How we vet tutors before they teach
No one is approved to teach on Trellis until every step below is recorded as passed — our system won’t let a tutor be approved otherwise. If a tutor fails any one of them, they are not approved.
- Government ID and selfie checked. We review their national ID and match it to a selfie — we know exactly who is teaching.
- Qualifications and work history. Certificates and employment or school references are checked against the documents they upload.
- Two referee checks. We contact both referees ourselves and ask the questions parents would want asked.
- Competency assessment. Subject knowledge is tested — never assumed from a CV.
- A live demo lesson. We watch them teach before they’re approved. Knowing maths isn’t teaching maths.
- An interview. A conversation with our team about their teaching, their availability and our safeguarding standard.
- Police clearance — not by default. Tutors are not police-checked by default. Trellis may ask for a police clearance for some tutors or regions; a tutor’s profile says so only when a check is on file.
Recording online lessons with children
Online lessons with a child are recorded only when a parent has given consent. Recordings are private to the parent and Trellis staff — never shared with other students or made public — and are kept for 180 days, then deleted.
The recording is available to you, the parent, and to our admins, and access is logged.
What we ask of every tutor
Tutors accept our policies before they are approved: a safeguarding standard, consent for recording where a minor is involved, and a rule against taking lessons off the platform. Contact details are masked until an engagement is confirmed.
If something is wrong, tell us
If you ever have a concern about a tutor or a lesson, contact a Learning Advisor immediately. We investigate every report, and a tutor who breaches our standards is removed from the platform.