Keeping children safe in education
Statutory guidance for schools and colleges on safeguarding children and safer recruitment.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
This guidance applies to all schools and colleges, and is for:
- headteachers, teachers and staff
- governing bodies, proprietors and management committees
It sets out the legal duties you must follow to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18 in schools and colleges.
All school and college staff should read part one of this guidance. Part one is also available as a standalone document.
Statutory guidance sets out what schools must do to comply with the law.
Where the guidance states that schools and colleges should do something, you should follow this unless you have a good reason not to.
‘Regulated activity in relation to children: scope’ describes work that a barred person must not do.
We have also published statutory guidance on disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006.
Updates to this page
Last updated 3 September 2024 + show all updates
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Updated 'Keeping children safe in education 2024' to remove 'in line with the Children's Social Care National Framework' from the fifth bullet point in paragraph 3 on page 143 because school and college staff are not required to comply with the framework.
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The September 2024 version of the keeping children safe in education guidance is now in force, replacing previous versions. We initially published this for information in May.
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Added 'Keeping children safe in education 2024' for information only, pending publication of the final version, which does not come into force until September 2024.
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The September 2023 version of the keeping children safe in education guidance is now in force, replacing previous versions. We initially published this for information in June. We have since made meaningful amendments to paragraphs 142, about the appropriateness of filtering and monitoring systems online, and 150, about guidance and resources on inspection. Annex F has a table of substantive changes from the September 2022 guidance.
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Added statutory guidance on keeping children safe in education for 2023. This is for information only and does not come into force until 1 September 2023.
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The 2022 version of 'Keeping children safe in education' is now in force and replaces previous versions. Since the ‘2022 for information’ version published in May we have updated a few things, annex F shows all the substantive changes that apply from September 2022. We have also replaced 'Keeping children safe in education: for school and college staff (part 1)' with an updated 2022 version.
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Updated 'Keeping children safe in education 2022 (from 1 September 2022)’ - updated links in paragraphs 141 and 210 and corrected paragraph cross-referencing.
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Added 'Keeping children safe in education 2022’. This document is for information only and does not come into force until 1 September 2022.
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The September 2021 version of the keeping children safe in education guidance is now in force and replaces previous versions.
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Revised the new low level concerns in part 4, section 2 to better align with paragraph 74 “What school and college staff should do if they have safeguarding concerns about another staff member".
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Added 'Keeping children safe in education 2021’. This document is for information only and does not come into force until 1 September 2021.
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Updated 'Keeping children safe in education - for schools and colleges' to reflect legal changes following EU exit, including guidance on checking the past conduct of individuals who have lived or worked overseas.
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The September 2020 version of the keeping children safe in education guidance is now in force and replaces previous versions. We have made changes in 3 circumstances: 1. where legislation has required it e.g. reflecting mandatory Relationship Education, Relationship and Sex Education and Health Education from September 2020. 2. where we have helpful additional information that will support schools and colleges protect their children e.g. mental health, domestic abuse, child criminal and sexual exploitation and county lines. 3. important clarifications which will help the sector better understand and/or follow our guidance. A table of changes is included at Annex H.
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Added 'Keeping children safe in education (from 1 September 2020)'. This document is for information only and does not come into force until 1 September 2020 - continue to refer to KCSIE 2019 until then.
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Added a link to the guidance 'Coronavirus (COVID-19): safeguarding in schools, colleges and other providers'.
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Updates to paragraphs 164 and 165 in attached document Keeping children safe in education.
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The September 2019 version of the keeping children safe in education guidance is now in force and replaces previous versions.
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Added draft guidance for 2019.
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Updated document 'Keeping children safe in education: for schools and colleges'. Paragraph 132 - new link to The Childcare (Disqualification) and Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) (Amendment) Regulations 2018. Paragraphs 158 and 159 updated to clarify the point at which a school must make a referral to DBS. Updated document 'Keeping children safe in education: for school and college staff (part 1)'. Flowchart titled 'Actions where there are a concern about a child' updated to make it more accessible.
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Updated 'Keeping children safe in education'. Updates include changes to information for all staff (part 1) and the management of safeguarding (part 2) and a new section covering child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment (part 5). Annex H provides a table of all changes.
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Added 2 new guidance documents due to take effect from 3 September 2018.
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Updated 'Keeping children safe in education'. Updates include changes to information for all staff (part 1) and the management of safeguarding (part 2). Annex H provides a table of all changes.
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Added 'Keeping children safe in education: for schools and colleges - guidance from 5 September 2016'.
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Added 'Regulated activity in relation to children: scope' document.
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Both documents updated to reflect the new prevent duty, to emphasise responsibilities concerning children missing from education, and to provide more content on female genital mutilation.
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In 'Regulated activity' section, corrected the link to the factual note on regulated activity in relation to children.
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First published.