This information is brought to you by Slough Borough Council on behalf of NSPCC, for the attention of all Schools.
Welcome to NSPCC Learning's Safeguarding in Education Update for June 2026
Safeguarding for SEND training
Take our safeguarding for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) training course and learn how to identify safeguarding concerns, communicate effectively with children and young people to help keep them safe, and create a safer culture in your school or college.
Safeguarding for SEND online training | NSPCC Learning
Safeguarding children with SEND guidance
Read our guidance on safeguarding children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and find out what your school needs to be aware of when working with children with SEND.
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) | NSPCC Learning
Latest safeguarding and child protection news
Talk Relationships
Source: NSPCC Learning
Date: 19 May 2026
NSPCC Learning has published new Talk Relationships resources to help schools engage parents and carers with the sex and relationships education (SRE) being taught, supporting them to talk to their children about healthy relationships. The resources include: a schools toolkit; an editable presentation; a guide; and five factsheets on specific SRE topics and how parents and carers can address them. NSPCC Learning has also published updated resources for a Whole-School Approach Framework, in line with the new Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) guidance for England.
Access the resources: Talk Relationships
School attendance
Source: NFER
Date: 03 June 2026
The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has published new research on the relationships between life satisfaction, school belonging and absence rates among 15-year-olds in England. The research analysed linked data from the 2022 Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) and the National Pupil Database (NPD). The results suggest that wellbeing may play a particularly important role in understanding persistent absence, with findings showing that higher levels of self-reported life satisfaction were associated with lower school absences. Life satisfaction was a stronger predictor of school absence for girls than for boys. Recommendations include calls for the government to ensure that wider public services, including family support and mental health services, are equipped to work alongside schools and provide support to children and families.
Read the report: Low life satisfaction more strongly associated with school absence for girls than boys
School exclusions
Source: Coram
Date: 21 May 2026
Coram Children's Legal Centre (CCLC) has published a report on children excluded from schools in England. The report draws on CCLC’s legal casework representing children facing exclusion, alongside case studies from Coram’s Child Law Advice Service. It highlights cases in which children have lost access to education through informal exclusionary practices with little transparency or independent scrutiny. The report finds evidence of banned practices such as ‘coercive exclusions’ whereby parents are encouraged to remove their child from the school roll rather than face a permanent exclusion; parents feeling pressured into accepting moves to other schools; and use of internal isolation for prolonged periods. Coram are calling for clearer national guidance on exclusionary practices, including informal exclusions, with the need for greater transparency and accountability.
Read the report: Coram report calls for clear legal oversight of ‘informal’ school exclusions processes
Children’s social care
Source: DfE
Date: 21 May 2026
The Department for Education (DfE) has published an implementation plan for local partners that sets out the next steps for reform of the children’s social care system in England. Following the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, the plan outlines how local partners can: deliver improved early help, strengthen support for family networks and ensure stable, high quality placements for children in care. Under the plans: every local authority will deliver a single Family Help service; multi-agency child protection teams will be established by local safeguarding partners; support for kinship carers will be strengthened; foster care capacity will be increased; care leavers will receive strengthened support; and there will be a new universal parenting offer for adopted and eligible kinship children transitioning into secondary school.
Read the press release: Government sets out next steps for children’s social care reforms
Read the plan: Delivering the children’s social care reset
Bullying
Source: Anti-Bullying Alliance
Date: 21 April 2026
The Anti-Bullying Alliance has launched an animated film to help younger children understand bullying and feel confident speaking up. As part of its #There4Every1 campaign, the film encourages children to speak to a safe adult about bullying.
Watch the film: Almost 1 in 4 children experience bullying: new film encourages younger children to speak up
See also on NSPCC Learning
> Protecting children from bullying and cyberbullying
Online safety: image security
Source: UK Safer Internet Centre
Date: 08 May 2026
The UK Safer Internet Centre has published image security guidance developed by the UK Online Harms Early Warning Working Group. Aimed at education settings and organisations working with children and young people, the guidance provides information and advice on the risks of sharing images and videos of children on websites and social media platforms. It aims to address the risk of AI image manipulation and abuse, and the emerging threat of blackmail, covering: practices to protect young people’s images; the risks of using young people’s images online; and what to do if images of young people are misused, altered or abused.
Read the news story: Schools given advice on image safety to keep ahead of threat from AI blackmailers
Find out more: Protecting your setting’s images from AI manipulation and abuse
Children who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
Source: National Autistic Society
Date: 19 May 2026
The National Autistic Society has published the results of a survey on schools and children who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the UK. The charity surveyed teachers and education professionals, autistic people and parents/carers of autistic children. Findings include: nearly two thirds of teachers and education professionals worry about keeping SEND children safe because of a lack of capacity; and nearly nine in ten worry about being able to support the mental health and wellbeing of children who have SEND because of a lack of capacity. The National Autistic Society is calling for mandatory autism and neurodiversity training for all school staff and parents to be involved in the development of support plans.
Read the news story: New survey shows nearly two thirds of school staff worry about keeping children with SEND safe
See also on NSPCC Learning
> Safeguarding children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
Child sexual abuse: information sharing
Source: CSA Centre
Date: 21 May 2026
The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) has published a new guide to support professionals in England and Wales with information sharing in relation to child sexual abuse. The guide aims to help people working with children learn how to use and share the information they hold with other professionals to effectively safeguard the children they work with from sexual abuse. It covers finding, sharing and using information from different agencies and organisations, including when and how information should be shared.
Access the guide: Sharing information – our new guide for professionals
See also on NSPCC Learning
> Protecting children from sexual abuse
Mental health and wellbeing in schools
This conference, organised by Optimus Education, takes place on 12 November 2026 in London.
Find out more: Optimus Education