KCSIE 2025 came into force on 1 September 2025 and includes essential clarifications your DSL/SLT should complete now (if not already). This guide summarises the changes to the government’s guidance, maps them to policies, training and evidence, and links to practical tools (including filtering & monitoring and cyber security standards).
Staff must still read Part 1 (unchanged), and governors/trustees oversee compliance.
What’s changed at a glance
- Revised guidance on sex and health education, relationships and gender-questioning children.
- Clearer recognition of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories as safeguarding harms.
- More explicit cyber security wording and expectations to improve school resilience.
- Stronger emphasis that your school DPO is embedded in filtering & monitoring, AI risk and cyber governance (DPIAs, notices, evidence).
Below, we review in depth the changes to Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025. For further advice on safeguarding or guidance, please get in touch.
| KCSIE 2025 Contents | |
|---|---|
| What are the Key Updates? | Contact Form |
| DSL/SLT Action Checklist | Summary and Conclusion |
| KCSIE Podcast | Frequently Asked Questions |
Reviewed by Paresh Ghedia, Data Protection Officer
Last updated:
Updates to Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025
Here, we break down the key changes from the government’s latest release.
Part 1 – Safeguarding Information
Unchanged – all staff must read Part 1 and know how to report safeguarding concerns.
Part 2 – Management of Safeguarding
Online safety: Explicitly recognises misinformation, disinformation and conspiracy theories as harms that can impact children’s welfare, attendance, and radicalisation risk.
RSHE: A note added that teaching relevant topics in Relationships Education (primary schools) and Relationships and Sex Education (secondary schools) must have regard to the statutory guidance. The RSHE guidance was revised on 15 July 2025, for inclusion in the 2026 release.
Filtering & monitoring: Adds a self-assessment link so schools can assess themselves against the filtering & monitoring standards and evidence an annual review.
AI: Links to guidance on generative AI and safety expectations.
Cyber security: Clarifies the standards and makes explicit the expectation that schools improve their cyber resilience (e.g., tested backups and restores, MFA for admins, secure Wi-Fi and switching configurations, and regular patching).
Attendance: “Working together to improve school attendance” is now statutory guidance.
Virtual School Heads: Clarifies that Virtual School Heads are also responsible for promoting the educational achievement of children in kinship care.
SEND: Removes ‘spectrum’ and ‘disorder’ to align with the SEND Code of Practice.
Part 3 – Safer Recruitment
Updated links for the TRA’s Employer Access Service and Employer Secure Access to the GOV.UK website.
Part 4 – Handling Allegations
Title amendment to the Information Commissioner’s employment guidance.
Part 5 – Child-on-Child
Link added to Shore Space – a confidential chat service for young people to discuss concerning sexual thoughts and behaviours. Find out more in Part 5: Child-on-child sexual violence and sexual harassment.
Looking for More Info? Let’s Talk
DSL/SLT Action Checklist
- Run filtering & monitoring self-assessment and document annual review (governance minutes).
- Update Online Safety Policy to include misinformation/disinformation, update keyword lists and ensure monitoring alerts cover AI prompts.
- Confirm cyber controls meet DfE standards (cloud and on-site backups, patching, MFA, Wi-Fi config).
- Update attendance policy sections that interact with safeguarding.
- Refresh safer recruitment process notes and links (section 128 of the Teacher Regulation Agency).
- Adjust SEND wording in policies and communications.
- Add Shore Space to your student and parent resource list.
- Provide evidence of staff briefings on the updates and keep Part 1 read receipts.
KCSIE 2025 in Summary
The 2025 release does not include many updates from the 2024 version released in September 2024. The framework remains with the Parts 1-5 structure and no wholesale rewrites.
All staff must read Part 1, DSL/SLT maintain strategic oversight, and governors or trustees hold leaders to account.
Your school’s multi-agency responsibilities and early help pathways are unchanged.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the changes in KCSIE 2025?
The key change in KCSIE 2025 is the inclusion of recognising misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories as harms that impact children’s welfare.
When does KCSIE 2025 take effect?
1 September 2025. Schools should prepare in the summer term.
What part of KCSIE 2025 should governors read?
Governors and trustees must ensure they have read and follow ‘Part 2: The management of safeguarding’ in Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025.
Mark Friend, BSc (Hons), is a Company Director at Classroom365 and has worked in technology for nearly 30 years. His IT career started with Rothschild Bank in Sydney, Australia, before working as a Global VPN Project Manager for the British Council. Mark has 20 years of experience in the UK education sector, helping schools integrate the latest tech into their curriculum and ICT vision.