The short version
Every tutor on loop is a registered New Zealand teacher with a current practising certificate, checked by us before they teach. Every lesson is recorded. Every tutor has signed a safeguarding policy that sets out what they may and may not do. If you are worried about anything, patrick@loop.study or 021 044 9582 reaches Patrick Helsby, loop’s founder and named safeguarding contact.
Who is allowed to teach
Before anyone teaches a single lesson on loop, they must:
- be registered with the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand and hold a current practising certificate;
- give us their Teaching Council registration number, which a person at loop checks against the public register — not a form that ticks itself;
- complete our identity verification;
- sign our Child Safety, Safeguarding and Professional Boundaries Policy and our tutor agreement.
We record the expiry date of every practising certificate and check it continuously. A tutor whose certificate lapses stops receiving students that day, automatically, until it is renewed.
About Police vetting
The Teaching Council Police-vets teachers as part of issuing and renewing a practising certificate. loop relies on that rather than running a duplicate check. We say this plainly because it matters: a current practising certificate is the vetting.
Mandatory safety checking under the Children’s Act 2014 applies to government-funded services such as schools, not to a private platform like loop. We hold this standard because we think it is the right one, not because we are required to — and if that ever changes, or if loop takes on funded work, we will meet whatever additional checks apply.
Every lesson is recorded
Not some lessons, and not on request — every one. Both the student and the tutor are told before they join, and a recording indicator is visible for as long as the lesson is being recorded.
A recorded lesson is a lesson that can be checked. If you ever raise a concern, we are not asking a child and an adult to recall what was said. What is recorded, who can see it and how long we keep it are set out in our recording notice.
What tutors have agreed not to do
The full policy runs to seventeen sections. The boundaries that matter most to a parent:
- All contact stays inside loop. A tutor may not give a student their personal phone number, email or social media, may not add or message a student on any personal account, and may not move a lesson to another platform.
- No meeting in person, and no arranging private paid tutoring outside loop.
- No secrecy. A tutor may not ask a student to keep anything between the two of them, and may not promise secrecy if a child discloses something.
- No separate recording. A tutor may not record, screenshot or download a lesson themselves, and may not disable loop’s recording.
- No gifts, money or favours beyond nominal value, in either direction.
- Professional setting. Lessons are taught from a private space where other people cannot see or overhear your child.
If a tutor is concerned about your child
Tutors are told to raise a safeguarding concern rather than investigate it, and that they do not need proof before speaking up. They are also told that nothing in our policy stops them making a direct report to Oranga Tamariki or the Police, and that they must not wait for loop to be available before making an urgent one.
If you are concerned about a tutor
Tell us. A concern is taken seriously regardless of how experienced or well-reviewed the tutor is.
- We may suspend a tutor immediately while we look into it. Suspension is a precaution, not a finding.
- We review the recording of the lesson in question.
- A tutor who is the subject of a concern must not contact you or your child about it.
- Where it is required or appropriate, we report to the Police, Oranga Tamariki or the Teaching Council. We do not treat that as a last resort.
Nobody is disadvantaged for raising a concern in good faith — parent, student or tutor.
Who to contact
Patrick Helsby, Founder and CEO — loop’s safeguarding contact
patrick@loop.study · 021 044 9582
If a child is in immediate danger, call the Police on 111 first. Do not wait for us. Tell us afterwards.
- Oranga Tamariki: 0508 326 459
- New Zealand Police, non-emergency: 105
Keeping this current
We review this policy when the law, the technology or our own practice changes, and where an urgent change is needed to protect children we make it immediately.
Last updated 8 September 2026.