1. What we are aiming for
Arcadia should be somewhere a child who finds other places hard can relax. That means the standard is not "no rule was technically broken" — it is that nobody is made to feel small.
It also means we distinguish between a child who cannot currently manage something and a child who is choosing to hurt somebody. Those get different responses. What does not change either way is that the child being hurt is protected first, and immediately.
2. What counts as unacceptable
- Bullying — repeated behaviour intended to hurt, exclude or humiliate. Online this looks like pile-ons, freezing someone out of a voice room, following them between channels, or mocking them for something they cannot change.
- Prejudice-based abuse — anything targeting race, religion, disability, neurodivergence, sex, gender identity or sexuality. Treated as serious every time, including when it is claimed as a joke.
- Griefing — destroying, stealing from or defacing another member's build. Treated as a real loss, not a game mechanic.
- Threats or intimidation, including threats to dox someone, get them banned, or tell others their private information.
- Sexual talk or imagery of any kind.
- Pressuring another member off-platform or asking for personal details.
- Account misuse — using someone else's login, sharing your own, or trying to get around club controls.
3. The steps
Sanctions are proportionate and start at the bottom. Serious incidents start further up, and safeguarding concerns leave this policy entirely and go to the safeguarding procedure.
| Step | What happens | Typical trigger |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — A word | A quiet, private word from Eris. Explains what happened, why it landed badly, and what to do instead. Nothing recorded beyond a note. | A one-off unkind comment, a first breach of a rule |
| 2 — Parent conversation | Eris speaks to the member's parent or carer, and to the other child's parent if they were affected. A plan is agreed. | Repeat of the same behaviour after step 1 |
| 3 — Feature pause | Time away from the part of the club involved — voice, or a shared world — while keeping access to the rest. Usually a session or two, always with an end date given at the start. | Continued behaviour, or one serious incident |
| 4 — Suspension | Access paused entirely for a stated period. Parents told the reason in writing, and what has to be different to come back. | Serious or persistent behaviour |
| 5 — Removal | Membership ends. Accounts deactivated, whitelists updated. Their own work is exported and given to them. | Behaviour that makes the club unsafe for others |
Immediate protective action can be taken at any point — muting, removing from a world, or pausing access on the spot — before any of the above. That is to stop harm continuing, not a punishment, and it is not a judgement about who was at fault.
4. How we take SEND into account
Most Arcadia members are SEND. Behaviour is usually communication, and a sanction that punishes a child for their disability is both wrong and unlawful under the Equality Act 2010.
- We look for the cause. A meltdown at the end of a session, a shutdown when a build is destroyed, or a blunt comment that reads as rude are handled as needs to be supported, not offences.
- Sanctions are adjusted: shorter, clearly explained, with the end point stated up front, and never open-ended. Uncertainty is itself distressing.
- Explanations are concrete. "You were rude" is useless. "When you said X, Y felt laughed at" is usable.
- Where a child cannot yet manage a feature safely, we change the feature — separate worlds, a smaller channel, tutor-present voice only — rather than exclude the child.
- Repair matters more than apology-on-demand. Forced apologies are not used.
None of this applies to deliberate, targeted cruelty. Being autistic or ADHD is not a defence for that, and treating it as one would be its own kind of low expectation.
5. If your child has been bullied
- Report it to Eris — ErisTaylor@cognitocoding.com. Chat history is kept, so it can be checked.
- You will get an initial response within 2 working days and an outcome within 10 working days.
- Your child will be told what is happening, in a form they can understand.
- You will not be told about sanctions applied to another child, and they will not be told about your child's. That is not evasion, it is the same protection working both ways.
6. Appeals
Any parent or carer may challenge a sanction:
- Email Eris within 14 days, saying what you think was wrong.
- Eris reviews it, including the chat and server records, and replies in writing within 10 working days. The sanction can be confirmed, reduced or removed.
- If you are still unhappy, use the Complaints Procedure, which sets out the routes beyond Arcadia.
A suspension normally stays in place while an appeal is considered, unless it was applied for a reason that turns out to be plainly wrong.
7. Records
Behaviour incidents are recorded with the date, what happened, who was involved, what was decided and who was told. They are kept while the child is a member and for 12 months after they leave, then deleted — except where a record forms part of a safeguarding file, which is kept until the child's 25th birthday.
8. Review
Reviewed annually and after any serious incident.