Back-to-School Safeguarding Checklist 2026

Every September brings the same to-do list for school leaders and Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs): update policies, brief staff, and make sure everyone starts the new academic year on the same page. This year, that list carries a little more weight. Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026 came into force on 1 September 2026, replacing KCSIE 2025, and it brings some of the most substantial changes in recent years — covering Family Help, online harms and AI, safer recruitment, and information sharing.

Here's a practical checklist to help your setting get, and stay, compliant.

1. Read and re-issue Part One in full

KCSIE 2026 removes Annex A, the shortened version of safeguarding guidance previously used for lower-risk staff. From this academic year, all staff — not just those with the most contact with children — are expected to read and understand the full Part One: Safeguarding Information for All Staff. Build this into your induction and INSET sessions rather than assuming last year's summary will do.

2. Update your safer recruitment processes

The guidance strengthens DBS requirements for volunteers, removing the "supervision exemption" that previously allowed some volunteers to work without an enhanced check. Review your recruitment checklists and volunteer agreements now, before new starters and returning volunteers arrive for the new term.

3. Refresh your information-sharing procedures

KCSIE 2026 places more emphasis on how safeguarding information is shared — both between staff internally and with other agencies, including when a child's safeguarding file transfers between settings. If a pupil has joined your school this term, make sure the handover of their safeguarding record has actually happened, not just been requested.

4. Align with Family Help and early intervention arrangements

The guidance now expects schools to identify concerns earlier and refer into Family Help or statutory children's social care where appropriate, reflecting the government's wider Families First Partnership reforms. Make sure your DSL and pastoral team understand your local authority's current Family Help offer — it may have changed since last year.

5. Review your mobile phone and online safety policy

Schools are now expected to operate as mobile-free areas, and AI has been formally identified as a safeguarding issue requiring an update to online safety policies. If your acceptable use policy hasn't mentioned AI tools, it needs to.

6. Update your response to harmful sexual behaviour and misogyny

KCSIE 2026 increases focus on misogyny and its relationship to harmful sexual behaviour, alongside updated guidance on child-on-child abuse. Check your behaviour policy and staff training reflect this language and approach.

7. Check your safeguarding and child protection training is current

None of the above matters if staff training hasn't kept pace. Before term starts, confirm that:

• Your DSL and deputy DSLs have completed training that reflects KCSIE 2026 and the updated Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance.
• All staff — including support staff, volunteers, and anyone new — have completed (or refreshed) their safeguarding training for the new guidance.
• Anyone returning from a long absence over the summer has had a refresher, since guidance may have changed while they were away.

Virtual College's Safeguarding in Education course has been updated to reflect KCSIE 2026 and Working Together 2026, and our Level 3 safeguarding training is designed for DSLs and anyone in a designated child protection role. If you're not sure which level your staff need, our safeguarding training level guide can help.

8. Communicate the changes, don't just file them

A policy update that sits in a shared drive doesn't protect anyone. Build a short staff briefing into your first INSET day, summarising what's actually changed and what staff need to do differently.

Keeping the whole team up to date

For larger schools, trusts, or nurseries managing training across multiple staff groups, a Virtual College training subscription gives you unlimited access to our full course library — including safeguarding — so refreshing everyone's knowledge for the new academic year doesn't mean raising a new purchase order every time guidance changes.