🛡️ Mangorolla CIC Child Safeguarding Statement – I'm a Geoscientist, Get me out of here

Name of service being provided: I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here! and I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here! The service is run by Mangorolla CIC.

Nature of service and principles to safeguard children from harm:

I’m a Scientist is an online STEM activity connecting students with scientists and engineers. This activity is predominantly carried out in schools, although students can also access the website and participate from home. On the website, students can view scientists’ / engineers’ profiles, post questions to them and take part in live text-based chats. All site content is monitored and moderated by DBS-checked staff who are trained in our safeguarding procedures. Failure to comply with those procedures will be dealt with severely.

This safeguarding policy and procedure aims to ensure that every child, regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation, has a right to equal protection from harm, and keep them safe from adults and other children who might pose a risk.

Risk assessment

Below is a list of the risks to vulnerable people identified and the list of procedures for managing these risks.

The site – the website(s) on which the activities take place. For most events, this is imascientist.org.uk, imanengineer.org.uk, imascientist.ie,imanengineer.ie or imascientist.us

Risk identified Procedure in place to manage risk
Moderators, Scientists or Teachers are not who they register to be. Moderators undergo full employment checks including an enhanced DBS check. Scientists are verified by checking online work links and/or with their employer.Teachers are verified through use of a school email address or through contact with their school.
Candidates cause harm to students. This could be deliberate or inadvertently. No direct unsupervised contact takes place between candidates and students. All contact through the site is moderated. Attempts from candidates or students to share personal contact details will be removed by moderators. Answers or comments that could cause harm to students will be reviewed and removed if needed by moderators. Moderators will report incident to DSO who will contact authorities as required. In the case of school students this would normally be their class teacher.If the harm caused is thought to be deliberate the candidate will be suspended from the site immediately and the incident investigated by the DSO. If necessary the relevant legal authorities will be contacted.
Moderators or Mangorolla team cause harm to students or allow harm to students through negligence. Mangorolla team and moderators are subjected to UK DBS checks. Where possible, moderators who have previous experience with Mangorolla CIC are employed during events. The moderator position is advertised as an job within the field of science communication rather than an opportunity to work with children and young people. Moderator safeguarding training is reviewed regularly. Safeguarding policy and procedures are subject to review at any time, should a change be deemed necessary. All contact between Mangorolla team / moderators and students should be via the site or teacher.Live chats are spot-checked by the event management team and transcripts are chosen at random for checking post-event.
Moderators can have access to the site revoked at any time. Failure to comply with mandatory safeguarding policy and procedures will be addressed without delay and may ultimately result in dismissal/exclusion from the organisation and if relevant, legal authorities will be contacted.If the DSO is the cause of concern, this will be dealt with by the Executive Director. If the Executive Director is the cause of concern, this will be dealt with by the External Director.
Students cause harm to each other through the site or teachers cause harm to students through site All contact between students on the site is moderated by DBS checked moderators employed by Mangorolla. No direct unsupervised contact exists between teachers and students attending different schools. Attempts from teachers or students to share personal contact details will be removed by moderators.Moderators and teachers can delete comments in a live chat and suspend students from live chat. Users can be removed from the site at any time. Answers or comments that may cause harm to students will be intercepted by moderators.
Student makes a disclosure / comment that indicates they are at risk and this doesn’t get picked up by relevant professionals Mangorolla team members receive safeguarding training to help them identify and report concerns. Potential safeguarding concerns are reported confidentially by Moderators / Mangorolla team to the DSO and recorded on the Safeguarding Concern Record. DSO reviews concerns and actions where necessary.The DSO will spot-check random selections of profiles, Chat transcripts, questions, answers and comments to ensure no concerns have been missed by moderators. The concerns may be reported to the relevant National Authorities, such as CEOP (UK), or passed directly to the teacher of the relevant student(s). In absence of the DSO, the Executive Director picks up this responsibility.
Details of safeguarding concerns are accessed by people who could use this information to cause harm to students The Safeguarding Concern Record is confidential. Only the DSO and Executive Director have access to this document. Where necessary, concerns may be reported to the relevant National Authorities, such as CEOP (UK) or TUSLA (Ireland), or passed directly to the teacher of the relevant student(s).
Data breach resulting in site user data becoming public PCI Industry standard security is installed on our servers and all software is regularly updated and patched where required.Our Data Protection policy requires any data breach to be notified immediately to the Executive Director and where relevant to the ICO within 72 hours.
Misuse of data by a moderator of member of Mangorolla team to make direct contact with a student (not via moderated site). Failure to comply with mandatory safeguarding policy and procedures will be addressed without delay and may ultimately result in dismissal/exclusion from the organisation and if relevant, legal authorities will be contacted.The incident will be investigated by the DSO in the first instance and the Executive Director or External Director as necessary. The incident may be reported to the relevant National Authorities, such as CEOP (UK), or passed directly to the teacher of the relevant student(s) as appropriate.

Key roles/ terms in risk assessment:

Mangorolla team – full time, permanent staff who manage the events at Mangorolla CIC
Moderators – a team of temporary, remote staff who moderate content on the site
DSO – Designated Safeguarding Officer / Relevant Person, part of Mangorolla team. This person is the first point of contact in respect of the provider’s child safeguarding statement
Executive Director – of Mangorolla. Part of Mangorolla team, ultimately responsible for Mangorolla CIC and employees
External Director – sits on the Mangorolla CIC board of directors. Provides support and advice to the organisation. Not part of Mangorolla team
Candidates – participating scientists and engineers
Teachers – those who are participating with their students
Students – children taking part in event with their teacher
Users – any teacher, student or member of the public taking part in an event (not candidates)

Procedures

Our Child Safeguarding Statement has been developed in line with requirements under the Children First Act 2015, the Children First: National Guidance, and Tusla’s Child Safeguarding: A Guide for Policy, Procedure and Practice.

Our safeguarding policy and procedures are available upon request.

Implementation

We recognise that implementation is an ongoing process. Our service is committed to the implementation of this Child Safeguarding Statement and the procedures that support our intention to keep children safe from harm while availing of our service.

This Child Safeguarding Statement will be reviewed on 30th May 2025, or as soon as practicable after there has been a material change in any matter to which the statement refers.

Signed: – Hannah Higson

Provider’s name and contact details: Mangorolla CIC, 7-9 North Parade Buildings, Bath, BA1 1NS, UK

For queries, please contact Hannah Higson, hannah@mangorol.la – Designated Safeguarding Officer / Relevant Person under the Children First Act 2015.

Risk identified	Procedure in place to manage risk
Moderators, Scientists or Teachers are not who they register to be.	Moderators undergo full employment checks including an enhanced DBS check. Scientists are verified by checking online work links and/or with their employer.Teachers are verified through use of a school email address or through contact with their school.
Candidates cause harm to students. This could be deliberate or inadvertently.	No direct unsupervised contact takes place between candidates and students. All contact through the site is moderated. Attempts from candidates or students to share personal contact details will be removed by moderators. Answers or comments that could cause harm to students will be reviewed and removed if needed by moderators. Moderators will report incident to DSO who will contact authorities as required. In the case of school students this would normally be their class teacher.If the harm caused is thought to be deliberate the candidate will be suspended from the site immediately and the incident investigated by the DSO. If necessary the relevant legal authorities will be contacted.
Moderators or Mangorolla team cause harm to students or allow harm to students through negligence.	Mangorolla team and moderators are subjected to UK DBS checks. Where possible, moderators who have previous experience with Mangorolla CIC are employed during events. The moderator position is advertised as an job within the field of science communication rather than an opportunity to work with children and young people. Moderator safeguarding training is reviewed regularly. Safeguarding policy and procedures are subject to review at any time, should a change be deemed necessary. All contact between Mangorolla team / moderators and students should be via the site or teacher.Live chats are spot-checked by the event management team and transcripts are chosen at random for checking post-event. Moderators can have access to the site revoked at any time. Failure to comply with mandatory safeguarding policy and procedures will be addressed without delay and may ultimately result in dismissal/exclusion from the organisation and if relevant, legal authorities will be contacted.If the DSO is the cause of concern, this will be dealt with by the Executive Director. If the Executive Director is the cause of concern, this will be dealt with by the External Director.
Students cause harm to each other through the site or teachers cause harm to students through site	All contact between students on the site is moderated by DBS checked moderators employed by Mangorolla. No direct unsupervised contact exists between teachers and students attending different schools. Attempts from teachers or students to share personal contact details will be removed by moderators.Moderators and teachers can delete comments in a live chat and suspend students from live chat. Users can be removed from the site at any time. Answers or comments that may cause harm to students will be intercepted by moderators.
Student makes a disclosure / comment that indicates they are at risk and this doesn’t get picked up by relevant professionals	Mangorolla team members receive safeguarding training to help them identify and report concerns. Potential safeguarding concerns are reported confidentially by Moderators / Mangorolla team to the DSO and recorded on the Safeguarding Concern Record. DSO reviews concerns and actions where necessary.The DSO will spot-check random selections of profiles, Chat transcripts, questions, answers and comments to ensure no concerns have been missed by moderators. The concerns may be reported to the relevant National Authorities, such as CEOP (UK), or passed directly to the teacher of the relevant student(s). In absence of the DSO, the Executive Director picks up this responsibility.
Details of safeguarding concerns are accessed by people who could use this information to cause harm to students	The Safeguarding Concern Record is confidential. Only the DSO and Executive Director have access to this document. Where necessary, concerns may be reported to the relevant National Authorities, such as CEOP (UK) or TUSLA (Ireland), or passed directly to the teacher of the relevant student(s).
Data breach resulting in site user data becoming public	PCI Industry standard security is installed on our servers and all software is regularly updated and patched where required.Our Data Protection policy requires any data breach to be notified immediately to the Executive Director and where relevant to the ICO within 72 hours.
Misuse of data by a moderator of member of Mangorolla team to make direct contact with a student (not via moderated site).	Failure to comply with mandatory safeguarding policy and procedures will be addressed without delay and may ultimately result in dismissal/exclusion from the organisation and if relevant, legal authorities will be contacted.The incident will be investigated by the DSO in the first instance and the Executive Director or External Director as necessary. The incident may be reported to the relevant National Authorities, such as CEOP (UK), or passed directly to the teacher of the relevant student(s) as appropriate.