The Autumn Safeguarding Reset: What Schools Need to Check Before Half Term

The gates have opened, children have returned, staff are finding their rhythm again, and safeguarding leaders have probably already dealt with a week's worth of surprises, which raises an interesting question. How do you know your safeguarding systems are actually working? 

The Biggest September Myth

 "We've done it; therefore it's working."

Every September, schools update policies, deliver training, send KCSIE updates to staff, review systems and publish documents. But completing a task isn't the same as embedding it. The strongest schools move very quickly from implementation to assurance.

They start asking: 

• Did staff actually read Part One and did they fully understand it?  
• Are new staff really confident in how to report concerns? 
• Can pupils identify safeguarding staff? 
• Have our vulnerable children been identified, and are they receiving the right support?   
• Is our safeguarding culture visible? 

Because safeguarding is not about paperwork. It's about practice. 

KCSIE 2026 actually reinforces something we've understood for years. 

Safeguarding is everybody's responsibility. But everybody's responsibility only works when everybody understands what that means.

What Does Good Look Like By Week Two

Schools should have completed: 

• Policy updates 
• Website updates 
• Staff induction 
• SCR updates 
• Safeguarding posters 
• KCSIE distribution 
• Safeguarding team visibility exercises 

It's important to check whether those things are understood, not just completed. Training for all staff, governors, external visitors, and out-of-hours staff takes time; however, as a DSL, you will need to prioritise who needs training first.  

Compliance training should be viewed as a starting point rather than an endpoint. Once mandatory training has been completed, further safeguarding training should be delivered that is tailored to specific job roles. This enables staff to gain a clearer understanding of their practical safeguarding responsibilities and what is expected of them on a daily basis. Contextualised training supports the effective application of safeguarding principles in practice, which can then be observed in staff behaviours and decision-making.

What Are the First Ten Days Telling You?

The first ten days of term can tell us an enormous amount. This is when safeguarding leaders should stop looking at plans and focus on their returning pupils.  

Questions that DSLs will be asking include: 

• Who has not returned?  
• Which attendance concerns are emerging? 
• Who has returned but is immediately causing concern?  
• Which families need support? 
• Which safeguarding categories are appearing on CPOMS? 
• Do you have all the external agencies' updates and the current status of children with a social worker?  

Because very often the first ten days predict the next ten weeks. Setting the culture and ethos at your school during the first half term is key, and training is certainly a key time to set and reinforce such expectations.

One of the most important things to consider is: Who have we not seen?

Attendance

Attendance remains one of the clearest safeguarding indicators available to schools, and the strongest settings have already: 

• Completed day one follow-up 
• Accounted for all children, particularly the Year 7s and new starters
• Escalated concerns 
• Checked in on vulnerable pupils, including undertaking home visits where appropriate
• Contacted professionals where appropriate 
• Put support in place for families requiring help 
• Checked in on pupils attending alternative provision to ensure that they have returned safely

By 10 days, schools should have moved beyond identifying attendance concerns and towards intervening. If they do not walk through the gates on day 1, where are they? Have they enrolled at another school? Or are they abroad?  

Every child must be accounted for, and a child whose whereabouts are unknown constitutes a safeguarding concern. 

Prevention 

A core principle behind the word safeguarding is prevention. 

Schools should be checking in with absent pupils and not just reviewing the list against attendance. Although checking previous files and relaying important information is vital, direct communication with the missing pupil is just as crucial. It's important to make them aware of the support available and identify any issues that may have arisen over the summer holidays. Determine where check-ins with families may be beneficial. Sought updates from professionals who have had contact with the family over the summer to validate information being communicated. 

Transition is not only a time that can be tricky for pupils; it can be a risk factor for safeguarding, as vital knowledge and understanding of a child may be reduced as new relationships embed. 

A few key questions are:  

• Do all staff know who the vulnerable children are, or is such knowledge kept by a few key members of staff?  
• Are staff aware of new vulnerabilities and how to report worries about a child?  
• How are staff kept updated with information shared only on a need-to-know basis? 
• What happens if your DSL is absent? KCSIE 26 is explicit in requiring robust cover arrangements for periods when the DSL may be unavailable. 

The Four Safeguarding Themes Schools Cannot Ignore This Year

Looking at the safeguarding principles outlined in KCSIE 26:

Earlier Intervention

The biggest strategic change is the continued focus on developing support before crisis, and we are now working with new language.  

• Universal services 
• Community-based early help  
• Family Help (previously known as Early Help in most LAs) 
• Statutory intervention 

The language change gives further clarity in understanding the support available within your local area before concerns escalate. A vital part of early intervention is the internal early help structures and support, what support you can offer students within school, and accessing community-based early help opportunities with a view to reducing the need for referrals.

All staff need to know about the local offer, and there are so many ongoing changes. Remember every LA may have a slightly different offer and language use, but work is underway to formalise this nationally.  

The schools that do this best don't just know where to refer. They have built relationships with local agencies and ensure that these services are promoted regularly as part of newsletters, through school events, as well as posters and conversations with parent groups in order to remove stigma and normalise accessing services, facilitating the opportunity to build support around families early. 

Mental Health 

In KCSIE 2026, mental health feels significantly stronger. The guidance now explicitly talks about: 

• Self-harm 
• Eating disorders 
• Suicidal ideation 
• Suicide risk 

Staff should recognise warning signs and systems must be in place to ensure that timely action is taken to support pupils. The key message is that mental health concerns can become safeguarding concerns which can act as an indicator that a child has suffered or is at risk of suffering abuse, neglect or exploitation. 

School staff can’t diagnose, but noticing when something is wrong and giving an immediate response is a vital part of supporting young people. This is likely to be delivered through a combination of interventions including those delivered in school, through local mental health support teams and the local family help offer. 

External agencies will look to schools, as staff spend significant amounts of time with children and can notice change and help build a bigger picture of need.  

Misogyny And Harmful Sexual Behaviour 

The guidance now places much stronger emphasis on a proactive approach to tackling: 

• Harmful sexual behaviour 
• Misogyny  (and the final update has also referenced misandry within the guidance, although with less frequency than mention of misogyny). 
• Child-on-child abuse 
• Early intervention 

KCSIE is effectively asking schools: What are you noticing before serious incidents occur?  

So the questions that we need to be asking are: 

• What is the culture around zero tolerance, and can students speak confidently about what this means and give examples?  
• Are staff aware of how they support a culture where prevention is at the forefront in classes, corridors and playgrounds? 

This recognises that child-on-child abuse can be preventable and reinforces a culture where safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, and where early intervention is pivotal to providing better outcomes for children.  

The strongest schools are increasingly thinking preventatively. Focussing on early indicators of concern, using safeguarding data in a meaningful and child-centred way to inform interventions and deliver targeted education to pupils who are showing indicators of risk. 

This focus on prevention aligns well with the statutory RSHE guidance enforced from September 2026; the curriculum has continued to develop since it was first published in 2015 and content has been revised on what’s important for children to know.  

Online Harms

Another interesting change in language is from online safety to a discussion around online harms.  This change refocuses us on the risks posed online and addressing these rather than assuming that what we teach children negates the risk of potential harm. The guidance includes:

• AI
• Deepfakes 
• Exploitation 
• Cybercrime 
• Mis-information/ dis-information 
• Sextortion 
• Online abuse 

KCSIE 2026 has recognised that the risks continue to evolve. The new RSHE guidance also supports schools to plan and develop a curriculum that suits the needs of the school and children attending.  

If an Inspector Walked in Tomorrow...

Given the KCSIE 2026 updates, how would the roles of Governors, auditors and inspectors be impacted? 

We expect inspectors to ask fewer questions about policy wording and more questions about evidence. They will be listening to what your pupils say to develop key lines of enquiry. They may ask children about online harms, the school's zero-tolerance approach to HSB, how child-on-child abuse is dealt with and how they would seek support. 

Could you demonstrate: 

• That staff understand safeguarding expectations? 
• How we know that filtering and monitoring is effective? 
• How are attendance concerns being addressed? 
• How are vulnerable children identified? 
• How is Alternative Provision being monitored? 
• Who is on a part-time timetable?  
• Where are records that explain the rationale for decision-making? 
• How do DSL cover arrangements work? 
• Do governors understand safeguarding risks? 

Many schools can demonstrate compliance. Fewer can demonstrate impact, and that's increasingly the challenge for safeguarding leaders. 

The Half-Term Reset Questions

To help continue to think about what  your safeguarding priorities are, there are five key questions:

1. Do staff know what to do if a child discloses tomorrow? 
2. Have we physically checked in with all of our most vulnerable children? 
3. Would your safeguarding systems still work if the DSL was absent? 
4. Are you recognising and responding to emerging risks or waiting for incidents? 
5. What would pupils say if we asked them how safe they feel in school? 

These questions tell us far more about safeguarding effectiveness than any completed document. September isn't really about updating safeguarding. It's about making sure safeguarding is working. Because the schools that safeguard children most effectively know the guidance but also know their children, understand their risks, act early, build strong systems and, importantly, continually test whether those systems work.

How Judicium Can Help...

Judicium offers comprehensive safeguarding audits designed to test every dimension of your school or trust’s provision before an inspector arrives. Our experts will deep dive into your safeguarding culture by gathering staff and governor views, evaluating leadership structures, and conducting spot-checks on record-keeping and safer recruitment practices.

Our audits are thorough and provide schools with reassurance that they have the measures in place to keep pupils and staff safe. Judicium clients will also have access to Jedu and its wide range of templates, from governor visit frameworks and spot-check tools to policy templates.

You can find information regarding our Safeguarding services here.

If you would like to talk to someone about some support for your school or trust, do not hesitate to call us on 0345 548 7000 or email enquiries@Judicium.com

You can follow us on X: @JudiciumSG  @JudiciumEDU

 

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