Safeguarding Bulletin - 27 May 2026
The Role of DSL - what settings need to know webinar booking now...
The consultation on Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 sets out that the Designated Safeguarding Lead should have the appropriate status, authority, skills and experience within the school or college to carry out the duties of the post. It also sets out that any deputies should be trained to the same standard as the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
This session takes attendees through the requirements and explores how we can effectively ensure the Designated Safeguarding Lead role is being enacted to the standard required.
We’ll consider why the Designated Safeguarding Lead role exists, the range of responsibilities the role entails and think about what is means to have lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. This session contains insights for anyone with an interest in the vital role of Designated Safeguarding Lead and could also be used as an introduction to our highly popular courses New to Role of DSL and the DSL Support Programme.
Scheduled for June 3rd, 12pm-1pm, all registrants will receive a session recording and slides.
NON-MEMBERS: this webinar is £10 + VAT.
MEMBERS: This webinar is free for Safeguarding Network members. Please login and go to the Your CPD page for the link to book.
DSM Foundation launches free ketamine PSHE package
The Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation is a drug and alcohol education charity that aims to support young people to make safe choices about drugs and alcohol and reduce harm.
The Foundation has published a new and free PSHE resource, developed in response to concerns from schools and colleges on the topic of ketamine. This comprises of a staff training video to help them understand what ketamine is, and its associated risks and harms; and a lesson for older students that can be delivered either in one 50 minute slot (or equivalent), or in two 25 minute slots.
Also recently reviewed and updated, their Mission Transition is a programme for children moving from primary/prep to secondary/senior school.
This free resource pack comprises a slide deck and planning so school staff can help build their pupils' confidence and resilience, both in preparation for the transition to "big school" but also to assist them adapting in the early weeks and month once they get there. Topics such as decision making, core values, dealing with peer influence, being a good friend, and age appropriate research activities into alcohol and drugs – which they are more likely to encounter in this older academic setting - are all covered, and of course it is all evidence-based and non-judgemental.
Using AI in education settings: support materials
The Department for Education has just released free support materials for staff in schools and colleges, developed by the Chiltern Learning Trust and Chartered College of Teaching, to support the safe and effective use of generative AI in education.
The materials balance the need for staff and student safety with the opportunities AI creates. They feature:
activity focused slides
video presentations with accompanying transcripts
summaries of the information presented
activities to consolidate knowledge, such as multiple-choice questions
templates to help you reflect and plan
How moving school impacts teenage wellbeing
The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health has published an article on how primary to secondary school transition can affect adolescent wellbeing, anxiety, belonging, and motivation, and explore ways schools can support students through change.
"School transitions are the process of changing from one school to another. For many teenagers, this process is symbolic – it marks the shift from childhood to adolescence, indicating a change in social status and how a teenager views themself. This rite of passage is an important milestone in a teenager’s life, which, when successful, can have many positive benefits. But if they encounter ongoing challenges, it could negatively impact their wellbeing..."
DSLs suffer ‘vicarious trauma’ and need supervision, say leaders
DSLs are at risk of becoming “desensitised, overwhelmed and burning out” due to a lack of protected time for supervision, school leaders have warned.
At a recent TES online session, a panel of safeguarding experts explained that “vicarious trauma” experienced by DSLs required extensive support, despite the fact that KCSiE 2026 only mentions that schools “should” provide support for DSLs.
Schools could face more legal disputes, SEND experts warn
Schools could face an increase in complaints, legal challenges and tensions with parents as a result of the government’s planned special educational needs reforms, experts are warning.
Responses to a consultation on the plans, which closed this week, from headteachers’ leaders, lawyers and charities raise fears that schools and parents could increasingly be in dispute.
The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel Annual Report
The Annual Report 2024/25 sets out national learning from serious safeguarding incidents notified to the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.
Drawing on evidence from rapid reviews and the Panel’s national programme of work, the report provides a system‑wide picture of where children are most at risk, the complex circumstances many families are facing, and what needs to improve to strengthen safeguarding practice across England.
The report highlights that harm rarely arises from a single issue. Children involved in serious incidents were often living in complex and overlapping circumstances, shaped by family, social and systemic factors.
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