Safeguarding
Before you book, you'll want to know exactly who your child is in a room with, and exactly how the online side works.
We both hold an Enhanced DBS check with the barred list.
Duke and Joe, both current, and both on the DBS Update Service so they're rechecked every year rather than sitting in a drawer going stale. Ask to see them whenever you like.
You're welcome to sit in on the first lesson.
Most parents do, and it's a good idea. You see the room, you meet whoever's teaching, and you watch how it actually goes.
After that, most kids get on better if you're not in there.
Not because we want you out of the way, but because a ten-year-old being watched by their mum plays for their mum. One who isn't, gets on with making mistakes and working out what sounds right, and that's where the learning actually happens.
You're always welcome to pop in towards the end of a session when they're closing in on a song. It's a great moment to see their progress.
Adults and under-18s share the community. They don't share practice videos.
There's one Press Play community forum and all ages are in it together. Your child talks to adult students in channels you can read, and both of us read every one of them.
What isn't shared is submissions. Every under-18 gets a private thread holding your family and the two of us and nobody else. No other student and no other parent sees your child play.
Your child will see adults practising, and that's deliberate.
Adult students post their rough attempts where the whole community can watch.
A nervous eleven-year-old needs to see an adult miss the same fill four times and carry on. The adults supply that. Your child gets the benefit without putting anything of their own out there.
Under 13, you hold the account and post for them.
Discord's own rules don't allow accounts for under-13s. From 13 up they can have their own account if you'd prefer.
Nobody in Press Play messages anybody privately.
Not us to a student, not one member to another, not an adult to a child. The same rule binds everyone and everyone agrees to it in writing before they get an invite.
Feedback on your child's video happens in your family's thread, where you can read all of it. If something needs saying privately, it gets said to you.
And the honest bit about direct messages, because you should hear it from us.
The Discord app gives no server owner a switch that stops two members messaging each other privately. So we do the three things that are actually available.
Everyone is asked to turn direct messages off for this server on the day they join, and we walk them through it. Nobody uses a made-up name, so there are no anonymous accounts in there. And messaging any other member privately gets you removed, with no second conversation about it.
If anyone ever messages your child, screenshot it and tell me. The sender comes off the server that day, and we keep a record of what happened.
Nothing with your child in it goes up without your written OK.
We ask at the start, in writing, before anything is posted. Not a tick box buried in a form.
If you change your mind later, tell us and it comes down. You don't have to explain why.
There's one channel where we put a handful of finished clips a week, chosen by us. Your child's playing only ever appears there if you've ticked that box specifically, and it's a separate question from everything else on the form.
The platform is doing some of the work too.
Discord runs its own age checks and applies teen-by-default settings, which rolled out worldwide in 2026 after being tested in the UK under the Online Safety Act. Confirmed under-18s get safety settings that can't be switched off, including by them, and messages from people they don't know are routed into a separate request inbox rather than straight into their chat. (Discord's policy, last checked August 2026.)
No bots, no public listing, no open invite.
There are no third-party bots in the server, so nobody outside the two of us can read what's in there. It isn't listed in Discord's public directory and can't be found by searching. Every invite is single-use and goes to one named person, so there's no link floating about that someone could pass on.
If you're ever worried about anything, come to Duke first.
Speak to me in person, or email me at duke@dukegrooves.com.
If your concern is about me, email Joe instead, at joeparkdrums@gmail.com. He doesn't need my permission to act on it, and he won't ask you why you came to him rather than to me.
If it's about either of us, or you'd just rather not come to us at all, go straight to the Local Authority Designated Officer at South Gloucestershire Council on 01454 868508 Monday to Friday, or 01454 615165 out of hours and at weekends, or to the police. The LADO is the officer whose job is allegations against adults who work with children. You don't need to tell us first, and we will never ask you why you didn't.
Duke Grooves Ltd, company number 13425069. This policy was last reviewed in September 2026 and is reviewed at least once a year.