Safeguarding at Stoodo

Stoodo is a study app for students aged 15 and over. Most of them are under 18. This is how we look out for them.

If you're in danger right now, call 999. Stoodo is not an emergency service.

What is checked

• What a student types is checked by a separate AI safety check before the main AI sees it.
• Photos and PDFs are not checked first. The AI that reads them must say if they suggest someone is at risk.
• If the check can't run, the request is refused.

What happens when something is flagged

• The student sees a calm message and the help lines below, straight away, day or night.
• Our safeguarding lead is told, without the student's name or words, and reads the flag on a private screen.
• We aim to look at an urgent flag within 4 hours between 8am and 10pm. One that comes in at night waits until the morning. Others, within 24 hours.
• If someone is in danger now, we call 999. We may take advice from the NSPCC Helpline, or tell a college's safeguarding lead where we have agreed that with the college.

Who sees it

Only our safeguarding lead. No teacher, college or other student is told automatically.

Parents and carers

• A linked parent is told only for self-harm, and only while the student is under 18. They get a dated note, never what the student wrote. Never for abuse.
• The student is told when a parent has been let know.
• Students aged 18 and over are adults. Their family is contacted only with their consent, or if there is a serious risk right now.

Help lines

• Talk to someone you trust: a parent, carer, teacher or friend.
• Childline: call 0800 1111 (free, 24 hours) or chat at childline.org.uk.
• Samaritans: call 116 123 (free, 24 hours).
• Shout: text SHOUT to 85258 (free, 24 hours).
• If you're in danger right now, call 999.

Records

• A flag, with up to 1,000 characters of the words, is kept for 90 days, then deleted.
• A short record that it was reviewed, without the words, is kept for 12 months.
• If we acted on a flag, the lead keeps a short written note outside the app: until the student turns 25, or for 6 years if they were 18 or over. It is encrypted and never emailed.

Who is responsible

Chris Merricks, Stoodo's founder, is the safeguarding lead. There is no deputy. He acts on best endeavours: he is one person, not a 24-hour team. He has a DBS check.

Raising a worry

• Email hello@stoodo.app.
• About how Stoodo handles safeguarding, or about anyone who works on it: the NSPCC Whistleblowing Advice Line, 0800 028 0285, or the local authority designated officer (LADO) where the child lives. In an emergency, call 999.

Approved 21 October 2026. Next review October 2027.