The 'Keeping children safe in education' document sets out the legal duties with which schools and colleges must comply and also contains information on what schools and colleges should do in order to keep children safe.
National Online Safety have reviewed the 'Keeping children safe in education' guidance to provide schools with a summary of their Online Safety safeguarding duties
A Whole School Community Approach to Online Safety
An whole school approach
Schools should be aware that technology is a significant component in many safeguarding and wellbeing issues. Children are at risk of abuse and other risks online as well as face to face. In many cases abuse and other risks will take place concurrently both online and offline. Children can also abuse other children online, this can take the form of abusive, harassing, and misogynistic/misandrist messages, the nonconsensual sharing of indecent images, especially around chat groups, and the sharing of abusive images and pornography, to those who do not want to receive such content.
Annex A | page 136
Clear policy
Whilst considering their responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and provide them with a safe environment in which to learn, governing bodies and proprietors should be doing all that they reasonably can to limit children's exposure to the above risks from the school's or college's IT system. As part of this process, governing bodies and proprietors should ensure their school or college has appropriate filtering and monitoring systems in place and regularly review their effectiveness. They should ensure that the leadership team and relevant staff have an awareness and understanding of the provisions in place and manage them effectively and know how to escalate concerns when identified. Governing bodies and proprietors should consider the age range of their children, the number of children, how often they access the IT system and the proportionality of costs verses safeguarding risks.
Page 36 | para 141
The Role of Designated Safeguarding Leads (and Deputies) in Safeguarding Children Online
Appointing a designated safeguarding lead
Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure an appropriate senior member of staff, from the school or college leadership team, is appointed to the role of designated safeguarding lead. It is not appropriate for the proprietor to be the designated safeguarding lead. The designated safeguarding lead should take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection (including online safety). This should be explicit in the role holder's job description.
Page 28 | para 103
Deputy designated safeguarding leads
It is for individual schools and colleges to decide whether they choose to have one or more deputy designated safeguarding leads. Any deputy (or deputies) should be trained to the same standard as the designated safeguarding lead.
Page 29 | para 105
Training
The designated safeguarding lead (and any deputies) should undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills required to carry out the role. This training should be updated at least every two years. The designated safeguarding lead (and any deputies) should also undertake Prevent awareness training.
Annex C | page 166
Working with others
The Designated Safeguarding Lead is expected to liaise with staff (especially teachers, pastoral support staff, school nurses, IT technicians, senior mental health leads and special educational needs coordinators (SENCO's), or the named person with oversight for SEND in a college and senior mental health leads) on matters of safety and safeguarding and welfare (including online and digital safety) and when deciding whether to make a referral by liaising with relevant agencies so that children's needs are considered holistically.
Annex C | page 163
Knowledge & Skills: Online safety and supporting pupils with SEND
The knowledge and skills of the DSL should be refreshed (this might be via e- bulletins, meeting other designated safeguarding leads, or simply taking time to read and digest safeguarding developments) at regular intervals, as required, and at least annually, to allow them to understand and keep up with any developments relevant to their role so they: Are able to understand the unique risks associated with online safety and be confident that they have the relevant knowledge and up to date capability required to keep children safe whilst they are online at school or college. Can recognise the additional risks that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) face online, for example, from bullying, grooming and radicalisation and are confident they have the capability to support children with SEND to stay safe online.
Annex C | page 167
Online Safety Training for Staff
Training should be regularly updated
Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that all staff undergo safeguarding and child protection training (including online safety) at induction. The training should be regularly updated. Induction and training should be in line with any advice from the safeguarding partners.
Page 32 | para 124
Training should be considered as part of overarching safeguarding approach
Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that, as part of the requirement for staff to undergo regular updated safeguarding training, including in relation to online safety (paragraph 124) and for children to be taught about safeguarding, including in relation to online safety (paragraph 129), that safeguarding training for staff, including online safety training, is integrated, aligned and considered as part of the whole school or college safeguarding approach and wider staff training and curriculum planning.
Page 33 | para 127
Awareness of online radicalisation
Although there is no single way of identifying whether a child is likely to be susceptible to an extremist ideology, there are possible indicators that should be taken into consideration alongside other factors and contexts. Background factors combined with specific influences such as family and friends may contribute to a child's vulnerability. Similarly, radicalisation can occur through many different methods (such as social media or the internet) and settings (such as within the home)
Annex B | page 149
Teaching & Learning Online Safety
Curriculum requirements
Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure that children are taught about how to keep themselves and others safe, including online. It should be recognised that effective education will be tailored to the specific needs and vulnerabilities of individual children, including children who are victims of abuse, and children with special educational needs or disabilities.
Page 33 | para 129
Education and Resources
Resources that could support schools and colleges include:
- DfE advice for schools: Teaching online safety in schools
- UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS) Guidance, Education for a connected world
- UKCIS guidance: Sharing nudes and semi nudes: advice for education settings working with children and young people
- Harmful online challenges and online hoaxes – this includes advice on preparing for any online challenges and hoaxes, sharing information with parents and carers of where to get help and support.
[National Online Safety have a suite of lesson resources and classroom packs produced by teachers for teachers directly aligned to the above guidance documents]
Page 34 and 35 | para 132
Filters and Monitoring
Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure their school or college has appropriate filtering and monitoring systems in place and regularly review their effectiveness.
Page 37 | para 141
Support for Victims
Sexual harassment and sexual violence
When referring to sexual harassment we mean 'unwanted conduct of a sexual nature' that can occur online and offline and both inside and outside of school/college. When we reference sexual harassment, we do so in the context of child-on-child sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is likely to: violate a child's dignity, and/or make them feel intimidated, degraded or humiliated and/or create a hostile, offensive or sexualised environment.
Page 106 | para 452
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