Forum rules

Draft – not yet in force. This page is a draft for review and will be finalised before Classfern Pro opens.

Draft 20 October 2026. These rules also apply to job and exchange listings, profiles and messages.

Classfern’s forum is a teachers-only space to share ideas, resources and support. Be the colleague you’d want in the staffroom.

Who can post

• Adults (18+) who work in education, with a checked school email. Browsing members without a checked school email can read but not post.
• One account per person, using your real role (you can use a display name).

The basics

1. Be kind and professional. Disagree with ideas, not people. No insults, bullying, pile-ons or harassment.
2. Protect pupils – always.
   • No pupil personal data: no names, photos, videos, voice, work with names on, dates of birth, SEN/medical details or anything that could identify a child.
   • Talk about situations in general terms (“a Year 9 pupil”) and change details.
   • Never post anything sexual involving children, or anything that could help someone harm a child. We report this to the police and the Internet Watch Foundation / NCMEC straight away and close the account.
   • Safeguarding concern about a real child? Don’t post it here – follow your school’s safeguarding procedure and speak to your DSL. In an emergency call 999 (UK) / 911 (US).
3. Protect colleagues and schools. Don’t name or shame individual colleagues, parents or pupils. Don’t post confidential school documents.
4. No illegal content. This includes: hate based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability or gender identity; threats; terrorism content; intimate images shared without consent; fraud and scams; selling drugs or weapons; encouraging suicide or self-harm; and anything else that breaks UK law.
5. No spam or selling. No adverts, affiliate links or repeated self-promotion. Sharing your own free resource is fine; selling is allowed only in the “Marketplace” thread if we open one.
6. Respect copyright. Share only what you made or have the right to share. Don’t upload scanned textbook pages or paid resources.
7. Keep it on topic and post in the right group (phase, subject, country).
8. No politics or religion arguments unless directly about teaching (e.g. teaching RE or citizenship).
9. Mental health: it’s fine to say you’re struggling – we’re a supportive community. We’ll point you to help (Education Support: 08000 562 561 in the UK; 988 in the US). Never encourage or describe ways of self-harm.
10. AI content: you may post AI-assisted resources, but check them first and say they’re AI-assisted.

Jobs and exchanges

• Only verified schools post jobs; only verified members post exchange listings.
• No fees, no “visa guarantees”, no agencies at launch. No pupil data in exchange listings.
• Classfern doesn’t arrange jobs, visas or checks – see the Exchange Finder disclaimer.

Reporting

• Use the Report button on any post, profile, listing or message. Pick a reason and add a note if you can.
• We aim to review urgent reports (child safety, threats) the same day and other reports within 2 working days.
• Content reported for child safety or sexual content is hidden straight away while we check.
• You’ll get an email when we’ve dealt with your report.
• You can also email info@lessonplanner.info (subject “Report”).

What we do when rules are broken

Appeals and complaints

• If we remove your post or suspend you, we’ll tell you why (unless the law stops us).
• You can appeal once within 14 days by emailing info@lessonplanner.info with “Appeal” in the subject. A different moderator (or Mark) will review it within 7 days.
• You can also complain about how we handle reports or about our moderation in general – same email. We keep a record of complaints and what we did.

Moderators

Moderators are Mark and volunteers he appoints (teachers who’ve agreed to these rules and a moderator code). Moderators use two-factor login and don’t see members’ payment details.

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