[SCHOOL NAME]
Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy
Academic Year [YEAR] | Review Date: [DATE]
| Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) | [NAME], [JOB TITLE] |
| Deputy DSL(s) | [NAME(S), JOB TITLE(S)] |
| Headteacher / Principal | [NAME] |
| Safeguarding Governor / Trustee | [NAME] |
| LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) | [NAME, TELEPHONE, EMAIL] |
| Local MASH / Children's Social Care | [TELEPHONE, EMAIL] |
| Policy approved by | [NAME / GOVERNING BODY] on [DATE] |
1. Introduction and Commitment
[School Name] is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people and expects all staff, governors, and volunteers to share this commitment. This policy applies to the whole school community including staff, governors, volunteers, contractors, and visitors.
This policy is written in accordance with the statutory guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 (KCSIE 2026, in force 1 September 2026), Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 , the Children Act 1989 and 2004, the Education Act 2002, and all other relevant legislation.
2. Scope
This policy applies to all pupils at [School Name] , including those in sixth form and any pupils who are the subject of dual registration or alternative provision placements commissioned by the school.
3. Definitions of Abuse
Under KCSIE 2026, abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment. The four categories of abuse are:
- Physical abuse includes hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, scalding, drowning, or suffocating a child, or causing a child to feign illness.
- Emotional abuse is persistent emotional maltreatment causing severe and persistent adverse effects on a child's emotional development.
- Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities, including non-contact activities such as grooming online or exposure to pornography.
- Neglect is persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical and/or psychological needs, including failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment.
Staff must also be aware of: child criminal exploitation (CCE), child sexual exploitation (CSE), domestic abuse, female genital mutilation (FGM), honour-based abuse, radicalisation, and peer-on-peer abuse.
4. Roles and Responsibilities
4.1 All Staff
- Read and understand Part One of KCSIE 2026 annually
- Report all concerns to the DSL on the same day. Do not investigate independently.
- Be alert to the indicators of abuse and neglect in their daily contact with pupils
- Understand that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility
4.2 The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)
- Takes lead responsibility for all child protection and safeguarding matters
- Manages referrals to children's social care, LADO, and other agencies
- Maintains the safeguarding records system and ensures records are secure
- Liaises with the headteacher and governing body on safeguarding matters
- Undergoes appropriate DSL training, updated at least every two years
- Ensures all staff receive induction safeguarding training and annual updates
4.3 The Headteacher
- Has overall accountability for safeguarding arrangements in the school
- Ensures the DSL has appropriate time and resource to fulfil their role
- Refers all allegations or concerns about staff to the LADO without delay
4.4 Governing Body / Trust Board
- Ensures the school has an effective child protection policy, reviewed annually
- Appoints a designated safeguarding governor/trustee
- Ensures safer recruitment procedures are in place
4.5 Volunteers
From 1 September 2026 the supervision exemption is removed from the definition of regulated activity. A volunteer who teaches, trains, instructs, cares for or supervises children is in regulated activity whether or not they are supervised while doing it. The school will obtain an enhanced DBS check with children's barred list information for every volunteer who is in regulated activity, and will not permit a volunteer to work in regulated activity until that check has been received and reviewed.
5. Reporting and Referral Procedures
Any member of staff, governor, or volunteer who has a concern about a child's welfare must report it to the DSL on the same working day . Where the concern relates to the DSL, the deputy DSL or headteacher must be informed instead.
Family Help, Working Together 2026 brings targeted early help and Section 17 (Child in Need) support together under Family Help as a single pathway. Use where a child or family would benefit from support but the s.47 threshold is not met. Refer to the local authority's Family Help team or Early Help Hub.
s.17, Child in Need: where a child is unlikely to achieve a reasonable standard of health or development without local authority support
s.47, Child Protection enquiry: where a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm
The DSL will make a referral to [LOCAL AUTHORITY / MASH NAME] where the s.47 threshold is met. Where there is immediate danger to a child, 999 will be called first. All referrals will be confirmed in writing to MASH within one working day (KCSIE 2026).
Weapons and serious violence
Any member of staff who is concerned that a child is carrying or using a weapon, or has expressed an intention to do so, must report that concern to the designated safeguarding lead or a deputy without delay. The designated safeguarding lead will assess the risk to the child and to others, taking account of any wider information or concerns held by the school, and will decide what action to take. That may include referral to children's social care, a report to the police, or both. Possession of a weapon is treated as a safeguarding matter and not only as a behaviour matter; the school will seek to understand why the child felt they needed to carry it.
The school maintains a consistent, documented process for recording weapons incidents and escalating them to the designated safeguarding lead, senior leadership and, where relevant, the police and children's social care.
6. Recording and Record-Keeping
All concerns, discussions, and decisions will be recorded using the school's safeguarding system. Records will be kept securely, separate from the child's general educational file, and transferred to the receiving school at transition within five days of the pupil starting (KCSIE 2026).
7. Peer-on-Peer (Child-on-Child) Abuse
Under KCSIE 2026, the school recognises that children can abuse other children. Peer-on-peer (child-on-child) abuse includes bullying, sexual harassment, sexual violence, sharing of nude or semi-nude images, AI-generated intimate imagery (deepfakes), and physical abuse. All reports of peer-on-peer abuse will be taken seriously and investigated using a contextual safeguarding approach, considering the peer group dynamics, location, and power imbalances rather than viewing the incident in isolation. The needs and safety of the victim are the primary consideration.
AI-generated imagery: Under KCSIE 2026, the school has a process for responding when AI-generated intimate imagery (deepfakes) involving pupils is discovered or reported. Where AI-generated imagery meets the threshold for child sexual abuse material (CSAM), a report will be made to CEOP. The school's online safety and peer-on-peer abuse policies address this explicitly.
8. Child Criminal Exploitation, Trafficking and the National Referral Mechanism
Where staff believe a child may be a victim of modern slavery, trafficking or criminal exploitation, including county lines, they must report this to the designated safeguarding lead immediately. Indicators include going missing, unexplained money or possessions, more than one mobile phone, travel to areas with no obvious connection, and injuries the child will not explain.
The National Referral Mechanism is the framework for identifying and supporting potential victims. The school is not a First Responder organisation and cannot make an NRM referral directly. When concerns arise, the designated safeguarding lead will refer to the local authority or the police, who are First Responders and who make the NRM referral. Consent is not required where the potential victim is a child.
A child who has been criminally exploited may also have committed offences. That does not remove their status as a victim, and the school will make this clear in any information shared with partner agencies.
9. Children Questioning Their Gender
Where a pupil who is questioning their gender asks the school for support, KCSIE 2026 paragraph 266 requires that parents and carers are engaged as a matter of priority, and that their views are given great weight and properly considered. Parental involvement is the default position.
The only exception is where involving parents or carers would constitute a greater risk to the child than not involving them. In that narrow circumstance, the designated safeguarding lead must be involved to determine what action is needed to safeguard the child, before parents or carers are contacted and before any decisions are taken.
This is a summary. Staff should read the full gender-questioning section of KCSIE 2026, which runs from paragraph 252 to 282, rather than rely on this summary alone, and should follow the school's own procedures for any decision in this area, recording the reasoning in line with the school's usual safeguarding record-keeping practice.
10. Low-Level Concerns
Staff must report any concerns about the conduct of another adult in the school, even if the concern seems minor. Low-level concerns do not meet the threshold of a LADO referral but must be reported to the headteacher (or DSL where the concern relates to the headteacher). Records of low-level concerns will be held confidentially and reviewed for patterns.
11. Allegations Against Staff
Any allegation or concern that any member of staff, supply staff member, trainee teacher, ITT student, volunteer, or contractor has behaved in a way that has harmed or may have harmed a child, possibly committed a criminal offence against a child, or behaved in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children, must be reported to the headteacher immediately. The headteacher (or chair of governors if the allegation is against the headteacher) will contact the LADO: [LADO CONTACT DETAILS] within one working day.
12. The Prevent Duty
Under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, the school has a duty to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. The DSL is the lead for Prevent. Staff who have a concern about radicalisation should report it to the DSL, who may make a referral to the Channel programme.
13. Online Safety
[School Name] uses the following filtering and monitoring systems: [PROVIDER NAMES] . The DSL will be alerted to any filtering alerts. Staff are aware that children can be abused online and must report online safety concerns to the DSL in the same way as any other safeguarding concern.
Governing bodies and proprietors must ensure that a review of the effectiveness of the school's filtering and monitoring systems is carried out at least once every academic year. This review is led by the senior leader responsible for filtering and monitoring, working with the DSL and IT support, and the outcome is reported to the governing body.
14. Confidentiality and Information Sharing
Safeguarding information will be shared with other agencies on a need-to-know basis. The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR do not prevent the sharing of information where there is a legitimate safeguarding concern. Information will not be shared beyond those who need it.
15. Policy Review
This policy will be reviewed at least annually, or following any significant safeguarding incident, legislative change, or change in guidance. The next review date is [DATE] .
Statutory references:
KCSIE 2026 (in force 1 September 2026) · Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 · Children Act 1989/2004 · Education Act 2002 · Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 · Prevent Duty Guidance 2023 · Data Protection Act 2018 · Equality Act 2010
Template provided free by The Safeguard Hub
(safeguard-hub.org). Customise for your school's context before adoption. This is general information and not legal advice. Where anything here differs from your local safeguarding children partnership procedures, follow your local procedures. Last reviewed July 2026.