Safeguarding policy

This policy applies to children and young people using Chalk, and to the adults responsible for their use of the service:

• parents and carers;
• tutors;
• teachers and school staff; and
• schools and other education organisations using Chalk.

Children use Chalk through profiles managed by a responsible adult. Children under 13 do not hold their own Chalk accounts.

Every message a learner sends during a lesson is checked against predefined safeguarding patterns before Chalk responds to it. This includes anything:

• typed into the lesson;
• spoken using the microphone and converted to text;
• given as an answer to a practice question; or
• sent at another point during the lesson.

These checks run independently of the AI model. The AI cannot decide to ignore, alter or override a safeguarding trigger.

Chalk is looking for particular patterns in language. It does not analyse a child’s emotions, diagnose their mental health or decide whether abuse has taken place.

The safeguarding check is designed to recognise clear statements that may indicate a learner needs help, including statements about:

• wanting to hurt or harm themselves;
• being hurt, harmed or abused by someone;
• being bullied;
• being frightened of someone or somewhere they have to go; or
• feeling unsafe at home or elsewhere.

These are examples of the kinds of concern the system is designed to recognise. They are not a complete list of every phrase that could trigger it.

We do not publish the exact trigger patterns, because doing so could make it easier to deliberately work around the safeguard.

When a safeguarding pattern is detected:

1. The lesson stops. The normal lesson ends immediately. Chalk does not continue teaching, asking questions or discussing the concerning statement, and the lesson cannot be restarted from that screen.
2. The learner is shown a calm safeguarding message. They are encouraged to tell a trusted adult, and shown details for Childline on 0800 1111. Where there is immediate danger, they are directed to 999.
3. The lesson receives a safeguarding flag. The flag is attached to the lesson so the responsible account holder can see that the safeguard was triggered. It records the type of pattern that matched, rather than an AI-generated assessment of what happened.

A safeguarding flag means Chalk detected language matching one of its predefined safeguarding patterns. It does not mean Chalk has confirmed that abuse, self-harm, bullying or another safeguarding incident has taken place. It should still be taken seriously.

If you are the responsible adult and see a safeguarding flag, speak with the child in a calm and appropriate way, and consider whether further support or safeguarding action is needed.

If you believe a child is at immediate risk, call 999.

If you are concerned about a child and it is not an emergency, you can contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000. You can also contact the children’s social care team at the child’s local council.

When the safeguarding feature is triggered, Chalk does not:

• call the police or emergency services;
• contact Childline on the learner’s behalf;
• automatically telephone, text or email a parent or carer;
• automatically make a referral to children’s social care;
• make a safeguarding diagnosis;
• investigate what the child has said; or
• have a member of staff watching the lesson live.

For family accounts, the safeguarding flag in the learner’s lesson history is the product alert available to the responsible account holder.

Schools should continue to follow their own safeguarding and child-protection procedures when responding to any concern involving a pupil.

No automated safeguarding system can recognise every situation in which a child may need help. A child may describe something using language that does not match Chalk’s safeguarding patterns. Speech may also occasionally be transcribed incorrectly, and innocent words or phrases may sometimes match a safeguarding rule. This means Chalk may:

• miss a genuine concern; or
• stop a lesson where there was no safeguarding concern.

Chalk should never be used as a substitute for appropriate adult supervision, professional judgement or a school’s safeguarding procedures. If something about a child’s behaviour or circumstances concerns you, do not wait for Chalk to produce a safeguarding flag before acting.

Sometimes a learner uses a safeguarding-related phrase while discussing a book, a historical event, a classroom example or a hypothetical situation. If the phrase matches one of Chalk’s safeguarding rules, the lesson may still stop.

We deliberately prefer an occasional unnecessary pause to allowing the AI itself to decide that potentially serious language should be ignored.

If you believe a lesson was stopped incorrectly, report it to us so we can review how the safeguarding rule behaved.

Safeguarding information is handled in accordance with our Privacy Notice. The safeguarding flag records the type of pattern that was triggered. It is not intended to create an AI assessment, diagnosis or judgement about the learner.

Lesson information is only handled for the purposes explained in our Privacy Notice. Chalk does not sell children’s personal information, and does not use children’s lesson conversations to train general-purpose AI models.

Chalk is designed to support learning. It does not supervise a child. If you are responsible for a learner using Chalk, you should:

• make sure they know they can speak to you or another trusted adult if something is worrying them;
• check their lesson history and any safeguarding flags;
• take concerns seriously even where Chalk has not detected them;
• seek appropriate professional support when necessary; and
• call 999 if you believe a child is in immediate danger.

Chalk is a learning tool and does not replace a school’s safeguarding procedures. Schools using Chalk remain responsible for safeguarding their pupils in accordance with their own policies and applicable statutory guidance.

A safeguarding concern identified through Chalk should be handled through the school’s established safeguarding process, including referral to the school’s Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) where appropriate.

If a school believes Chalk has failed to detect a concern, incorrectly triggered a safeguard, or behaved in a way that could affect pupil safety, report it to education@hichalk.com.

For urgent concerns about the safety of a child, use the appropriate safeguarding or emergency service rather than waiting for a response from HiChalk.

Safeguarding is one part of Chalk’s wider approach to keeping learners within a controlled learning environment. Chalk can only research from a restricted list of approved educational sources, and that restriction is enforced by the software rather than left to the AI model to decide.

Chalk cannot use its research tools to:

• access social media;
• make purchases;
• create accounts; or
• freely browse websites outside its approved educational sources.

These controls reduce the places Chalk can reach. They do not replace appropriate supervision when children use the internet or digital learning tools.

Contact us if you are concerned about something that happened while a child was using Chalk, including where you believe the safeguarding system:

• failed to recognise a concerning statement;
• stopped a lesson incorrectly;
• displayed inappropriate information; or
• behaved in another way that could affect a learner’s safety.

Families and general safeguarding enquiries

hello@hichalk.com

Schools and education organisations

education@hichalk.com

Please do not use these addresses for an emergency. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

For children and young people

Childline — 0800 1111. Free and confidential support for children and young people.

For adults worried about a child

NSPCC Helpline — 0808 800 5000. The NSPCC can give advice if you are concerned about a child’s safety or wellbeing. You can also contact the children’s social care team at the child’s local council.

In an emergency

Call 999 if a child or anyone else is in immediate danger.

We review this policy as Chalk changes, and when our safeguarding processes or relevant guidance change.

Last reviewed: August 2026. Next review: August 2027, or sooner if there is a significant change to Chalk or our safeguarding arrangements.