Know where you stand. Find where you fit.

1. Why This Document Exists

Totally Teach's involvement with a teacher does not end the moment a placement is made. This statement exists so that a school, a teacher, or anyone else can see exactly what Totally Teach does if a safeguarding concern reaches it, before, during, or after a placement, and so that Totally Teach's own team has a single, consistent process to follow rather than making it up case by case.

2. Our Role, and Its Limits

Totally Teach is a placement agency. It is not the employer of any teacher it places, and it has no disciplinary or contractual authority over a teacher once that teacher is employed by a school. This matters for what "escalate" means in this document: Totally Teach cannot suspend, dismiss or investigate a teacher directly. What it can do is:

• Stop putting a candidate forward, or withdraw a candidate already in process, at any point before placement;
• Pass a concern, promptly and in writing, to the people who do have authority to act: the employing school, and where appropriate the relevant local authority or regulator;
• Refuse to work with, or end its relationship with, a school that does not respond appropriately to a concern raised with it;
• Keep a permanent record that prevents a rejected or concerning candidate from quietly reappearing through Totally Teach in future.

Every escalation route in Section 6 is written with this limit in mind: Totally Teach's job is to receive, record, assess and pass on, not to investigate or adjudicate.

3. What Counts as a Concern

A concern is any information that raises a question about a child's safety or an adult's suitability to work with children. It can be small, unconfirmed, or second-hand. It does not need to be proven, or even clearly described, to be worth recording. Examples include (this list is not exhaustive):

• Something a referee says, or avoids saying, about a candidate during the safer recruitment process;
• A disclosure or allegation made by a child, parent, or colleague about a placed teacher;
• A teacher raising a concern about how a school is handling a child protection matter;
• A pattern noticed across multiple placements at the same school (for example, several teachers leaving suddenly, or repeated reluctance to engage with the safer recruitment process);
• Information that comes from outside a formal report altogether: a comment in passing, something seen on social media, a rumour that keeps recurring.

4. How Concerns Reach Us

A concern can arrive through any channel: a phone call, an email, a WeChat message, something said in passing during a placement check-in. Whoever it reaches, at Totally Teach, is responsible for passing it to the Designated Safeguarding Contact (DSC) on the same day. No member of staff should sit on a concern, decide it is not serious enough to mention, or try to resolve it informally themselves.

This applies regardless of who the concern is about, including if it concerns a school that is a valuable client, or a teacher who is well liked. The process below does not change based on the relationship.

5. What We Do When a Concern Reaches Us

1. 1. Receive

   Whoever receives the concern listens, does not promise confidentiality they cannot keep, and does not investigate or question in detail themselves.

   Timescale: Immediately

2. 2. Record

   Passed to the DSC and logged on a Concern Record in the person's own words, with date, time, and who was involved.

   Timescale: Same day

3. 3. Assess

   DSC assesses whether this is: (a) a candidate suitability issue during recruitment, (b) a concern about a placed teacher, (c) a concern about how a school is responding to a safeguarding matter, or (d) a whistleblowing disclosure about Totally Teach itself.

   Timescale: Within 24 hours

4. 4. Escalate

   DSC follows the relevant route in Section 6 and records who it was passed to and when.

   Timescale: As set out in Section 6

5. 5. Follow up

   DSC checks that the party escalated to has acknowledged and is acting on the concern; if not, DSC escalates further per 6.3.

   Timescale: Within 5 working days

6. 6. Close and review

   Once resolved, the DSC records the outcome and reviews whether the safer recruitment process or this statement needs to change as a result.

   Timescale: At resolution

6. Escalation Routes

6.1 Concern about a candidate, during recruitment

• Recruitment paused immediately: the candidate is not put forward while the concern is assessed.
• DSC reviews against the Safer Recruitment Checklist and decides whether to continue, pause pending further checks, or reject.
• A rejection on safeguarding grounds is recorded permanently on the candidate's file, regardless of whether the candidate later reapplies.

6.2 Concern about a teacher already placed

• DSC contacts the employing school's own designated safeguarding lead (or most senior available contact if none is named) in writing, the same day where the concern suggests any immediate risk to a child.
• Totally Teach does not attempt to investigate the concern itself. Its role is to ensure the school is aware and acting, and to check in on that.
• Where the concern also raises a question about how Totally Teach's own pre-recruitment checks were carried out, the DSC reviews the candidate's original file against the Safer Recruitment Checklist.
• Where local law requires it, or where a child may be at immediate risk, the concern is also reported directly to the relevant local authority or police, in parallel with informing the school, not instead of it.

6.3 School not responding adequately

If a school does not acknowledge a concern, does not appear to be acting on it, or responds in a way that itself raises a safeguarding question, the DSC escalates beyond the individual contact:

• To a more senior contact at the school (e.g. Head/Principal or board), in writing, referencing the original concern and date it was raised;
• To the relevant local authority, regulator, or, where one exists, the school's accrediting or licensing body;
• Internally, to Rowena Minney as founder, to decide whether Totally Teach continues placing candidates with that school at all.

A school's failure to respond is itself treated as a concern, logged and reviewed in the same way as the original issue.

6.4 Concern raised by a teacher about a school

• Treated with the same seriousness as a concern about a teacher: logged, assessed by the DSC, and not dismissed as a candidate simply having a difficult placement.
• Where it relates to a child's safety, the same escalation as 6.2 applies.
• Where it relates to the teacher's own treatment or welfare rather than a child's safety directly, Totally Teach supports the teacher to raise it formally with the school and, where relevant, signposts to local employment or welfare support, recognising Totally Teach is not the teacher's employer and cannot resolve an employment dispute itself.

6.5 Whistleblowing about Totally Teach itself

• Any member of staff, candidate, teacher, or school with a concern about how Totally Teach itself is handling safeguarding can raise it directly with Rowena Minney, bypassing the DSC if the concern is about the DSC.
• Recorded and reviewed in the same way as any other concern, with the review shared with Rowena Minney regardless of outcome.

7. Confidentiality

Information about a concern is shared only with those who need it to keep a child safe or to act on the concern. It is never discussed more widely within Totally Teach, and never shared with a candidate, teacher or school beyond what is necessary for them to respond appropriately. Concern Records are retained in line with our retention approach.

8. Review

This statement is reviewed alongside the Safeguarding Policy: annually, and immediately after any concern that tests or exposes a gap in the routes above.