The Department for Education (DfE) has updated their Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) Guidance, which has been published today, Monday 1 September 2025.

The guidance sets out what schools and colleges in England must do to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18.

Please see below a summary of the key updates that have been made to KCSIE:

Summary

• No changes made

Part One – Safeguarding Information for all Staff

• No changes made

Part Two – The Management of Safeguarding

• Information added to clarify misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories in safeguarding harms (Page 38)
• Link added to the plan technology for your school service, which schools can use to assess themselves against the filtering and monitoring standards and receive personalised recommendations on how to meet them (Page 40)
• Link added to DFE guidance on the use of generative AI in education (2025) (Page 41)
• Amendment to clarify that the role of the Virtual Head has been extended to include responsibility for promoting the educational achievement of children in kinship care (Page 54)
• Removal of ‘spectrum’ and ‘disorder’ to align with the SEND Code of Practice (Page 56)

Part 3 – Safer Recruitment

• Reference to Teaching Regulation Agency's (TRA) Employer Access Service removed and replaced with new link to GOV.UK page (Page 73-75 and 85)

Part 4 – Safeguarding Concerns or Allegations Made About Staff

• Amendment to correct the title of the Information Commissioner’s employment practice guidance (Page 106)

Part 5 – Child on Child Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment

• Link added to the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s ‘Shore Space’, which offers a confidential chat service supporting young people concerned about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts and behaviours (Page 140)

Annex A

• No changes made

Annex B

• Update made to the definition of Extremism to reflect the definition used within Prevent Guidance (Page 157)
• Link added to the CSA Centre’s Supporting practice in tackling child sexual abuse (Page 163)
• Link added to The Children’s Society’s Preventing Child Sexual Exploitation (Page 164)
• Updated links to National Crime Agency and CEOP following rebranding (Thinkuknow has been retired and replaced with CEOP Education) (Page 167 and 170)

Annex C

• No changes made

Annex D

• No changes made

Annex E

• No changes made

The full details of the changes within KCSIE 2025, can be found in the following link: Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025