Code of Conduct and Online Tutoring Rules

This code sets the standard of behaviour we expect from every specialist and tutor who takes work through Remarkable Minds. It applies to online sessions, in-home sessions, telephone calls, messages, and anything you say in public that identifies you as working with us.

It forms part of the Specialist and Tutor Agreement and should be read with our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and our Session Recording and Transcription Policy. The rules here exist to keep children safe and to protect you from misunderstanding or allegation. Following them is not optional.

You are a professional working with a child, not a friend, a family member or a substitute parent. Warmth and boundaries are not in conflict; a child is safest with an adult who is kind and predictable.

• Treat every child, parent and carer with dignity and respect
• Keep the relationship to the work you were booked to do
• Do not favour one child, single a child out, or treat a family as a personal friendship
• Do not discuss your own personal difficulties, relationships, beliefs or finances with a child
• Do not visit a family, meet a child, or arrange any contact outside a booked session
• Do not offer babysitting, lifts, childcare or any private arrangement, whether paid or unpaid
• Do not accept a role in a family that is not the role you were booked for
• If a family asks you to do something that crosses a line, say no clearly, kindly, and tell us the same day

If you already know a child or family personally, or discover you do at the point of introduction, tell us before the first session so we can decide together whether the match is appropriate.

All contact with a child or family goes through the Remarkable Minds platform. That is what lets us support you, evidence what was said, and step in if something goes wrong.

• Do not give a child or parent your personal mobile number, personal email address, home address or personal video-call link
• Do not ask a child or parent for personal contact details, and do not save them if they are volunteered
• Do not use WhatsApp, personal text, Snapchat, Discord, Instagram, gaming chat or any other private channel with a child or family
• Do not accept, send or respond to a friend or follow request from a child or a parent on personal social media
• Do not message a child at all outside a booked session; anything that needs saying between sessions goes to the parent or carer through the platform
• Keep messages professional, brief and about the work, and assume everything you write could be read by a parent, by us, or in an investigation
• Never send a child a photograph, a personal gift link, or anything unrelated to their learning

If a child or parent contacts you privately by any route, do not continue the conversation there. Redirect them to the platform and tell us what happened.

Online sessions run on the Remarkable Minds platform and are recorded. Every rule below applies to every session, including sessions with older teenagers and young adults.

Before you join

• Join from the link in your Remarkable Minds dashboard. Never send a family a personal Zoom, Teams, Meet or FaceTime link, and never accept one from a family
• Work from a quiet, private room in your own home or a professional space. Never deliver a session from a bedroom, a bed, a bathroom, a car, a train, a cafe or any public place
• Use a plain, uncluttered background. Nothing personal, nothing identifying your address, no alcohol, no politically or sexually suggestive material. A blurred background is acceptable, a novelty virtual background is not
• Dress as you would to teach in a school. Shoulders and knees covered, no nightwear, no gym wear, no slogans that could offend
• Be set up and ready two minutes early, with your materials open and your notifications silenced

During the session

• Your camera stays on for the whole session. If your camera fails, end the session and rebook rather than continuing audio-only
• You must be alone in the room. No other person may be present, on or off camera, including your own family. If someone comes in, say so out loud, pause, and ask them to leave
• Use headphones so the child cannot be overheard, and make sure nobody else can hear you
• Do not eat, drink alcohol, smoke or vape during a session, and never deliver a session under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Keep the shared screen to session materials. Close everything personal before you share, and never share a screen with private messages, other children’s work or your own email visible
• Do not ask a child to move their camera around their home, and do not ask about the layout of their house or who is in it beyond what safety requires
• If the child asks to turn their own camera off, that is allowed; keep working, keep talking, and note it. Do not press a child to show their face

Recording and privacy

• The platform records the session. You must not record it yourself, screen-capture it, photograph your screen or transcribe it with any tool
• Do not ask a family to record, and if a family tells you they are recording, ask them to stop and tell us
• Do not use an artificial intelligence note-taker, meeting bot or transcription assistant in a session

If something goes wrong in a session

• If a child joins and no adult is at home when the booking said one would be, continue only if it is a session type where that was agreed, keep the work light and structured, and tell us afterwards
• If a child is alone and becomes distressed, stay with them. Keep your voice calm, keep the camera on, do not end the call abruptly. Ask whether there is an adult in the house and ask them to fetch that adult. If there is no adult and you believe the child is at risk, stay on the call and contact us immediately; if the risk is immediate, call 999 while staying with the child
• If a child discloses something, listen, do not promise confidentiality, do not ask leading questions, and write down what they said in their own words as soon as the session ends
• If a child shows you something inappropriate, or an adult in the home behaves inappropriately, end the session politely, say you will be in touch through the platform, and report it to the DSL the same day
• End every session properly: recap what you did, say when you will next meet, make sure the child is settled, and leave the call last so you can see they have gone

Some tutoring is delivered in the family home. In-home work carries different risks, so these rules are absolute.

• A parent or carer must be in the property for the whole session. You must never be alone in a house with a child
• If nobody answers, or the parent has gone out, do not go in and do not start the session. Wait outside where you can be seen, message the family through the platform, and tell us. We will rearrange and the family is charged under our cancellation terms
• Show your Remarkable Minds identity on arrival and be ready to confirm who you are. Never be offended by a family checking
• Work in a shared living space: a kitchen table, a dining room, a living room. Never work in a child’s bedroom. Keep the door to the room open at all times
• Never transport a child in your vehicle, and never take a child out of the home, including to a shop, a park or a library
• Do not take photographs or video of the child, their work, their home or anyone in it. If a piece of work needs sharing, ask the parent to upload it through the platform
• Do not administer medication, help with intimate care, or provide personal care of any kind. If a child needs it, fetch the parent
• Avoid physical contact. Do not restrain a child. Where a child reaches for a hug, redirect warmly to a high five or a wave
• Do not accept food or drink beyond a glass of water or a cup of tea, do not use the family’s devices or wifi for personal purposes, and do not wander through the house
• Leave promptly at the end, say goodbye to the parent, and log the session the same day

If you feel unsafe in a home for any reason, leave. You do not need permission and you do not need to explain yourself at the door. Tell us as soon as you are out.

Your job is to teach and to support learning and confidence. Remarkable Minds does not carry out assessments or diagnosis of any kind and is not a clinic or a healthcare provider, and neither you nor we may suggest otherwise to a family.

• Do not assess or diagnose, and do not use the words assessment or diagnosis about your work unless you hold a current Level 7 Assessment Practising Certificate and we have verified it
• Do not use clinical or therapeutic language, or call yourself a clinician or therapist, unless you are registered with the HCPC, the British Psychological Society or the BACP and we have verified it
• Do not give medical or medication advice, comment on a prescription, or suggest a child does or does not have a condition
• Do not give legal advice about an Education, Health and Care Plan, a tribunal or a school placement, and do not write a letter that reads like expert evidence
• Do not tell a family what a report means clinically. Describe what you see in the learning, in your own words

When a family asks for something outside your scope, say plainly that it is not something you can do and that you will pass it to Remarkable Minds. Then message us through the platform the same day so we can signpost the family properly. Escalating is not letting a family down; it is the job.

Everyone who works with children through Remarkable Minds is required to complete safeguarding training appropriate to their role and to know how to report. Read our Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy in full.

Report a concern to the DSL the same day. That includes concerns you cannot name: a child who seems frightened, a home that feels wrong, an adult who behaves oddly on camera, a comment that sits badly with you. Low-level concerns matter, because patterns are only visible when everyone reports the small things.

Report concerns about another specialist, a member of our staff or Remarkable Minds itself by the same route, or to a director if the concern is about the DSL. Nobody is treated unfavourably for raising a genuine concern. Do not investigate, do not confront the person, and do not discuss it with the family.

If an allegation is made about you, we will refer it to the Local Authority Designated Officer and may suspend your account while it is considered. Suspension is a neutral act, not a finding, and you will be told what is happening unless doing so would prejudice an enquiry.

Every child you work with is neurodivergent or is navigating something that makes learning harder. Our whole approach is strengths-based: start from what a child can do, what they are interested in and what they want, then build the support around it.

• Talk about a neurodivergent child, not a child with a deficit or a problem
• Do not describe a child as difficult, naughty, lazy or attention-seeking, to them, to their parent or in your notes
• Take a child’s own view of how they learn seriously, and ask them
• Make reasonable adjustments as a matter of course: shorter tasks, movement breaks, fidget tools, camera off, low light, no eye contact, extra processing time
• Recognise that a shutdown, a refusal or a meltdown is communication and is not aimed at you
• Never mock, mimic or make a joke about a child’s traits, voice, stim, interests or communication
• Use a child’s name and pronouns as they give them to you
• Do not discriminate on any ground protected by the Equality Act 2010, and challenge discriminatory language if you hear it in a session

Reliability matters more to these families than to most. A cancelled session can undo weeks of a child’s trust.

• Turn up on time, every time, and start and finish at the times booked
• Prepare properly, using the child’s profile, your last session notes and the plan you agreed with the family
• Write your session notes the same day, factually and proportionately
• Give at least 24 hours’ notice if you must cancel, through us and not through the family, except in a genuine emergency
• Never cancel a session by leaving a family waiting, and never simply fail to appear
• Tell us early if you cannot keep a regular slot, so we can hand the work over well

Money and gifts blur boundaries quickly. Keep them out of the relationship.

• Do not take payment directly from a family. All money goes through Remarkable Minds
• Do not accept, or offer, cash, loans, discounts or favours
• A small token of thanks at the end of a piece of work, a card or a box of chocolates, is fine. Anything of real value must be declined politely and reported to us
• Do not fundraise from a family, sell them anything, or promote another business to them
• Do not enter a personal, romantic or sexual relationship with a parent, carer or any member of the household of a child you work with
• Any relationship with a child, of any kind beyond the professional one, is absolutely prohibited, including after they turn 18 and after the work has ended
• Tell us straight away if a relationship, a conflict of interest or a personal connection develops so we can move the work to someone else

What you post in public reflects on the families who trust you.

• Never post about a child or a family, even without naming them. A detail plus a location is often enough to identify a child
• Never post a photograph, a piece of work, a screenshot or a quote from a session
• Do not connect with, follow, or accept a follow from a child on any platform
• Keep your personal accounts private and appropriate to someone working with children
• Do not speak to journalists or comment publicly about Remarkable Minds, a client organisation, or a safeguarding matter. Send the request to us
• Where you post professionally about SEND or neurodiversity, make clear you are speaking for yourself, and do not present yourself as able to assess or diagnose

We deal with breaches proportionately. A first, minor lapse (an untidy background, a late start) usually means a conversation and a note on your record. Repeated or more serious breaches escalate.

• Conversation and reminder for a minor, first-time issue, with a clear expectation for next time
• Written warning and, where it helps, a period of closer support or required training
• Suspension from taking new bookings while we look into something. Suspension is a neutral act and we will tell you the reason unless doing so would prejudice a safeguarding enquiry or a police investigation
• Investigation, in which you will be told what is alleged, given a fair chance to respond, and told the outcome in writing
• Removal from the network and termination of your agreement where the breach is serious or repeated
• Referral to the DBS, to a professional regulator, to the Local Authority Designated Officer or to the police where the law requires it or the circumstances warrant it

Some breaches will normally lead straight to removal: any conduct that puts a child at risk, taking a family off-platform, withholding a safeguarding concern, recording a session yourself, being alone in a house with a child, misrepresenting your qualifications, or failing to tell us that your DBS, insurance or registration has lapsed.

If you think a decision is wrong, you can challenge it through our complaints policy.

This code is owned by the Designated Safeguarding Lead and approved by the directors of Remarkable Minds Ltd. It is reviewed at least annually, and sooner following a change in guidance or any incident that shows a rule needs to be clearer.