Smoothwall is delighted to announce its acquisition of eSafe Global Limited.
Smoothwall is a dedicated safeguarding technology provider in UK education. Over two decades we’ve grown to protect more than 5 million children.
We pioneered the content-aware, real-time web filter which is now the UK’s number one web filter for education; and in recent years we have also provided digital safeguarding record management solutions and human moderated proactive monitoring solutions.
Like Smoothwall, eSafe Global is a provider of proactive monitoring solutions. Combining the monitoring expertise and experience of both organisations enables us to improve pupil safety and support like never before. Together our monitoring services protect more than 1400 schools and nearly 1m students. It’s an important step forward in UK education.
It also comes at a pivotal time with both the UKSIC and Ofsted Abuse Review highlighting the need for improved digital safeguarding provision at all levels. The UKSIC’s new definition of ‘appropriate monitoring’ emphasizes the need for a technical monitoring solution to assist DSLs in all but ‘low risk’ and ‘1:1 student/staff ratio’ environments – whilst the Ofsted review advises that:
“even where school and college leaders do not have specific information that indicates sexual harassment and online sexual abuse are problems for their children and young people, they should act on the assumption that they are.”
The eSafe Global monitoring service remains uninterrupted and we look forward to offering improvements, including 24/7/365 service coverage, later this year.
At Smoothwall we are driven by a singular ambition; to be the most trustworthy digital safeguarding provider in the world, and we’re excited to start this new chapter.
If you have any questions please contact us at enquiries@smoothwall.com
Georg Ell
CEO, Smoothwall
