In the first week, test whether every safeguarding concern reaches an available DSL or deputy, receives an accountable next action, and stays visible through handover and review.
Also confirm that transferred child protection files are received, opened by an authorised reviewer and clarified where needed. Connected records can prompt questions. They cannot decide harm, thresholds or referrals.
This check is for schools and colleges in England on 2 September 2026. KCSIE 2026 is now in force. Follow the setting's child protection policy and local procedures, and never delay urgent action while completing an assurance record.
Test the relay, not the appearance of a dashboard
A route exists only when a report can travel through it. Use one invented test concern and one transfer-status check. Do not use a live case merely to prove the system works.
For each handover, leave five small pieces of evidence:
- Source: where the factual report or transfer notice began.
- Receiver: the authorised person or monitored confidential channel.
- Receipt: the time and method showing it arrived.
- Owner: the professional responsible for the next action.
- Review: when the owner will check the outcome or reopen the question.
A green delivery marker is only receipt evidence. It does not show that the information was understood, the right action followed or the child is safe.
Start where staff report a concern
KCSIE 2026 is statutory guidance. It says staff should act immediately, follow the setting's child protection policy and speak to the DSL or a deputy when they have a concern about a child's welfare.
Test the route staff were actually given at induction. Can a new, temporary or part-time colleague find it? Can they record observed fact, source, time and immediate action without being asked to classify harm?
Keep pupil concerns, staff concerns and urgent help routes distinct. Software and front-line staff must not decide whether a staff concern meets the harm threshold or belongs in a low-level-concern process.
If the DSL or deputy is unexpectedly unavailable, KCSIE says that must not delay appropriate action. Staff should use the policy, senior leadership and local children's social care advice as the circumstances require.
Make DSL cover a live control
Annex B says a DSL or deputy should always be available during term-time school or college hours. The setting defines availability and must arrange adequate cover for out-of-hours or out-of-term activity.
KCSIE 2026 adds a clearer continuity expectation. Robust cover should identify a reliable, known route so concerns are received, monitored and acted on without delay when the DSL is absent.
Write down who receives, who monitors and who acts. Add the confidential channel, the trigger for handing over the live queue and the next review. Test an ordinary absence and a sudden absence.
Deputies may carry out delegated activities when appropriately trained. Ultimate lead responsibility remains with the DSL. A rota should make cover visible without pretending the leadership duty has moved.
Close the transferred-file loop
KCSIE 2026 now says child protection files should transfer as soon as possible. For a new-term move, the window is within the first five days of the new term. In-year transfers use a five-day window.
The file travels separately from the main pupil file, through secure transit, with receipt confirmed. The sending setting should provide a structured summary that separates live concerns from relevant historic context.
The receiving setting should arrange review by an appropriately trained person. If the information is unclear or incomplete, seek clarification. Receipt, review and action are three separate states.
The Department for Education's data-protection guidance, updated 9 July 2026, also stresses secure, traceable transfer. It is guidance on handling data. KCSIE supplies the specific safeguarding expectation.
Walk one made-up first-week record through the relay
The following details are invented and combine no real pupil, family, staff, school or customer information. They illustrate the review method only.
A new starter is present in the morning register but is missing from an expected afternoon lesson. A member of staff submits a factual concern through the school's authorised route.
The DSL is off site. The cover record identifies the deputy, the monitored channel and the handover trigger. A transfer tracker shows that a child protection file arrived, but review has not yet been recorded.
Timetable and attendance records show where the pupil was expected. SEND metadata shows that an accessible transition plan exists. Those records change the questions. They do not explain the absence or prove a safeguarding cause.
The deputy follows the local process, checks the authorised source records and confirms the pupil's immediate situation. The deputy records the action, owner and review time, then hands the live record back to the DSL.
The review should ask whether the concern reached the right person, whether the transfer file was read and whether the agreed action happened. It must remain open to correction from the pupil, family and relevant professionals.
Keep the connected view within its limits
Attendance, behaviour, health and SEND information may help a DSL understand timing, access, communication and support. These domains are context. They are not proxies for abuse, risk, parental capacity or a statutory threshold.
Show provenance, observation time, owner, missingness and review state. Open the underlying record before acting. Keep detailed safeguarding narratives in the controlled child protection record.
The DfE's May 2024 information-sharing document is non-statutory advice. It supports necessary, proportionate, relevant, accurate, timely and secure sharing, with an accountable record of the decision.
Working Together 2026 is statutory guidance for England. Local safeguarding partners publish arrangements and threshold documents. A school operating check should link to those local routes without inventing a national threshold.
Where Student Radar fits
Where enabled and configured, Safeguard supports controlled concern intake. Pupil and staff-related records use separate safeguarding lanes, with access kept on a need-to-know basis.
The DSL Action Board can show the lane, owner, next action and review point to authorised leaders. On-call settings can record who receives, monitors and acts when the DSL is unavailable.
The inter-school transfer workflow supports sealed packs, a separate transfer state and receipt confirmation. These controls cannot judge harm, set priority, determine a threshold, make a referral or show that a child is safe.
Leave one first-week assurance record
- Record the concern-intake route tested and who received the synthetic report.
- Record the DSL-cover receiver, monitor, action owner, channel and handover trigger.
- List transfer files expected, received, reviewed, clarified and still outstanding.
- Sample ownership and review points without copying case narratives into the audit.
- Set a dated retest after staffing, timetable, policy or system changes.
If the test exposes a gap, put an immediate safe arrangement in place and name the person who will fix it. Urgent concerns continue through the setting's safeguarding and emergency routes.
Sources and further reading
- Department for Education, Keeping children safe in education 2026, final statutory guidance for England, in force from 1 September 2026 and page updated that day.
- Department for Education, Working together to safeguard children 2026, statutory guidance for England published 18 March 2026.
- Department for Education, Information sharing advice for safeguarding practitioners, non-statutory advice for England updated 1 May 2024.
- Department for Education, Data protection in schools: sharing personal data, departmental guidance updated 9 July 2026.
- Information Commissioner's Office, A 10 step guide to sharing information to safeguard children, regulatory guidance published 14 September 2023 and under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
Use the broader KCSIE 2026 readiness guide for policy and training changes. Use the SENCo first-day checklist for SEND, medical and attendance readiness.