Safeguarding in a Digital Storm: Preparing for KCSIE 2025

As UK children and schools spend more time socialising, learning, and communicating online, students and staff are faced with both opportunities and challenges.

Undoubtedly, technology has opened new doors — from greater access to educational resources and creative platforms to online communities that offer support and connection for students who may feel isolated on campus.

But educators everywhere know the flip side all too well. Mental health issues are rising, fueled by influencer culture and harmful TikTok trends. Predators are posing as peers with alarming sophistication, and deepfake content is becoming harder to detect.

For safeguarding staff, it’s arguably never been a more high-pressure environment.

Add to this the expected changes to KCSIE due this year, and the pressure to stay ahead of evolving online risks while meeting compliance obligations becomes even more urgent.

Here’s what safeguarding teams can expect in the year ahead, and how to start preparing themselves and their schools.

The mental health cost of social media

Social media is the top reason parents give when asked about what most negatively impacts teens, and for good reason. A 2024 study by Oxford University found that around 60% of UK teens aged 16-18 spend an astonishing two to four hours on social media, with many reporting even higher usage.

Safeguarding teams should be alert to signs of:

• Excessive social media use, which often leads to sleep disruption, a drop in academic performance, and difficulty regulating emotions.

• Eating disorders, influenced by trends such as #skinnytok, a corner of TikTok where creators promote extreme thinness and harmful body comparisons.

• FOMO-driven anxiety: As teens measure their worth against the curated standards of social media standards of beauty, success, and popularity, fear of missing out can fuel serious issues, from low self-esteem to chronic stress and social withdrawal.

The rise of AI, deep fakes, and peer-to-peer abuse

While online grooming has been a longstanding concern, 2025 brings a darker twist: AI Tools are being used to manipulate, deceive, and exploit children. Predators are now using AI-generated images and deepfake videos to impersonate peers and create fake content, making it significantly harder for schools and families to detect danger.

Meanwhile, the largely unmonitored world of anonymous chat apps, combined with widespread device access, has blurred the line between online and in-school incidents, with child-on-child abuse now one of the most pressing safeguarding concerns.

A recent Observer investigation uncovered an 81% rise in reported abuse incidents occurring on school grounds, with police data showing a spike in cases involving children both as victims and perpetrators.

Safeguarding teams should be monitoring for:

• Signs of sextortion and blackmail originating from chat apps and social media

• Peer-to-peer sharing of explicit content

• Escalating conflicts and bullying that may start online and bleed out in the schoolyard

Safeguarding staff under increasing pressure

Despite the increased safeguarding requirements for schools across the UK, safeguarding staff are increasingly leaving the profession, with Ofsted citing the ‘high workload, lack of work–life balance, a perceived lack of resources, and a perceived lack of support from leaders, especially for managing pupils’ behaviour’, as driving factors. This is leaving significant gaps in the sector and increasing pressure on existing staff.

Safeguarding teams should prepare for:

• Increased Ofsted scrutiny, particularly around personal development, behaviour, and welfare.

• More rigorous expectations around the documenting of interventions and responses.

• A greater emphasis on digital safeguarding protocols. Not just in terms of policy, but practical, measurable implementation.

Extremism, radicalisation, and the shadow of school violence

While the UK has not seen the scale of school shootings experienced by other countries, the threat of extremism and hate-fuelled violence is growing, and the perpetrators are getting younger. 

Indoctrination into extremist ideologies no longer requires students to be in physical contact with radical group behaviour. With just a smartphone students can easily access extremist content from manosphere and incel forums, to white supremecist memes, to jihadist propaganda. 

In 2023, MI5 reported a threefold increase in terrorism investigations involving under-18s, with over 60% of Prevent referrals involving under-20s, with many individuals still of school age. Increasingly, the cases involve ‘mixed, unclear or unstable ideologies’, meaning students are drawn in by a chaotic and non-cohesive blend of hate, nihilism, and notoriety-seeking, often without a clear political driver. 

Safeguarding teams should be alert to:

• Obsessive interest in and searches for past school attacks or glorification of mass shooters

• Use of hate symbols or extremist language (online or in person)

• Sudden behavioural changes, withdrawal, or fascination with weapons

• Reports of online activity involving violent ideologies or threats toward peers

What to expect from KCSIE 2025

KCSIE 2025 is set to reflect the realities of a hyperconnected, AI-influenced digital world. Topics raised during the October 2024 consultation period include:

• Clarification of the DSL role and the need for more robust systems of support.

• Out-of-hours alerts: Guidance for schools on how to respond to safeguarding flags from filtering systems when students are using school devices at home.

• Managing digital safeguarding: With a particular focus on mobile phone use and the growing impact of artificial intelligence in schools.

• A general call for more precise, more comprehensive guidance across all safeguarding responsibilities.

• An increased emphasis on clarifying the obligations on schools to report causes of concern, externally driven by the needs of anti-terrorism and anti-radicalisation.

Preparing for what’s next: KCSIE 2025 and beyond

Online threats are evolving faster than safeguarding policies can keep up. And while schools can’t slow the pace of online risks, they can take proactive steps to stay ahead. KCSIE 2025 is expected to push for more decisive action and more precise lines of responsibility, particularly around digital threats, AI exploitation and radicalisation. 

Key preparation steps for schools include:

• Regularly reviewing and updating online safety policies to reflect emerging threats like AI-generated abuse and deepfake content.

• Ensure all staff and governors complete online safety training annually, and that this training evolves in line with emerging risks.

• Prioritise student education around digital citizenship and what healthy online behaviour looks like, including consent, respect, and digital boundaries.

• Strengthen reporting protocols, especially for concerns tied to extremism, radicalisation and out-of-hours alerts.

• Choose monitoring and reporting tools that provide granular, contextual data, not just flags, so that DSLs can act on real risks, and not red herrings.

Ready to take the pressure off your safeguarding team?

Fastvue helps hundreds of schools across the UK meet their safeguarding and compliance requirements, without the technical overhead.

Our easy-to-read dashboards and reports are built to lighten the load on your IT team while giving DSLs the real-time visibility and contextual data they need to respond quickly, confidently, and in line with KCSIE expectations.

Book a demo with our team to learn more about how Fastvue can support your school, or get started today with a 14-day free trial, no strings attached. 

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