Safeguarding
How safeguarding works in Skilly
A plain-English map of exactly what happens when a pupil writes a reflection: what the AI looks for, who is alerted, and when. Built so a teacher knows the answer before they ever ask the question.
The teacher’s worry, answered up front
“If a pupil discloses something, does it land on me to catch it instantly, at all hours?”No. Skilly reads every reflection automatically, surfaces only genuine concerns to the school’s care team, and never asks a teacher to be the net. The AI proposes; a human always decides what happens next. Skilly contacts no pupil and no parent on its own.
What happens when a pupil submits
Step 1 · the pupil
A pupil writes a reflection and presses submit
The reflection is saved immediately, 24/7. From here, two completely separate things happen. They never interfere with each other.
Track A · Feedback (teacher-controlled)
- • The teacher sees the reflection immediately in their portal.
- • The pupil sees their formative feedback when the school chooses: instant, or after 24 / 48 / 72 hours / a custom delay, so the teacher can review first.
- • The teacher can override, edit or release any feedback. The teacher always has the final word.
Track B · Safeguarding (always immediate)
- • The AI scans the reflection for a safeguarding signal the instant it’s submitted, 24/7.
- • This is never delayed by the feedback setting above.
- • For an EAL pupil writing in their home language, the scan runs on their original words, not a translation. The flag quote is then translated to English so the log stays reviewable.
- • It only surfaces a genuine concern. See the bar below.
Step 2 · the bar: both must be true
A flag is raised only when BOTH apply
(A) A SPECIFIC personal signal: a real incident, person, intention or disclosure, not a generic feeling or on-topic curriculum answer. AND (B) the school's designated safeguarding lead would see it as a reasonable basis to log or refer under its statutory safeguarding duty. If either is uncertain, nothing is flagged.
Step 3 · the three outcomes
HIGH
Immediate-risk disclosure
Self-harm or suicidal ideation, abuse disclosure, named ongoing bullying, clear intent. → Real-time email alert + an escalation chase if unacknowledged. Each school chooses who is alerted: its Wellbeing Coordinators, or only the pupil's class teacher and the DLP, escalating to the Deputy DLP.
MEDIUM
Same-day check-in
A specific personal disclosure that isn't immediate-risk. → Logged in the safeguarding queue for review. No immediate page, but if nobody acknowledges it, a reminder is emailed after a day and escalated after three, always in school hours.
NOTHING
Below the bar
Normal teenage venting, on-curriculum engagement, vague or hypothetical distress. → Not flagged at all. This is what keeps the queue meaningful.
Also watched · patterns, not just words
Three low check-ins in a row
The daily mood check-in watches for quiet declines too: when a pupil's last three check-ins are all low mood, a medium flag lands in the same queue automatically. A pupil doesn't have to write a word for a sustained dip to reach the safeguarding team. Schools can switch this off in settings.
Also watched · a fall since last time
A prompt to check in, not an alert
When a pupil's WHO-5 score drops by 10 points or more since their last one, or their wellbeing survey falls clearly, the Wellbeing Coordinator sees them under Recent declines. It's a nudge to have a quiet word, kept apart from the safeguarding queue. Nobody is emailed about a named pupil, and the pupil never sees it. Staff mark each one checked in or dismissed.
Also watched · teacher judgement
Staff can raise a flag themselves
The AI is the safety net, not the gatekeeper. A teacher who reads a reflection and sees something the scan missed logs a concern in two taps, without leaving the marking screen. It enters the same alert queue, marked as staff-raised, with the same paging and audit trail.
Also · the pupil can ask
A pupil can ask to talk to an adult
From the support panel, a pupil can tap 'I'd like to talk to someone', pick an adult from their list or say anyone they trust is fine, choose how soon, and add a short note if they want to. The adult is emailed and sees it in Skilly, and the staff who receive the school's safeguarding alerts see every request. A request isn't a flag, but the note goes through the same AI scan, so a disclosure becomes a real alert. The pupil is told plainly that requests aren't watched around the clock, and is shown the helplines.
Step 4 · the HIGH alert (in school hours)
Who is paged, within seconds
Coordinators, admins, the pupil's class teacher and the pupil's Year Head, or their class tutor in schools that use tutors instead. Schools that route alerts to their DLP alone choose whether Year Heads and tutors are included. If nobody acknowledges within 30 minutes it escalates again; at 120 minutes the Principal is added. A human always decides the action. Skilly never contacts a pupil or parent itself.
Into your record system
One click into CPOMS, MyConcern or your DSL's inbox
If your school keeps its safeguarding chronology in a recording system, any alert exports as a structured record — pupil, category, severity votes, the pupil's words, and the full action log — emailed to the intake address your admin configures. The export is stamped into the alert's timeline and the audit log, so the chain of custody is complete on both sides.
What about evenings, weekends & holidays?
Schools can’t action an alert at 2am or mid-holiday, so out of hours Skilly behaves honestly without ever losing the signal:
The record is never delayed
The reflection is saved and AI-scanned immediately, 24/7. The school is never holding an unread disclosure.
Only the staff alert waits
A HIGH alert queues to the next school morning instead of paging overnight, then fires at school-open with the flag at the top of the queue.
The pupil is never left waiting
They see an honest panel: a teacher may not see this until school reopens, so talk to a trusted adult, free 24/7 services, or 999/112 if in danger.
Schools set their own hours and holidays, and can opt to alert a nominated out-of-hours contact for immediate-risk cases instead of queueing.
The pupil always has somewhere to turn, every hour of every day
On every submission, the pupil sees a calm “you could contact” panel: a trusted adult (parent/guardian first), the school’s support contacts, and the free national crisis services for their country, surfaced automatically by region for Ireland, the UK and the US. This never depends on a staff member being online. They can also ask, from inside Skilly, to talk to an adult at school. That request is seen during the school day, and the panel says so.