KCSIE Digital Safeguarding in 2025 – Tackling Misinformation and AI Risks

As pupils spend more of their learning lives online, safeguarding policy must evolve to match. The 2025 update to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) reflects just how intertwined digital risk and pupil welfare have become.

From deepfake videos and conspiracy content to ethical questions about AI in recruitment, schools now need to protect learners in classrooms, corridors, and online spaces they can’t always see.

Major Safeguarding Updates in KCSIE 2025

• Expanded Online Safety Risks
  Includes misinformation, radicalisation via conspiracy theories, content manipulation, and deepfakes.
• AI and Recruitment Checks
  Schools must apply ethical policies when using generative AI tools or conducting online candidate screening. This includes transparency, bias mitigation, and data protection.
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups
  Updated expectations around attendance monitoring, alternative provision settings, and kinship care responsibilities.
• Filtering and Monitoring Standards
  Schools must now meet stricter digital standards for filtering harmful content and monitoring device usage.
• Virtual School Heads & Kinship Care
  Clarified roles for supporting children in non-traditional care arrangements.

Implications for Schools:

• Safeguarding teams will need CPD on tech-related risks and emerging threats.
• RSHE and PSHE lessons must expand to include media literacy and disinformation awareness.
• Digital policies – from device usage to consent protocols – must be reviewed and published clearly.

For Students and Families:

• Pupils learn how to navigate online content critically and responsibly.
• Families are given tools to support children in spotting false narratives and using technology safely.
• Communities feel reassured that digital threats are being addressed proactively, not reactively.

Find out more information here: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/12/the-childrens-wellbeing-bill-what-parents-need-to-know/

Technology Is a Tool – But Also a Risk

In 2025, safeguarding means keeping children safe not just from physical harm, but from digital influence that can distort learning, relationships, and self-worth. With the right structures, schools can empower pupils to navigate the digital world, not be overwhelmed by it.

How Schools Can Prepare:

• Refresh staff digital safeguarding policies and ensure they align with KCSIE 2025.
• Run workshops for parents on misinformation, deepfakes, and AI ethics in education.
• Use tools like 360 Safe to self-review online safety provision and policy strength.
• Collaborate with IT teams to meet filtering and monitoring standards set by the DfE.

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If your school hasn’t yet had the conversation with SMS, now’s the time.

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With regional offices in Newcastle, Oxford, and Nottingham, SMS works with schools across the whole of the North East, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicester, Oxfordshire and Swindon. Each office is embedded within its local education community, working in partnership with school trusts, teaching alliances such as OTSA, and local authorities to deliver tailored supply staffing support across primary and secondary education, whether that is day-to-day supply teaching or long-term placements. From multi academy trusts to community primary and special schools, SMS is helping educational establishments navigate financial pressures with a smarter, more sustainable solution for supply teachers and support staff, that puts pupil outcomes first.

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View previous blogs in our New Schools Bill series:

Navigating the New Schools Bill: What 2025’s Reforms Mean for Schools and Pupils

Wellbeing in Schools – From Breakfast to Emotional Support

SEND Reform – Clarity, Consistency, and Better Access for Every Learner