This guidance applies to all schools and colleges and is for:
headteachers, teachers and staff
governing bodies, proprietors and management committees
It sets out the legal duties you must follow to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18 in schools and colleges.
All school and college staff should read part 1 of this guidance. Part 1 of the guidance is also available as a standalone document.
Statutory guidance sets out what schools must do to comply with the law.
Where the guidance states schools and colleges should do something, you should follow this unless you have a good reason not to.
Published 26 March 2015 Last updated 1 September 2023 +show all updates
The September 2023 version of the keeping children safe in education guidance is now in force, replacing previous versions. We initially published this for information in June. We have since made meaningful amendments to paragraphs 142, about the appropriateness of filtering and monitoring systems online, and 150, about guidance and resources on inspection. Annex F has a table of substantive changes from the September 2022 guidance.
Added statutory guidance on keeping children safe in education for 2023. This is for information only and does not come into force until 1 September 2023.
The 2022 version of 'Keeping children safe in education' is now in force and replaces previous versions. Since the 2022 for information version published in May we have updated a few things, annex F shows all the substantive changes that apply from September 2022. We have also replaced 'Keeping children safe in education: for school and college staff (part 1)' with an updated 2022 version.
Updated 'Keeping children safe in education 2022 (from 1 September 2022) - updated links in paragraphs 141 and 210 and corrected paragraph cross-referencing.
Added 'Keeping children safe in education 2022. This document is for information only and does not come into force until 1 September 2022.
The September 2021 version of the keeping children safe in education guidance is now in force and replaces previous versions.