ONLINE CLASS RECORDING & SAFEGUARDING INFORMATION.

WHAM Theatre Schools is committed to providing a safe, and supportive environment for all of our students, team members and customers. We understand the importance of safeguarding for parents/guardians when children participate in online classes. This notice explains how we manage online class data, risks and recordings with your child's safety, privacy, and development at heart.

How do we handle online class recordings?

To protect privacy while maintaining high safeguarding standards, our online classes operate under two clear approaches:

• Two Team Members Present: When two vetted team members are on the live call, we do not record the video session. Instead, we use secure AI meeting notes and summaries to maintain a robust safeguarding and administrative paper trail.
• Solo Teacher Sessions: When a single teacher runs a class alone (for example, a one-to-one piano lesson, or teaching a group class without a second team member), video recording is switched on. This ensures complete safeguarding protection for both the teacher and student while providing a helpful learning resource that children can revisit if required (within the 30-day storage period).

How do we protect and store recordings?

Your child's privacy and data security are our top priorities:

• Strict 30-Day Limit: All video recordings and AI-generated notes are stored securely in Google Vault, our enterprise-grade password-protected storage system within Google Workspace. This provides tamper-proof storage, audit trails, and automated 30-day deletion. They are never stored on personal devices or unencrypted folders.
• AI Data Training Opt-Out: We use enterprise-grade settings that ensure meeting transcripts and notes are never used by third-party providers to train AI models.
• Restricted Access: Only authorised WHAM personnel can access recordings or notes. They are never shared publicly or stored on unencrypted devices.

Can parents request a copy of a recording?

This only applies to classes where a teacher is running the session alone. Copies are only provided under exceptional circumstances and for a specific, legitimate educational or practice reason, for example practicing a specific routine for an upcoming performance or catching up on missed material due to illness. They are not available on general request. Where approved, we provide secure time-limited streaming links (not downloadable files) focused only on your child.

Parent/Guardian Participation.

We encourage & invite parents and guardians to be present and visible during online classes. Your presence is a great way to support your child's learning, and it also helps us maintain a safe, open environment for everyone.

One-to-One Online Sessions.

For any one-to-one online session with a student under 18, we require either that a parent or guardian is present on the call, or that the session is recorded. Recording is strongly recommended as it provides the best safeguarding protection for both your child and our staff.

Your responsibility during online classes

We want every child to feel safe and supported during online sessions. Because children join from home, parents and guardians play an important part in online safety too. We also want you to know that if we observe any concerning behaviour or environment on screen during a class call, we take our safeguarding duties seriously and may report our concerns to the relevant authorities to help keep children safe.

• A secure connection and safe device: Please ensure your internet connection is secure and that your child uses an appropriate, supervised device and online environment during class calls, including steps to prevent access to harmful or inappropriate content during the session.

• Stay nearby and monitor your child's activity throughout the class, just as you would in any activity.

Working together to keep children safe.

The safety and wellbeing of every child is at the heart of everything we do. If we ever see or become aware of behaviour or content during a class that raises a safeguarding concern, we will take appropriate action. This may include speaking with you directly or, where necessary, reporting our concerns to the relevant authorities or agencies. Our priority is always to make sure every child is safe, supported, and protected. If you have a concern you can also speak to our Safeguarding Coordinator directly, or contact the thirtyone:eight Safeguarding Helpline on 0303 003 1111 for independent advice.

Useful online safety resources:

• CEOP (Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre)
  Report online abuse: ceop.police.uk - If a child is in immediate danger, call 999

• Childline
  Call 0800 1111 (free, 24/7)
  childline.org.uk



• NSPCC
  Call 0808 800 5000 (Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm)
  Email help@nspcc.org.uk
  nspcc.org.uk

• ICO (Information Commissioner's Office)
  Call 0303 123 1113 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm)
  ico.org.uk

• Kidscape - kidscape.org.uk (anti-bullying support and resources for young people)
• YoungMinds - youngminds.org.uk (mental health support for young people)
• Childnet - childnet.com (helping make the internet a safe place for children)

Any questions?

If you have any questions about how we run our online classes or manage data security, you can read our GDPR Policy by clicking here.

Alternatively, please contact us at info@whamtheatreschools.com if you have any further questions.