Smoothwall Insights

KCSIE 2025 Updates: What Schools, Colleges and MATs need to know

Written by Smoothwall | Jul 8, 2025 9:16:36 AM

The wait is over: KCSIE 2025 is here. The Department for Education (DfE) has released the much-anticipated first look at Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2025. The document includes a number of technical changes that schools, colleges and MATs need to know. 

This article provides a summary of the key changes in KCSIE 2025, as well as further information on what to expect from future iterations of the guidance. 

KCSIE 2025: Changes to current guidance


Below is a summary of the latest updates to Keeping Children Safe in Education. This guidance comes into force on September 1st, 2025.

Part one: Safeguarding information for all staff

No current changes.

Part two: The management of safeguarding


Location: Page 36, paragraph 128

Update 1: A note has been added under the “Opportunities to teach safeguarding” heading explaining, “We expect to publish revised guidance on Relationships, Sex, and Health Education [RSHE] this summer. If published, we will signpost to this guidance in September 2025.”

Detail: A previous review of the RSHE guidance will no longer be applied, due to the change in government. The DfE is in the process of revising various pieces of guidance relevant to KCSIE, and education settings should expect additional references to be included in the document, as and when such statutory guidance becomes available. 

Location: Page 38, paragraph 135

Update 2: In the 4 areas of risk under the “Online Safety” heading (content, contact, conduct and commerce), the “content” section has been expanded to include misinformation, disinformation (including fake news) and conspiracy theories.

Detail: This reflects the growing risk these issues pose. They are now considered significant safeguarding harms that need to be addressed by relevant digital safeguarding provision, policy and education to all relevant community members (parents, staff, governors and students). 

Location: Page 40, paragraph 142 

Update 3: A new bullet point linking to the DfE’s Plan technology for your school guidance has been added to the list of standards around filtering and monitoring.

Detail: This guidance enables schools to assess the extent to which they meet the filtering and monitoring standards, and access personalised recommendations on how to meet them.

Location: Page 41, paragraph 143 

Update 4: The list of additional guidance on “appropriate” filtering and monitoring has been expanded to include the DfE guidance Generative AI: product safety expectations.

Detail: This section combines what was previously paragraphs 143 - 146 to provide a list of resources to help schools and colleges establish effective filtering and monitoring, which now requires a consideration of any AI tools in use. Education settings can find further guidance on this topic in the DfE’s Generative AI in Education paper.

Location: Page 41, paragraph 144 

Update 5: Where the guidance links to the Cyber security standards for schools and colleges, a description has been provided for clarity.

Detail: It explains that the cyber security standards are designed to help education settings “improve their resilience against cyber-attacks.” The DfE continues to link to guidance from both the National Education Network (NEN) and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to further support schools and colleges in this area. 

Location: Page 47, paragraphs 169-170 

Update 6: The Alternative Provision (AP) section has been expanded for clarification, and to reflect existing AP guidance.

Detail: When a pupil is placed with an AP provider, settings are directed to:

  • Obtain written confirmation that appropriate safeguarding checks have been carried out on individuals working at the establishment
  • Receive notification of any arrangements that may put the pupil at risk
  • Remain fully aware of where a pupil is based during school/college hours
  • Review AP placements at least half termly
  • Review and potentially terminate any placements where safeguarding concerns arise.


Location: Page 49, paragraph 177

Update 7: In the “Children who are absent from education” section, the description of Working together to improve school attendance has been updated. 

Detail: It is now clarified that this is statutory guidance. 

Location: Page 54, paragraph 199

Update 8: Within the “Virtual School Heads” section, a new responsibility has been included.

Detail: The role of the Virtual School Heads now includes a non-statutory responsibility to “promote the educational achievement of all children in kinship care.”

Location: Page 56, paragraph 204

Update 9: A note under the “Children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or gender questioning” explains, “We expect to publish the revised guidance on gender questioning children this summer. If published, we will signpost to this guidance in September 2025.”

Detail: The DfE is in the process of revising various pieces of guidance relevant to KCSIE, and education settings should expect additional references to such guidance to be included in the document, as and when such resources become available.

Location: Page 56, paragraph 205 

Update 10:  In the section on the Cass review, the term “spectrum disorder” has been removed.

Detail: This is to align the guidance with the SEND code of practice.

Part three: Safer recruitment


Location: Pages 74 & 75, paragraphs 260 & 266 

Update 11: References to the TRA Secure Access system have been removed and replaced.

Detail: Schools and colleges are now directed to the Check a teacher’s record service to make GTCE, prohibition, direction, restriction, and children’s barred list checks. 

Location: Page 85, paragraph 319 

Update 12:  In the “Maintained school governors” section, a reference to the Employer Secure Access sign-in portal via the TRA Teacher Services web page has been removed and replaced. 

Detail: To check if a person proposed to be a governor is barred as a result of being subject to a section 128 direction, schools and colleges are directed to the Government’s list of individuals prohibited from managing or governing schools.

Location: Page 87, paragraph 331 

Update 13:  The “Alternative Provision” section has been expanded to reflect existing AP guidance. 

Detail: See update 6 (specifically bullet points 1 and 2).

Part four: Safeguarding concerns or allegations made about staff, including supply teachers, volunteers and contractors

Location: Page 106, paragraph 422 

Update 14:  The name of the Independent Commissioner’s published guidance has been amended.

Detail: It now uses the correct title: The Information Commissioner’s Employment Practices Code when providing advice regarding retention.

Part five: Child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harrassment

Location: Page 140, paragraph 545

Update 15: The “Safeguarding and supporting the alleged perpetrator(s) and children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour” section includes a new resource from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

Detail: Shore Space, developed in collaboration with the Home Office, is an online resource offering a confidential chat service to support young people concerned about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts and behaviour. This now sits alongside existing resources including the HSB Toolkit and the Harmful sexual behaviour framework from the NSPCC. 

Annex A, C, D & E

No current changes.

Annex B: Further information

 

Location: Pages 163 & 164

Update 16: New links added to the “Additional Advice and Support” section.

Detail: The guidance now includes new resources from the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA Centre) to help education professionals identify and respond to concerns of child sexual abuse and abusive behaviours, and Preventing Child Sexual Exploitation from the Children’s Society and Home office.


KCSIE 2025: Smoothwall response


“The DfE has published its 'for information' version of Keeping Children Safe In Education 2025. This gives all educational establishments visibility of the technical changes ready for their implementation on the 1st September 2025. 

It is important that schools and colleges are aware that there are a number of additional updates that will follow, such as the RSHE updates and gender questioning children guidance. However, this visibility of the document enables stakeholders to finally begin updating all relevant policies, procedures and resources ahead of the publication on 1st September 2025.”

Katherine Howard, Head of Education and Wellbeing at Smoothwall.


More KCSIE changes to come?


The information only version of KCSIE 2025 has been published with a note from the Department for Education that further links are expected to be added before the guidance comes into effect. These references will be to revised guidance on relationships, sex, and health education, and gender questioning children. 

Furthermore, future iterations of Keeping Children Safe in Education are expected to incorporate learnings from:

A timeline for these updates is not yet available, but schools and colleges may be able to gain an indication of future changes by keeping track of developments in these areas.