Key Technical Updates to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) Statutory guidance for schools, colleges and Multi Academy Trusts coming into effect in September 2025
KCSiE continues to highlight the importance of early intervention to address safeguarding concerns with updates to the “four Cs” of online risk — Content, Contact, Conduct and Commerce, in particular to reflect misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories (fake news) as emerging threats.
The September 2025 statutory guidance will primarily focus on online safety, alternative provision, and clarifying roles related to attendance and kinship care. The guidance also includes links to revisions on Relationships, Sex, and Health Education (RSHE) with emphasis on gender questioning children.
Online Safety - Updates to clarify misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories (fake news) as safeguarding harms
- Filtering and Monitoring: Schools and colleges can utilise the “Plan technology for your school” tool to carry out assessments of their filtering and monitoring systems and get recommendations.
Securus monitors student activity for safeguarding harms surrounding misinformation, disinformation and fake news and whilst we continue to make updates to these categories of concern in our proprietary library, our customers can also add their own words and phrases that may be specific to their school or location. - RSHE and Gender Questioning Children: Revised guidance on Relationships, Sex, and Health Education (RSHE) and gender questioning children will be included in the final version of KCSiE 2025, anticipated for publication in September.
The DfE have updated the guidance to highlight the growing safeguarding risks to these issues, therefore addressing the need for monitoring student activity to reflect these topics as a safeguarding requirement.
Safeguarding Expectations in Alternative Provision
- Clarified Expectations: The guidance clarifies safeguarding expectations for schools using Alternative Provision, ensuring alignment with updated guidance.
Schools are reminded to carry out suitability checks on staff working in Alternative Provision settings and to ensure appropriate safeguarding arrangements are in place, maintaining an up-to-date record keeping system across all sites attended by students.
Using AI in Education Settings
- Generative AI: Guidance on the use of AI in education has been published on the Government website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/generative-ai-product-safety-expectations/generative-ai-product-safety-expectations
Within this guidance it states that schools are expected to alert local supervisors when harmful and inappropriate content is accessed or attempted to be accessed. - Using AI in education settings: Schools can also access support materials with four modules to assist on the safe and effective use of AI.
We would also like to share with you a video from the Securus Safeguarding Forum on 10 July 2025, with guest speaker Alan Mackenzie, e-safety adviser, who shared his views on AI in education and online safety with a presentation entitled; “Is AI changing the 4C’s?”:
Other Key KCSiE 2025 Updates
- Working Together to Improve Attendance: The guidance confirms that “Working Together to Improve School Attendance” is now statutory and must be followed by all schools.
- Virtual School Heads (VSHs): VSHs have a non-statutory responsibility to promote the educational achievement of all children in kinship care.
- Policy Reviews: Schools should review their existing safeguarding policies, AUPs and procedures in light of the new guidance.
- Staff Training: Schools must ensure staff are aware of the updates to KCSiE and receive the appropriate training on key updates.
DfE state that the guidance will be revised regularly and future iterations will reflect progress on developments like the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and the strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
The published date for the KCSiE Statutory Guidance has not yet been announced but the current draft guidance (for Information) should provide DSLs and Headteachers with an understanding to updates, put in place updates to policies and also the revisions required for the school Governing Board.
View the KCSiE Guidance July 2025 (for Information):
If you are a school, college or MAT and you would like to speak to the Securus Team about monitoring and safeguarding students from digital harms, including the categories included in the latest online safety updates to RSHE that will come into effect in KCSiE September 2025 (Children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or gender questioning. Misinformation, Disinformation and Conspiracy theories) —
Please do not hesitate to get in touch here or call us on 0330 124 1750