Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE) 2025: Summary of Changes

Jul 7 / Mark Allday
The ‘for information only’ version of KCSiE has now been released (7th July 2025). Schools and colleges should treat this version as draft. The finalised version will be published in readiness for implementation from September 2025.

The purpose of the statutory guidance contained within KCSiE is to set out what schools and colleges in England must do to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18.

Our team of education experts have been hard at work distilling the changes from the previous version.

Updates to KCSiE 2025

The substantial changes many educators were expecting in this year's guidance have not become a reality. For 2025 the guidance sees technical updates and clarifications. The draft does state that by 1st September 2025 the revised guidance on Relationships, Sex, and Health Education and revised guidance on gender questioning children will be released and links made accordingly within KCSiE.

The full guidance can be found HERE on the Department for Education (DfE) website.
A summary of changes to the draft 2025 guidance
  • Language updated to reflect current statutory frameworks (e.g., SEND Code of Practice, Working Together to Improve Attendance)
  • Clarifications provided on safeguarding themes such as misinformation/disinformation, cybersecurity, and Alternative Provision
  • Confirmation that the 'working together to improve school attendance' guidance is now statutory
  • Terminology updated to align with current guidance and improve clarity.
  • Future changes are expected, influenced by:
  1. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
  2. The Casey Audit and associated inquiries
  3. The Violence Against Women and Girls strategy
  • Revised guidance on RSHE and gender questioning children (anticipated by September 2025)
New/updated useful resources included in the changes to the draft 2025 guidance
  • Plan technology for your school – tool to assess and improve filtering and monitoring
  • DfE Guidance on Generative AI (2025) – supporting safe and informed use of AI in education
  • Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s ‘Shore Space’ – a confidential chat service for young people concerned about sexual behaviours
  • CSA Centre resources – practical tools for schools on child sexual abuse prevention
  • Preventing Child Sexual Exploitation resources – added as additional support for schools

Updates to KCSiE 2024

Here is a reminder of the changes made to last year’s edition of KCSiE:

  • Clarification that schools remain responsible for the pupils they place in alternative provision
  • The word “exploitation” included more comprehensively within definitions - so “abuse and neglect”, becomes “abuse, neglect and exploitation”
  • Clarification of schools’ responsibilities regarding the Data Protection Act (2018) regarding handling personal information in compliance with UK GDPR
  • The wording “deliberately missing education” has been changed to “unexplainable and/or persistent absences” with the aim of shifting from victim blaming to understanding why children are missing from education
  • Additional text implemented to help clarify the ‘indicators of abuse and neglect’ in relation to domestic violence, where it can include what young people ‘see, hear, or experience its effects’

How can Prospero Learning support your school or college?

We are updating our training and CPD offer in readiness for the guidance coming into effect from September.

We will be offering a FREE Introductory Safeguarding and KCSiE Knowledge Check course. In addition, we will also offer an Intermediate Safeguarding course at an industry-low price. 

All our training is accredited and certified by CPDUK and has been designed in line with the latest DfE, Ofsted and wider government guidance around safeguarding to help you meet your statutory requirements and support compliance. Our courses are written by education experts.