Keeping Children Safe in Education 2025 - key changes and what schools need to know
Following the government announcement last week that only technical changes would be made to KCSIE 2025, the DfE has now published a version 'for information only' in advance of the final version being published on 1 September 2025.
The announcement created an expectation amongst school leaders and DSLs that this would mean only minor amendments would be required to policies and procedures. However, there is some content in this version that school staff should be aware of now so they can prepare for the new school year. These relate to:
Online safety - This includes clarification that 'misinformation', 'disinformation' and 'conspiracy theories' are safeguarding harms. Links have been added to the plan technology for your school service, which schools can use to assess themselves against the filtering and monitoring standards and receive personalised recommendations on how to meet them. Content relating to the cybersecurity standards has been updated to clarify it was developed to help schools improve their cyber resilience
Artificial Intelligence - Links have been added to the new DfE guidance on the use of generative AI in education (2025). See our separate article on this for more information.
Alternative Provision - The content on AP now reflects the guidance that was updated earlier this year and reminds schools of the requirements to ensure suitable safeguarding arrangements are in place and suitability checks have been carried out on staff. Schools should always know where their pupils are based during the school day and there should be frequent reviews to ensure pupils are attending the provision and the placement is safe and meets their needs. This reinforces the schools' obligation for effective communication with AP providers on attendance and safeguarding.
Virtual School Heads - Now have a non-statutory responsibility to promote the educational achievement of all children in kinship care. This reflects the changes made to Working together to safeguard children in 2023.
Attendance - The wording has been amended to reflect that Working together to improve school attendance is statutory guidance and all schools must follow it. This also reflects the importance of securing good attendance in school, and the need to tackle persistent absence which often is a sign of safeguarding issues or unmet social care or educational needs.
Links to new safeguarding related guidance - in particular relating to child-on-child abuse and child sexual abuse.
What may be included in the September version
The DfE have repeated it is their intention to publish the revised statutory guidance on Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) and the guidance on Gender Questioning Children and include links to these in the final version of KCSIE 2025 to be published in September.
Last year the previous government consulted on changes to the RSHE statutory guidance and the proposed changes to the draft strongly reflected their policy on the approach to teaching the subject. Concerns were raised by educators, parents and third sector organisations about the content and whether the proposed content would potentially endanger children by delaying the introduction of critical information. This government have been relatively quiet about what their approach will be, so teaching staff (and possibly DSLs) will need to be prepared to review this, refresh training and decide on whether they need to change their curricular or safeguarding approach, including school policies.
The draft non-statutory guidance on gender questioning children was also consulted on by the previous government and was drafted partly in response to the Cass Review and to provide practical advice to schools who have children who may be questioning their gender. Responses were published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission who made a number of recommendations, including that the guidance should more clearly explain and refer to key concepts in the Equality Act 2010, particularly direct and indirect discrimination, to help schools balance the rights of different groups. Schools should therefore be aware that the new and final version may depart from the draft currently available. Again schools will plan policy reviews and training for all staff to update knowledge on supporting all children at schools, including those questioning their gender. See our separate article on the Supreme Court judgement here.
What to expect in 2025 and beyond
The DfE has stated that it will continue to revise and improve KCSIE 2025 on a regular basis and future iterations will reflect the progress into legislation of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the emerging further learnings from the work of the recent Casey Audit on group based sexual exploitation and abuse and subsequent inquiries, the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy and the interactions between these advances.