Child protection policy template

1. Aims and scope

[Adapt: School name] is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of every child. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and everyone who works here should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child. “Children” means everyone under 18.

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children means: providing help and support to meet children’s needs as soon as problems emerge; protecting them from maltreatment, inside or outside the home, including online; preventing the impairment of their mental and physical health or development; making sure they grow up with safe and effective care; and taking action so that all children have the best outcomes.

Our aims

• Everyone at the school knows that safeguarding is their responsibility and knows what to do if they are worried about a child.
• Safeguarding and child protection underpin all our policies and processes, as a whole school approach (paragraph 119).
• We promote an inclusive, anti-discriminatory culture where racism and other discriminatory behaviour are recognised, challenged and addressed (paragraph 119).
• We take the child’s wishes and feelings into account when deciding what action to take and what services to provide (paragraph 120).
• Children can report any form of abuse or neglect easily and confidently, knowing they will be taken seriously (paragraph 121).
• We work with our local safeguarding partners and follow the local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements (paragraphs 135 to 137).

Who this policy applies to

Everyone working in or on behalf of the school: staff, supply staff, trainee teachers, volunteers, governors and contractors. It applies on and off site, including on trips, outside school hours and online.

The law and guidance we follow

• [Adapt: Keep the line that applies. Maintained schools: section 175 of the Education Act 2002. Academies, free schools and independent schools: the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014.]
• Keeping children safe in education 2026, statutory guidance in force from 1 September 2026.
• Working together to safeguard children 2026.
• The procedures of [Adapt: name of your local safeguarding partnership], including its criteria for action (threshold document) and protocol for assessment: [Adapt: link] (paragraph 137).

Related policies

Read this policy with: the behaviour policy, including how we prevent bullying (including cyberbullying, prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying); the staff code of conduct, covering low-level concerns, allegations, whistleblowing, acceptable use of technology (including mobile devices), staff and pupil relationships and communications, and social media; and our arrangements for children absent from education (paragraph 123). Also: [Adapt: online safety, attendance, SEND, safer recruitment, mobile phones, data protection, RSHE, intimate care, and any others, with links].

2. Key contacts

Keep this table up to date and make sure all staff can find it. Find your area’s children’s social care, LADO and safeguarding partnership contacts on Pupil Protect’s local safeguarding contacts page, and check them on your local authority’s website.

If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

3. Roles and responsibilities

The governing body [Adapt: or proprietor, or trust board]

• Has strategic leadership responsibility for safeguarding, and makes sure our policies, procedures and training are effective and comply with the law (paragraph 84).
• Has a senior board-level lead for safeguarding: [Adapt: name] (paragraph 86).
• Makes sure every governor has safeguarding and child protection training, including online safety, at induction, updated regularly (paragraph 87).
• Appoints a DSL from the senior leadership team, and gives them the time, funding, training, resources and support they need (paragraphs 127 and 128).
• Makes sure appropriate filtering and monitoring is in place and reviewed at least once every academic year (paragraph 173).
• Approves this policy, reviews it at least once a year and makes sure it is published (paragraph 123).

The headteacher

• Makes sure this policy and its procedures are understood and followed by all staff (paragraph 84).
• Receives concerns and allegations about staff, and decides with the LADO what happens next (paragraphs 78 and 440).
• Is the final decision maker on low-level concerns about staff (paragraph 516).

The designated safeguarding lead and deputies

Our DSL, [Adapt: name], is a member of the senior leadership team and takes lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection, including online safety and understanding the filtering and monitoring systems in place. This is in their job description (paragraph 127). Our deputies are trained to the same standard. The DSL can delegate activities to them, but not the lead responsibility (paragraph 130 and Annex B).

During term time, the DSL or a deputy is always available during school hours for staff to discuss a concern. [Adapt: Say what “available” means here, for example in person, or by phone or Teams in exceptional circumstances, and the cover for out-of-hours and out-of-term activities.] (Annex B)

When the DSL is away, [Adapt: your cover arrangement, for example a named deputy and a confidential shared safeguarding mailbox] makes sure concerns are received, monitored and acted on without delay (paragraph 129).

Annex B of KCSIE 2026 sets out the DSL’s role. In short, the DSL:

• refers cases of suspected abuse and neglect to children’s social care, radicalisation concerns to the Channel programme, people dismissed or who left because of risk or harm to a child to the Disclosure and Barring Service, and possible crimes to the police, and supports staff who make referrals
• is a source of support, advice and expertise for all staff, and the point of contact with the safeguarding partners
• keeps the headteacher informed, and liaises with the case manager and the LADO where a concern involves a member of staff
• keeps child protection files up to date and secure, and transfers them when a child moves school
• holds and uses the information that a child has a social worker (paragraph 218)
• makes sure all staff can access and understand this policy, and works with the governing body to review it each year
• has their training updated at least every two years, has Prevent awareness training, and refreshes their knowledge at least once a year

All staff

• Read at least Part one of KCSIE 2026, and confirm they have done so [Adapt: how you record this].
• Know what to do if a child tells them about abuse, and never promise a child that they won’t tell anyone (paragraph 14).
• Act on any concern about a child straight away and speak to the DSL or a deputy (paragraphs 58 and 59).
• Follow the staff code of conduct and this policy.

Other named roles

• Designated teacher for looked-after and previously looked-after children: [Adapt: name]. Maintained schools and academies must appoint one (paragraph 239).
• SENCO: [Adapt: name]. Works closely with the DSL on any concern about a child with SEND (paragraph 250).
• Senior leader responsible for filtering and monitoring: [Adapt: name] (paragraph 173).

4. Types of abuse and safeguarding issues

All staff should know the signs of abuse, neglect and exploitation. Abuse can happen in the family, in an institution or in the community, wholly online or helped by technology, and can be carried out by adults or by other children (paragraph 25). See types of abuse for more.

• Physical abuse: hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm, including when a parent or carer fabricates or deliberately induces illness (paragraph 26).
• Emotional abuse: the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child, causing severe and adverse effects on their emotional development (paragraph 27).
• Sexual abuse: forcing, causing or inciting a child to take part in sexual activities, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. It includes non-contact activities and grooming, and can happen online (paragraph 28).
• Neglect: the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of their health or development (paragraph 29).

Specific issues staff should know about include child-on-child abuse, child criminal exploitation and county lines, child sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, female genital mutilation, honour-based abuse, forced marriage, radicalisation, serious violence and mental health. Annex A of KCSIE 2026 has more on each.

Female genital mutilation: teachers must personally report to the police any case where they discover that FGM appears to have been carried out on a girl under 18 (section 5B of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003; KCSIE 2026, Annex A). They should still tell the DSL, unless there is a good reason not to.

[Adapt: Add any issues that are particularly relevant locally, for example from your local safeguarding partnership’s priorities.]

5. Reporting a concern about a child

Staff should keep an attitude of “it could happen here” (paragraph 57), and should not assume a colleague or another professional will act (paragraph 62).

If a child tells you something

• Listen, stay calm and reassure the child that they are being taken seriously and will be supported and kept safe (paragraph 15).
• Never promise to keep it a secret. Explain that you will only tell the people who need to know (paragraph 14).
• Don’t ask leading questions. Write down what the child said, in their words, as soon as you can.

What to do

1. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999, then tell the DSL.
2. Act straight away. Speak to the DSL or a deputy, and record the concern [Adapt: how: for example on the concern form or in your recording system] (paragraphs 58 and 59).
3. If the DSL and deputies aren’t available, don’t delay: speak to a member of the senior leadership team or take advice from children’s social care, and tell the DSL as soon as you can (paragraph 61).
4. The DSL decides the next step: support in school, a Family Help assessment, or a referral to statutory services (paragraph 60). Where a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, harm, a referral to children’s social care, and the police if appropriate, is made immediately, following the local referral process (paragraph 65).
5. Children’s social care should acknowledge a referral and decide next steps within one working day. If we don’t hear, we follow up (paragraphs 70 and 71). If the child’s situation doesn’t improve, we use [Adapt: your local escalation procedure] (paragraph 73).
6. All concerns, discussions and decisions, and the reasons for them, are recorded in writing (paragraph 74). See section 12.

Concerns about a member of staff, supply staff, a volunteer or a contractor follow section 8, not this process. Concerns about safeguarding practice in the school can be raised through whistleblowing (section 8).

6. Online safety, filtering and monitoring

Online safety runs through our whole approach to safeguarding: our policies, curriculum, staff training, the DSL’s role and our work with parents (paragraph 166). We think about risk in four areas: content, contact, conduct and commerce (paragraph 165).

• Filtering and monitoring: we have appropriate filtering and monitoring on school devices and networks (paragraph 169). Filtering: [Adapt: provider and system]. Monitoring: [Adapt: provider or approach, for example physical supervision, network logs or software].
• Roles: the senior leader responsible is [Adapt: name]; the DSL takes lead responsibility for understanding the systems; IT support is [Adapt: name or provider] (paragraphs 127, 173 and 175).
• We review filtering and monitoring at least once every academic year, led by the senior leader responsible with the DSL and IT support. The review checks that filtering works on all internet-connected devices in all relevant locations, and we keep a record of the checks (paragraph 173). We follow the DfE’s filtering and monitoring standards (paragraph 175).
• Staff online safety training, at induction and in updates, covers their role in filtering and monitoring (paragraph 153). Staff report anything inappropriate that gets through the filter, or anything worrying they see, to [Adapt: the DSL, and how].
• We tell parents what systems we use to filter and monitor online use, and what their children are asked to do online (paragraph 172).
• Generative AI: [Adapt: how pupils and staff may use generative AI tools, and which ones] (paragraph 167).
• We review our approach to online safety each year, with a risk assessment of the risks our pupils face (paragraph 181), and consider the DfE cyber security standards (paragraph 178).

[Adapt: Link to your online safety policy, if you keep a separate one.] Sharing nudes and semi-nudes is covered in section 7.

7. Child-on-child abuse

All staff should recognise that children can abuse other children, including online, and know this policy and our procedures (paragraph 192). Even if there are no reports, it may still be happening and simply not being reported (paragraph 193).

• We take a zero-tolerance approach. Abuse is never passed off as “banter”, “just having a laugh”, “part of growing up” or “boys being boys” (paragraph 193).
• For some forms, it is more likely that girls will be victims and boys perpetrators, but all child-on-child abuse is unacceptable and will be taken seriously (paragraph 193).
• How we minimise the risk: [Adapt: for example supervision, the curriculum and RSHE, and how you use the site].
• How children can report, and know they’ll be taken seriously: [Adapt: for example trusted adults, worry boxes, an online form].
• How reports are recorded, investigated and dealt with: [Adapt: your process].
• How we support victims, children who have harmed and any other children affected: [Adapt: your process].
• Sharing nudes and semi-nudes, including AI-generated images: we follow the UKCIS advice Sharing nudes and semi-nudes: advice for education settings, and the DfE’s searching, screening and confiscation advice. [Adapt: Your approach] (paragraph 193).

Child-on-child abuse can include: bullying, including cyberbullying, prejudice-based and discriminatory bullying; discriminatory behaviour, including racism and faith-targeted abuse; abuse in intimate relationships between children; physical abuse; physical assault, or the threat of harm, with a weapon; harmful sexual behaviour, sexual violence and sexual harassment; making or sharing nudes and semi-nudes; causing someone to engage in sexual activity without consent; upskirting; and initiation or hazing violence and rituals (paragraph 193). Reports of sexual violence and sexual harassment are handled as set out in Part five of KCSIE 2026.

8. Concerns and allegations about adults

This covers everyone working in or on behalf of the school, including supply staff, trainee teachers, volunteers and contractors (paragraph 77).

Allegations that may meet the harm threshold

This is where an adult may have: harmed a child, or may have; possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child; behaved towards a child in a way that suggests they may pose a risk of harm; or behaved in a way that suggests they may not be suitable to work with children, including behaviour outside school (paragraph 437).

• Report it without delay to the headteacher, [Adapt: name] (paragraphs 78 and 440).
• If it is about the headteacher, report it to the chair of governors, [Adapt: name] (paragraph 78).
• If the headteacher is also the sole proprietor, or there is a conflict of interest, report it straight to the LADO (paragraph 78).
• Where a child has been harmed, may be at immediate risk, or it is an emergency, contact children’s social care and the police as appropriate straight away (paragraph 441).
• The case manager discusses the allegation with the LADO and agrees what happens next, after basic enquiries in line with local procedures (paragraphs 442 and 444).
• We refer to the Disclosure and Barring Service when the legal criteria are met (a legal duty), and consider a referral to the Teaching Regulation Agency for teachers (paragraphs 190 and 191).

Low-level concerns

A low-level concern is any concern, however small, even just a sense of unease, that an adult may have acted in a way that doesn’t fit the staff code of conduct (including conduct outside work) but doesn’t meet the harm threshold (paragraph 509). Our full procedure is in the staff code of conduct (paragraph 513).

• Share low-level concerns with [Adapt: the DSL, or the headteacher]. The headteacher is the final decision maker (paragraph 516).
• Staff are encouraged to self-refer if they find themselves in a situation that could be misinterpreted (paragraph 519).
• Concerns about supply staff and contractors are passed to their employer (paragraph 517).
• If in doubt whether a concern meets the harm threshold, we consult the LADO (paragraph 518).
• Every low-level concern is recorded in writing, kept confidential and secure, and reviewed for patterns. Records are kept at least until the person leaves our employment (paragraphs 520 to 523). See the low-level concerns log.

Whistleblowing

Staff and volunteers who are worried about poor or unsafe practice, or failures in our safeguarding, should raise it with [Adapt: the headteacher or another senior leader] (paragraphs 80 and 81). If they don’t feel able to, or their concern isn’t being dealt with, they can call the NSPCC Whistleblowing Advice Line on 0800 028 0285 or email help@nspcc.org.uk (paragraph 82).

9. Children who need extra support

Some groups of children are potentially at greater risk of harm, online and offline (paragraph 216).

Children with special educational needs, disabilities or health conditions

There can be extra barriers to recognising abuse in these children: assuming that signs such as behaviour, mood or injury relate to the child’s condition; being more prone to isolation or bullying; being affected by bullying without showing signs; communication barriers; the need for intimate care; and more dependence on adults (paragraph 249). Any report of abuse involving a child with SEND involves close liaison between the DSL and the SENCO (paragraph 250). We consider extra pastoral support and make sure the right communication support is in place (paragraph 251). [Adapt: Your arrangements]

Looked-after and previously looked-after children

Staff have the skills, knowledge and understanding to keep these children safe. Appropriate staff have the information they need about a child’s looked-after status, contact arrangements and care arrangements. The DSL holds details of the child’s social worker and the Virtual School Head (paragraphs 235 to 238). Our designated teacher is [Adapt: name] (paragraph 239).

Children with a social worker

The DSL holds and uses the information that a child has a social worker, so that decisions are in the child’s best interests. It informs how we respond to absence and what pastoral and academic support we give (paragraphs 218 and 219).

Children absent from education and children missing education

• Absence, especially repeated or prolonged, can be a warning sign of neglect, exploitation and other abuse (paragraph 221). [Adapt: Your first-day absence procedure, and when absence is escalated to the DSL].
• We follow the DfE’s Working together to improve school attendance and Children missing education guidance, and help the local authority with joint reasonable enquiries (paragraph 221).
• We tell the local authority when a pupil’s name is removed from the admission register (paragraph 223).
• Where reasonably possible, we hold more than one emergency contact for each pupil (paragraph 126).
• If a parent says they plan to home educate, we work with the local authority to arrange a meeting with them first where possible (paragraph 224).

[Adapt: Add other groups relevant to your school, for example young carers (paragraph 248), children in alternative provision (paragraphs 211 to 215) or children in kinship care.]

10. Safer recruitment

• We have a safer recruitment policy in line with Part three of KCSIE 2026: [Adapt: link] (paragraph 126).
• Everyone involved in recruitment has appropriate safer recruitment training (paragraph 288). [Adapt: Maintained schools: at least one person on every interview panel has completed safer recruitment training (paragraph 289).]
• We keep a single central record of pre-appointment checks for all staff, including supply staff and salaried trainee teachers (paragraphs 347 to 350). See the single central record template and safer recruitment checks by role.
• We get written confirmation from agencies that supply staff have had the same checks, and check that the person who arrives is the person checked (paragraphs 364 to 367).
• Contractors, volunteers and governors are checked as Part three requires (paragraphs 368 to 404). Volunteers in regulated activity have an enhanced DBS check with barred list information (paragraph 383).
• Visitors: [Adapt: your visitor arrangements, including checks for professional visitors and supervision] (paragraphs 377 to 382).

11. Training

• At induction, all staff get this policy, the behaviour policy, the staff code of conduct, Part one of KCSIE and the identity and role of the DSL and deputies (paragraph 124). Temporary staff, volunteers and contractors get proportionate information (paragraph 125).
• All staff have safeguarding and child protection training at induction, including online safety and their role in filtering and monitoring, and it is regularly updated (paragraph 153).
• All staff get safeguarding updates at least once a year, for example by email or at staff meetings (paragraph 154).
• The DSL and deputies have their training updated at least every two years, have Prevent awareness training, and refresh their knowledge at least once a year (Annex B). See DSL training dates.
• Governors have safeguarding training at induction, updated regularly (paragraph 87).
• We keep a record of all training: [Adapt: where].

12. Record keeping and transferring files

• All concerns, discussions and decisions, and the reasons for them, are recorded in writing (paragraph 74).
• Each child with concerns has a separate child protection file. Records include a clear summary of the concern, how it was followed up and resolved, and any action, decisions and outcome (paragraph 74 and Annex B).
• Records are clear and factual, and distinguish between observed concerns, professional opinion and historic information (Annex B).
• Files are confidential and stored securely, and only people who need to see them can (Annex B). We keep records in [Adapt: your recording system, and who has access].

When a child leaves

• The DSL or a deputy makes sure the child protection file reaches the new school or college as soon as possible, and within 5 days for an in-year move or within the first 5 days of a new term (paragraph 150 and Annex B). Use the file transfer checklist.
• It goes separately from the main pupil file, securely, and we get confirmation of receipt (paragraph 150).
• It includes a clear, structured summary of current concerns, relevant context and ongoing support needs (Annex B).
• The DSL considers whether to share other information before the child leaves, and speaks to the new DSL where there are concerns (paragraphs 151 and 152).
• When a child joins us, a trained member of staff reviews the file, and we tell key staff such as the SENCO what they need to know (Annex B).

Retention: [Adapt: your retention schedule, for example the IRMS toolkit: the last school a child attends keeps the file until the child’s 25th birthday, then reviews it].

13. Information sharing

Information sharing is vital to identifying and tackling abuse and neglect (paragraph 140). Staff share information as early as possible, and if in any doubt they speak to the DSL (paragraphs 62, 63 and 142).

• Since 30 September 2026, the information sharing duty in section 16LA of the Children Act 2004 applies. Where it applies, organisations covered by it must share information relevant to a child’s safety or welfare with other organisations covered by it, if they consider it may help that organisation’s safeguarding or welfare work. The only exception is where sharing would be more detrimental to the child than not sharing. We have regard to the DfE’s statutory guidance, Information sharing to safeguard children and young people.
• Data protection law does not prevent sharing information to keep children safe, and fears about sharing must not stand in the way (paragraphs 147 and 148).
• “Safeguarding of children and individuals at risk” is a processing condition that allows special category data to be shared without consent where appropriate (paragraph 146).
• We do not provide a pupil’s personal data in response to a subject access request where the serious harm test is met, for example where a child is in a refuge (paragraph 146).
• We record each decision to share, or not to share, and the reason. Our data protection officer is [Adapt: name and contact].

14. Mobile phones and smart devices

Our school is mobile phone-free by default (paragraph 170). Following the DfE’s statutory guidance Mobile phones in schools, pupils do not have access to their phones throughout the school day, including in lessons, between lessons, at break and at lunch. This includes other smart technology that works like a phone.

• How: [Adapt: for example, phones handed in at the start of the day, kept in locked pouches or lockers]. Full details are in our mobile phone policy: [Adapt: link].
• Exceptions: a disabled pupil may have access where it is necessary as a reasonable adjustment, and a pupil who needs their phone to manage a medical condition can use it. [Adapt: How exceptions are agreed, recorded and limited to set purposes, times and places.]
• Staff don’t use their own phones for personal reasons in front of pupils during the school day. The staff code of conduct covers acceptable use of technology, including mobile devices, and taking photographs of children (paragraph 123).
• Parents who need to contact their child during the day do so through the school office.

15. Monitoring and review

• The DSL reviews this policy with the governing body at least once a year, and updates it when needed, including after lessons learnt (paragraph 123 and Annex B).
• Staff can contribute to our safeguarding arrangements and this policy (paragraph 155).
• The DSL reports to the governing body [Adapt: how often], with numbers and trends, not names.
• This policy is published on our website [Adapt: address] (paragraph 123).