What is safeguarding in education?

Safeguarding has a wide definition in the context of the education sector. Statutory guidance for schools and colleges, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (known as ‘KCS’), defines safeguarding as:

1. •

   protecting children from maltreatment

2. •

   preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development

3. •

   ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care, and

4. •

   taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

Further to the above, this is also the definition used in ‘Working together to safeguard children 2023 (as updated periodically)’ (‘Working Together’), which is the key guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Importantly for schools, it is also the definition which Ofsted uses when inspecting safeguarding in education settings. The September 2023 update to the guidance has incorporated filtering and monitoring standards into the KCS guidance to give comprehensive guidance from one source.

Responsibility for safeguarding in schools

The governing body of a maintained school is required