Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026 is now in force from 1 September 2026, bringing important changes for schools and MATs across England.
Whilst safeguarding has always been about far more than technology, this latest guidance puts an even sharper focus on the digital environment pupils are navigating every day. Generative AI, filtering and monitoring, cyber security and rapidly changing online behaviours all feature more prominently.
For school leaders, DSLs and IT teams, the message is clear: online safety needs to evolve alongside the technology pupils are using.
What should schools be paying attention to?
AI is part of the safeguarding conversation, with generative AI being a key concern for school safeguarding.
KCSIE 2026 specifically points schools towards guidance on the safety considerations and legal responsibilities associated with using generative AI in education. The guidance also expands its definition of online risks to recognise interactions with generative AI applications and explicit images generated using AI.
The terminology around the making and sharing of nude or semi-nude images has also been updated to recognise content that has been digitally altered or generated using AI, including deepfakes.
For schools, this means AI needs to feature in more than just conversations about teaching and learning.
Staff must understand the safeguarding risks it can introduce; pupils need clear guidance on acceptable use and schools need established routes for identifying, reporting and responding to AI-related concerns.
Filtering and monitoring needs to be actively reviewed
Having filtering and monitoring technology in place has been an established KCSIE expectation for some time. What KCSIE 2026 makes clear is the importance of regularly checking that it is working effectively.
Schools should review the effectiveness of their filtering and monitoring provision at least once every academic year. That review should involve the relevant senior leadership team member, supported by the DSL and IT support, and include checks across internet-connected devices and relevant locations. Schools should also keep a record of those checks.
The DfE's filtering and monitoring standards also make clear that schools should assign responsibility for these systems, review them annually, block harmful and inappropriate content without unnecessarily restricting teaching and learning, and have monitoring strategies appropriate to their safeguarding needs.
For MATs, that also means understanding whether protection is being applied consistently across different schools, networks and devices.
Online safety is a whole school responsibility
KCSIE continues to position online safety as a running and interconnected part of a school's wider safeguarding approach. Therefore, this encompasses policies, curriculum, staff training, DSL responsibilities and parental engagement.
Technology changes quickly, so online safety must evolve simultaneously, and cannot be treated as a once-a-year policy exercise.
Schools should consider an annual review of their overall online safety approach, supported by a risk assessment reflecting the risks their pupils face.
That means bringing safeguarding, leadership and IT teams together rather than treating digital safeguarding as the responsibility of one department.
Cyber security is a safeguarding issue too
Another important point in KCSIE 2026 is the clearer connection between cyber security and safeguarding.
The guidance states that protecting personal information and having appropriate cyber security systems should form part of a school's wider safeguarding responsibilities. Schools are directed towards the DfE cyber security standards to help strengthen resilience, prevent data breaches and reduce safeguarding risks.
That distinction matters, as a cyber incident in a school isn't only an IT problem. If sensitive pupil information is compromised or essential systems become unavailable, there can be direct consequences for pupil safety and wellbeing.
Four questions schools should be asking now
As schools review their approach against KCSIE 2026, there are some useful starting points:
- When did we last formally review and test our filtering and monitoring provision?
- Does protection work consistently across the devices, users and locations our pupils’ access?
- Have our safeguarding policies, reporting processes and staff training caught up with generative AI and AI-created content?
- Is our safeguarding, IT and cyber security strategies working together rather than operating separately?
The aim should be to understand whether your digital environment is giving staff the visibility, controls and information they need to act when something isn't right.
How Glide can support schools and MATs
Glide works with schools and MATs to create secure, resilient digital environments, alongside specialist safeguarding partners Smoothwall and Ativion.
- Smoothwall has supported schools and MATs with digital safeguarding and monitoring for more than 20 years.
- Ativion brings together capabilities including filtering, safeguarding visibility and classroom/device management.
Combined with Glide's connectivity and managed network expertise, we can help schools opt for a joined-up approach, from the network underneath everything to the filtering, monitoring and safeguarding technology running across it.
Reviewing your approach for KCSIE 2026?
Talk to Glide about how we can support a safer, more visible and better-connected digital environment for your school or trust.
