How can school Designated Safeguarding Leads respond to incidents of intimate image sharing in their schools/colleges? 

What is the issue?

It has never been easier than now to take and share images. Technology that students interact with every day including smartphones, laptops, tablets, watches, smart TVs, smart glasses and surreptitious or tiny devices that can be used to capture indecent images. With just a click of a button, a photo or film can be sent instantly or shared with countless people at once on social media. Social media applications such as TikTok, Snapchat and even WhatsApp have some safeguards, but it is still extremely easy for nudes to be shared and saved quickly, therefore safeguarding practice needs to be nimble in order to act promptly to any reports.

One of the key changes for Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 is centred around online harms, including AI generated content. Known more widely as intimate image abuse, KCSIE uses the terms ‘making or sharing nudes and semi nudes,’ which refers to the creation, sending or posting of nude or semi-nude images by children under the age of 18. The term ‘images’ includes all visual content, such as photographs, videos and livestreams. KCSIE uses the term ‘nudes’ because it is considered the most widely understood language, which is used by young people and best captures the full range of image-sharing behaviours. Images may be taken by the child themselves (sometimes referred to as ‘self-generated imagery’) or taken or created by another person.

This imagery may be digitally altered or generated using artificial intelligence, including what are sometimes described as ‘deepfakes’ or ‘deep nudes’ – these are becoming more convincing as technology improves, but the impact for a student of even poorly constructed material can be significant, the embarrassment in front of other students acute and the implications potentially serious.

Schools have a responsibility as part of online safety and relationships and sex education to ensure students understand the implications of sharing nudes. Most importantly, settings should ensure students understand that for anyone under 18, it is against the law to make an indecent image of someone under 18 (photos, films, or AI), to send them, to possess them (including knowingly opening attachments with such images), even if it is on their own device or sent to someone else also under 18.

How should settings respond?

Schools should be aware that no matter how strong their policies are, children will inevitably be using social media to communicate, sometimes in very large groups and forums such as entire year group chats and even with students in other schools. DSLs in the same local area should communicate and information share if it becomes apparent that a student may have had their images shared and that they should report any criminal activity to the police at the earliest opportunity. This will ensure a prompt response to the abuse and ensure that support mechanisms are activated as quickly as possible from services such as victim support or social care.

However, schools, particularly the DSL could play a fundamental role in supporting a student who has had their nudes shared or been a victim of any form of intimate image abuse. All such incidents should be immediately reported to the DSL, who will manage the incident in line with the school’s child protection policies. Important to remember is:

• Never view, copy, print, share, store or save the imagery yourself, or ask a child to share or download. This is illegal. If a member of staff has already viewed the imagery by accident (e.g. if a young person has shown it to them before they could ask them not to), this should be reported this to the DSL and the staff member given support.

• Do not delete the imagery or ask the young person to delete it.

• Do not ask the child/children or young person(s) who are involved in the incident to disclose information regarding the imagery. This is the responsibility of the DSL and statutory agencies such as police or social care.

• Do not share information about the incident with other members of staff, the young person(s) it involves or their, or other, parents and/or carers.

• Do not say or do anything to blame or shame any young people involved. They are a victim.

• Do explain to them that you need to report it and reassure them that they will receive support and help from the DSL and specialist agencies such as Childline, the NSPCC or other agencies.

• All staff should know how to respond, and the likely response of other agencies.

Intimate image abuse can have a devastating impact on a student's emotional wellbeing, relationships, and sense of safety. DSLs are uniquely placed to provide timely support, ensure appropriate reporting procedures are followed, and help victims access specialist services. By combining effective preventative education with a compassionate, child-centred response, schools can empower students to seek help and create a culture where online abuse is recognised, challenged and never tolerated.

About the author: Melissa Pollard is a Designated Safeguarding Lead with 20 years experience in education and children's mental health.