complete.

8. Specific safeguarding issues

We recognise the following as the risks most relevant to our setting.

Abuse occurring outside the British Learning Centre

Most of our students spend most of their week elsewhere — at their full-time school, at home, or online. A concern that arises here will often be about something happening there. That does not make it less our business. Report it exactly as you would anything else.

Contextual safeguarding

Safeguarding incidents can be associated with factors outside the family and outside school, and can occur between children. When you report a concern, include as much background and context as you can, so the DSL can see the whole picture rather than one incident.

Child-on-child abuse

Children can and do abuse other children. It can take the form of physical abuse; sexual violence and sexual harassment; bullying, including online; initiation or hazing; sharing nude or semi-nude images; and coercive or controlling behaviour in relationships. We never dismiss it as banter, as part of growing up, or as something children have to learn to deal with. It is reported and recorded like any other concern, and both the child who has been harmed and the child who has caused the harm are supported.

Online safety

Risks fall into four areas: content a child sees; contact a child has with others; conduct — a child’s own behaviour online; and commerce, including scams and financial exploitation. Grooming is the risk we take most seriously, because a tuition setting gives adults legitimate reasons to communicate with children. This is why the Teachers’ Code of Conduct forbids all direct contact between staff and students outside school channels. A member of staff who breaches that rule is treated as a safeguarding matter, not a performance one.

Bullying, including cyberbullying

Bullying that is severe, persistent or targeted at a protected characteristic is a safeguarding concern and is reported to the DSL, not handled only as a behaviour matter.

Sexual harassment and exploitation

Sexual harassment — sexual comments, jokes, taunting, physical behaviour, online sexual harassment — is never acceptable and is always reported. Child sexual exploitation involves a child being given something, or the promise of something, in return for sexual activity; the child may not recognise it as abuse, and may believe they are in a relationship.

Mental health

Staff are not mental health professionals and must not attempt to diagnose. Where you are worried about a student’s mental health, including self-harm or anything they say about suicide, report it to the DSL the same day. Where mental health difficulties may be a response to harm, abuse or neglect, it is a safeguarding concern.

Children with SEND and children learning English

Children with special educational needs or disabilities, and children in the early stages of English, face additional barriers. Signs of abuse may be wrongly attributed to a disability; a child may be disproportionately affected by bullying without showing it; and a child may not have the language to say what is happening. Be more alert with these students, not less.

9. Allegations against staff

1. Any allegation or concern about a member of staff, a volunteer, a contractor or a visitor must be reported immediately to the Founder.
2. This includes concerns that fall short of an allegation of harm — for example, a member of staff being over-familiar with a student, messaging a student, photographing a student on a personal phone, or being alone with a student behind a closed door. These are reported and recorded even where no further action follows.

3. You do not need anyone’s permission to make that call, and you do not need to be certain. Tell the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, K. Chaveewan Khongwattanasakchai (Sherry), on 081 561 6780, so the school can take any immediate steps needed to keep the student safe — but the call to 191 comes first.
4. No member of staff will face any disciplinary consequence, or any effect on their employment, for reporting a concern about a senior member of staff in good faith. This applies whether or not the concern is upheld.
5. Where an allegation is made, the member of staff concerned is treated fairly. Suspension is not automatic and is considered only where it is necessary to protect a child. Records are kept of the allegation, the action taken and the outcome.

10. Physical contact and reasonable force

1. There is no routine physical contact between staff and students at the British Learning Centre. Staff do not initiate physical contact of any kind. This includes picking a student up, sitting a student on the lap, hugging, an arm around the shoulder, a pat on the back, and any other touch that is not necessary.
2. There is one exception. Where a student is at risk of harm, or is placing another student at risk of harm, staff may use reasonable force to restrain that student — and only to the degree needed to prevent the harm.

Where reasonable force is used, it must

• be the minimum required, and stop as soon as the danger has passed;
• be proportionate to the risk — never a punishment, and never used to gain control of a situation that is not dangerous;
• avoid any part of the body that could be considered inappropriate — never the neck, the head, or any intimate area;
• take place in an open, visible location, and with another member of staff present, wherever it is possible to do so;
• be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead in person the same day, and recorded on the Safeguarding Concern Form before the member of staff leaves the building;
• be communicated to the student’s parents or carers by the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

3. First aid and emergencies. Where a student is injured or unwell, staff give the care that is needed and report it to the DSL the same day. Our first aiders are members of the admin team; where there is time, call for one rather than acting alone. In a medical emergency call 1669.
4. If you are unsure whether contact was necessary, report it anyway. No member of staff will be criticised for reporting an incident of physical contact in good faith.

11. Safer recruitment

1. We use recruitment and selection to deter and prevent people who are unsuitable to work with children from securing employment or a volunteering role with us.
2. Every applicant completes our application form. We require full employment history since leaving school, with reasons for any gaps, the reason for leaving the most recent post, and evidence of original academic certificates.
3. We do not accept open testimonials. We take up references directly, from a reputable source, before employment begins, and we question anything in an application that is unclear.
4. Interviews include questions on safeguarding and on attitudes to working with children.
5. We obtain a local police check for every member of staff, and an international criminal record check — such as an International Child Protection Certificate (ICPC) or a check from the applicant’s home country — where one can be obtained. Where an international check cannot be obtained, this is recorded, and the reason is recorded with it.
6. We maintain a Central Record of all safer recruitment checks. The Founder reviews it regularly to confirm it is complete and current.
7. Every member of staff signs the Teachers’ Code of Conduct and the Safeguarding Induction Sheet before working with students.

12. Safer working practice

1. All adults who work with our students have a duty of care towards them. Everyone who works with or on behalf of our students must be competent, confident and safe to do so.
2. Every member of staff is given the Teachers’ Code of Conduct at induction and is expected to know it. The section on professional boundaries and contact with students is part of this safeguarding policy in practice.
3. Staff working alone with a student do so in a room with an unobscured window or with the door open, in a part of the building where other adults are present.
4. Every classroom is fitted with CCTV. It is there to protect students and staff, particularly in one-to-one settings. Footage is held for approximately seven days and is then overwritten. Access is restricted to the Founder. CCTV supports safe working practice; it does not replace it.
5. Staff must not communicate with students through personal channels, must not photograph or film students on personal devices, must not give students lifts, and must not provide private tuition to any student connected with the British Learning Centre or attending a local international school. The full rules are in the Teachers’ Code of Conduct.

13. Records, confidentiality and data protection

1. Safeguarding records are kept securely, separately from academic files, on a secure drive. They are the responsibility of the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
2. Access is restricted to the DSL and the Deputy DSL. Safeguarding information is shared within the school only on a need-to-know basis, in the child’s interests.
3. Each record includes a clear summary of the concern, how it was followed up, the action taken, the decisions reached and the outcome.
4. Where a student attends another school full time, we pass any safeguarding concern to that school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead, and record that we have done so.
5. Safeguarding records are retained until the student’s twenty-fifth birthday and are then securely destroyed.
6. We process personal data in accordance with Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019). Safeguarding information is processed to protect the vital interests of the child, and consent is not required to record or share a safeguarding concern where a child may be at risk.
7. We will not share safeguarding information with a parent where doing so would place a child at greater risk.

14. Working with parents and carers

1. We work in partnership with parents and carers, and treat them with respect, dignity and courtesy.
2. Parents are told about this policy when their child joins. It is published here and provided on request.
3. We will normally share a concern about a child with their parents — unless doing so would put the child at greater risk. A parent’s disagreement does not prevent the DSL making a referral where it is right to do so.
4. Parents must give us accurate and current details of everyone the child lives with, everyone with parental responsibility, emergency contacts, and anyone authorised to collect the child. We share information about a student only with those people.

15. Policy review

1. This policy is reviewed in full every year by the Founder, and updated immediately if Thai law or UK guidance changes.
2. Staff are invited to contribute to this policy. The people who use it daily are best placed to say where it does not work.
3. Next review: September 2027.

Related documents

These sit alongside this policy and are available on request. Staff receive them at induction.

• Teachers’ Code of Conduct
• Teachers’ Standards
• Teacher Handbook
• Safeguarding Summary — for visitors, volunteers and contractors