KCSIE 2025 Technical Updates

The Department for Education has confirmed only technical changes in Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2025, effective from September 2025, meaning no wholesale revisions—just critical clarifications and additions. Here’s a breakdown enriched with updates to help your institution stay ahead.

1. Signposted RSHE & Gender Questioning Guidance

KCSIE 2025 notes that updated RSHE (Relationships, Sex & Health Education) and guidance on supporting gender-questioning children is expected this summer. If published, these will be signposted in the September version of KCSIE 2025. This anticipates necessary curriculum and policy adjustments once the guidance is released.

 

2. Expanded Online Safeguarding Harms

Paragraph 135 now specifically includes misinformation, disinformation (including “fake news”), and conspiracy theories as online harms that schools must address under their safeguarding arrangements. This new clarity reinforces schools’ responsibilities in promoting safe online environments.  Additionally, most safeguarding leads rank monitoring pupils’ online behaviour outside school as their top challenge, reflecting the heightened need for vigilance.

3. Attendance Guidance Is Now Statutory

KCSIE 2025 clarifies that the “Working Together to Improve School Attendance” guidance—implemented in August 2024—is now statutory, solidifying legal expectations around attendance. This includes requirements like daily attendance register sharing with the DfE, aligning with admissions and penalty notice frameworks 

4. Enhanced Role of Virtual School Heads

Updated paragraph 199 confirms that Virtual School Heads (VSHs) now also promote the educational achievement of children in kinship care, expanding on prior responsibilities related to children with a social worker. This refinement ensures these children receive focused support.

5. Clarifications on Alternative Provision (AP)

KCSIE 2025 offers clearer wording around AP settings. Commissioning schools must now:

 

  • Obtain written confirmation that safeguarding checks have been carried out on all AP staff.
  • Be notified of staff changes and verify checks have been redone.
  • Maintain oversight of location, including satellite sites.
  • Conduct frequent reviews ensuring attendance, suitability, and safety.
  • Review or terminate placements immediately if concerns arise. 
Why These Updates Matter

These technical changes don’t overhaul KCSIE—but they clarify practical obligations:

 

  • Online Safety: Recognising misinformation as harmful narrows monitoring scope and emphasises media literacy.
  • Attendance: Stricter compliance steps help combat persistent absence and legal risk.
  • VSH Role Expansion: Kinship care is now formally included in educational leadership duties.
  • AP Standards: Ensures off‑site learning is not a safeguarding blind spot.
What Schools Should Do Now
  • Audit online safety filters, staff training, and pupil awareness—particularly around misinformation.
  • Enforce attendance protocols, including daily data sharing with the DfE and readiness for penalty notices.
  • Engage with updated RSHE & gender guidance—plan any necessary policy updates.
  • Align AP processes: securing written assurances, scheduled reviews, and clarity of locations.
  • Collaborate with VSHs, especially in kinship care cases, to operationalize their enhanced responsibilities.
Final Word

KCSIE 2025 doesn’t bring major changes, but it’s an early sign of where things are heading. As technical amendments, these updates bring sharper focus to core safeguarding responsibilities. By proactively embedding them now, your school will not only be compliant—but better equipped to protect and support every pupil.

Stay tuned for the RSHE and gender guidance this summer. If you’d like help unpacking any of these changes with governors or staff, just reach out.

At TASC, we’re here to help schools stay compliant, informed, and ready for every change—no matter how big or small.