Preparing for the September 2026 Safeguarding Updates
The start of a new education year is always a useful point to review safeguarding practice. For 2026, that review is particularly important as the latest edition of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) comes into effect on 1st September.
The updated guidance reflects the changing environment in which children are growing up. Alongside established safeguarding concerns, education providers are now having to consider issues such as AI-generated content, changing forms of online abuse, exploitation, harmful attitudes and the need for stronger cooperation between different services.
For education providers in England, KCSIE is not simply a document for the DSL to be familiar with. Its requirements influence the responsibilities of governors, leaders, teachers, support staff and other adults working with children.
The weeks leading up to September therefore provide an opportunity to look at whether safeguarding arrangements work effectively in practice, rather than simply checking whether the relevant policies have been updated.
Safeguarding Is Everyone’s Job
Safeguarding works best when it is understood as part of everyday school life.
One notable change from September 2026 is that the previous condensed safeguarding information known as Annex A will no longer provide the shortened alternative for staff. Instead, staff will be expected to read Part One of KCSIE.
This places greater emphasis on making sure everyone understands the wider safeguarding picture.
A member of staff may be the first person to notice that a child’s behaviour has changed, that attendance has deteriorated or that something a child says does not feel right. They may not have all the answers, but they need to know what to do next.
Education providers should therefore consider whether staff understand:
- How safeguarding concerns may present
- Who concerns should be reported to
- What information should be recorded
- When information may need to be shared
- How urgent concerns should be escalated
The DSL remains central to safeguarding leadership, but effective child protection depends on the wider workforce recognising that they have an active role too.
VAWG and Respect
Education providers have an important role to play in challenging attitudes that can contribute to violence and abuse.
The increased focus on violence against women and girls (VAWG) brings issues such as misogyny, sexual harassment and harmful stereotypes further into the safeguarding conversation.
This is not simply about responding when a serious incident occurs. Providers can also work preventatively by considering the messages pupils receive about relationships, equality, consent and respect.
That might mean examining the language used by children, the way incidents are dealt with, the content of relevant lessons and whether inappropriate attitudes are being challenged consistently.
Areas providers may wish to consider include:
- Sexist or misogynistic comments
- Sexual harassment between pupils
- Stereotypes about gender
- Respect within relationships
- Appropriate language
- Boundaries and consent
It must be made clear that harmful attitudes are not normalised and that children are expected to treat one another with dignity.
Child-on-Child Abuse
Safeguarding concerns do not always involve an adult harming a child. Children can also experience significant harm from other young people.
The circumstances surrounding an incident matter. What may initially appear to be an argument, joke or disagreement could involve harassment, intimidation, sexual behaviour or violence.
For that reason, staff should avoid automatically labelling concerning behaviour as “banter” or dismissing it as something children will simply grow out of.
Providers should look beyond the immediate event and consider the wider picture. Is this the first incident? Has the child involved previously been the subject of concerns? Is there a power imbalance? Could vulnerability, coercion or peer pressure be involved?
A thoughtful response should protect the child affected while also considering the safeguarding needs of any other pupils involved.
AI and Intimate Images
Artificial intelligence has introduced safeguarding challenges that education providers could not have anticipated in the same way a few years ago.
Images and videos can now be manipulated with increasing sophistication, meaning children may encounter content that appears genuine but has actually been created or altered using technology.
This creates particular concerns around intimate imagery, deepfakes and images created or shared by young people themselves.
Education providers should consider whether their existing procedures are sufficiently broad to deal with these situations and whether staff know how to respond when AI has been used as part of a safeguarding incident.
Education for children is equally important. Depending on age, providers may need to address subjects such as:
- The permanence of digital content
- Privacy and personal information
- Consent
- The consequences of sharing images
- AI-generated or altered content
- Online manipulation and exploitation
The challenge for providers is to ensure that technology is considered within safeguarding as a whole, rather than treated as a separate IT issue.
Phone-Free Schools
For the first time, KCSIE will require schools to operate as phone-free environments, stating that anything outside this approach should be permitted only by exception.
Pupils should be prevented from accessing their phones during lessons, breaktimes, lunchtimes and the periods between classes. Headteachers are considered “best placed” to determine how this requirement should be implemented within their school.
Multi-Agency Working
No education provider can manage every safeguarding concern alone.
Children and families may require support from education, social care, health services, police and community organisations, sometimes at the same time. The updated safeguarding landscape places greater emphasis on these services working together.
The 2026 guidance reflects reforms connected with the Families First programme and Multi-Agency Child Protection Teams (MACPTs), alongside terminology such as Family Help and community-based early help.
For providers, one of the practical priorities will be understanding how these arrangements operate locally.
DSLs should know where to seek advice, how referrals are made and what happens when a concern moves beyond the provider’s own safeguarding system.
The aim is for professionals to share their knowledge rather than work in isolation, giving children and families a more coordinated response.
Information Sharing
A safeguarding record is only useful if the right professionals can access relevant information when they need it.
This becomes particularly important when a child leaves one school and joins another. A new school may need to understand previous concerns, support arrangements or significant events in a pupil’s history.
Schools should therefore take the opportunity to examine whether their processes for transferring safeguarding information are reliable.
Questions worth asking include:
- Who is responsible for transferring child protection records?
- How quickly are records sent?
- How are sensitive documents protected?
- Are safeguarding chronologies maintained accurately?
- What happens when information is requested by another setting?
Information sharing should be purposeful and proportionate. The objective is to make sure relevant safeguarding information does not get lost simply because a child has moved to another school.
Operation Encompass
Domestic abuse can have a profound effect on children even when they are not the direct victim of the incident.
Operation Encompass provides a mechanism for police to alert schools when a child has been exposed to a domestic abuse incident. Receiving this information at an early stage can help a school consider whether the pupil requires additional support.
Schools should make sure the process does not rely on one person knowing what to do.
There should be clarity around who receives notifications, who considers the information, how the child’s wellbeing is monitored and how the information is recorded securely.
Staff who may have responsibility for responding should also understand the sensitive nature of the information involved.
Child Exploitation
Exploitation can be difficult to identify because children may not recognise themselves as victims or may be reluctant to tell an adult what is happening.
The risks covered by safeguarding arrangements include child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation, grooming, county lines and serious violence.
There is no single profile for a child who may be targeted.
Instead, providers should pay attention to changes in a child’s circumstances. A previously engaged child may begin missing lessons. Friendships may suddenly change. There may be unexplained possessions, changes in behaviour or increased contact with unfamiliar adults or older peers.
Individually, these signs may not establish that exploitation is taking place. Together, however, they may indicate that further questions need to be asked.
Staff should feel confident passing on concerns rather than waiting until they have definitive evidence.
Online Safety
For most children, the online world is simply part of everyday life. As a result, online safeguarding cannot realistically be separated from safeguarding more generally.
Children may encounter harmful content, strangers, manipulation, bullying, sexual exploitation or pressure to share personal or intimate material through digital platforms.
AI is adding another layer to these concerns, with new opportunities for both legitimate use and misuse.
Providers should therefore consider whether their online safety arrangements remain relevant to the platforms and technologies children are actually using.
This should involve more than filtering and monitoring systems. It should also include staff knowledge, curriculum teaching, pastoral support and clear routes for responding to concerns.
Gender-Based Premises Policies
The DfE has instructed schools to make clear that pupils should not use toilets or changing facilities designated for the opposite biological sex, including pupils who are questioning their gender or considering transitioning.
Schools should “consider” whether they can provide alternative or self-contained toilet facilities for these pupils. KCSIE also advises schools to record any incidents where a pupil is unwilling to use facilities designated according to their biological sex.
Schools are expected to ensure that pupils aged 11 and over do not undress in the presence of pupils of the opposite sex. Toilets and shower facilities should also be appropriate “for the pupils they are provided for”.
For pupils who are questioning their gender, schools should consider whether alternative washing and changing facilities can be made available, although this is not a mandatory requirement. KCSIE suggests that this could include a fully enclosed room that can be secured from the inside and used by one pupil at a time, or providing access to facilities at an alternative time. Any alternative arrangements should not compromise the safety, comfort, privacy or dignity of the pupil or of other children.
Sport and Gender
The guidance also recognises that some school sports may need to be organised on a single-sex basis to protect pupil safety and ensure fair competition.
However, where there are no concerns about safety or competitive fairness, schools must consider requests from pupils who wish to participate alongside pupils of the opposite sex.
Preparing for September
The introduction of new guidance should prompt education providers to test whether their safeguarding arrangements actually work.
Rather than treating September as a paperwork deadline, leaders can use the opportunity to review the entire safeguarding process.
- Review your safeguarding policy
Read through the existing policy with the 2026 requirements in mind. Look for outdated terminology, missing responsibilities or procedures that no longer reflect current practice.
- Review staff training
Consider whether staff training reflects the risks children are currently facing. Staff should know what constitutes a concern, who they should speak to and what action is expected of them.
- Check Part One arrangements
Make arrangements for every member of staff to read Part One of KCSIE and establish a clear way of confirming that this has happened.
- Review information sharing
Test the process used when safeguarding records need to be transferred. Identify who is responsible and make sure information can be shared securely without avoidable delays.
- Review online safety
Look beyond traditional e-safety topics and consider AI, manipulated imagery, social media, online grooming, exploitation and harmful content.
- Check multi-agency arrangements
Make sure DSLs know the current local referral routes and have access to up-to-date contact details for relevant safeguarding services.
- Review child-on-child abuse procedures
Consider whether staff are equipped to identify harmful behaviour and whether incidents are being assessed in context rather than automatically dismissed as normal childhood behaviour.
- Check Operation Encompass arrangements
Make sure everyone with a role in the process understands what happens when a notification is received and how the child’s needs will be considered afterwards.
The Bigger Picture
The most important message running through safeguarding guidance is not about one particular policy or procedure. It is about creating an environment in which concerns are recognised early and acted upon appropriately.
Safeguarding depends on staff noticing changes, asking questions, recording information accurately, communicating with colleagues and seeking help from other agencies when necessary.
Useful Links
Keeping children safe in education: gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education–2
Showcase Safeguarding Page: showcasetraining.co.uk/safeguarding/