Online safety information for parents
Online safety information for parents, including what systems filter and monitor online use and the senior leader and governor responsible for filtering and monitoring. Schools should provide it.
Check this on my websiteWho it applies to
- Published on
- The school's own website
- School type
- Academies and maintained schools
- School stage
- All stages, from early years to sixth form
- Does not apply to
- No school types are excluded
When is it due?
- Renewal
- No fixed date
The official sources set no renewal date. Keep it accurate whenever it changes.
What's needed
Publish online safety information for parents, covering filtering and monitoring arrangements, on the safeguarding page (guidance says schools should).
What it must contain
4 parts- Names the SLT member and governor responsible for filtering and monitoringShould
- Says what systems are used to filter and monitor online useShould
- Says that filtering and monitoring processes are in placeShould
- Reflects the monitoring procedures in the acceptable use policyShould
What the official sources say
Set out in 2 official sources:
Keeping children safe in education 2026
Online safety and the school or college’s approach to it should be reflected in the child protection policy which, amongst other things, should include appropriate filtering and monitoring on school devices and school networks.
Should§ para 169 (Online safety policy), page 47
Schools and colleges are likely to be in regular contact with parents and carers. These communications should be used to reinforce the importance of children being safe online and parents and carers are likely to find it helpful to understand what systems schools and colleges use to filter and monitor online use.
Should§ para 172 (Remote education), page 47
Show 2 more from this source
Governing bodies and proprietors should ensure online safety is a running and interrelated theme whilst devising and implementing their whole school or college approach to safeguarding and related policies and procedures. This will include considering how online safety is reflected as required in all relevant policies and considering online safety whilst planning the curriculum, any teacher training, the role and responsibilities of the designated safeguarding lead (and deputies) and any parental engagement.
Should§ para 166, page 46
These policies should include individual schools and colleges having: • an effective child protection policy which: • reflects the whole school/college approach to child-on-child abuse (see paragraphs 192-193 and Part five), • reflects reporting systems as set out at paragraph 121, • describes procedures which are in accordance with government guidance, • refers to locally agreed multi-agency safeguarding arrangements put in place by the safeguarding partners (see paragraphs 132-139), • includes policies as reflected elsewhere in Part two of this guidance, such as online safety (see paragraphs 164-169), and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) (see paragraphs 249-251), • is reviewed annually (as a minimum) and updated if needed, so that it is kept up to date with safeguarding issues as they emerge and evolve, including lessons learnt, and • is available publicly either via the school or college website or by other means.
Should§ para 123, page 36
Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges
To do this, they should identify and assign: – a member of the SLT and a governor, to be responsible for ensuring these standards are met
Should§ Standard 'Identify and assign roles and responsibilities to manage your filtering and monitoring systems' > How to meet the standard
Your DSL should take any necessary action in line with Keeping children safe in education and your existing safeguarding policies. Make sure all users, parents and carers are aware of your policy.
Expected§ Standard 1 'Identify and assign roles and responsibilities', How to meet the standard, DSL paragraph
Show 2 more from this source
Make sure that everyone using your school’s network knows that filtering and monitoring processes are in place. Technical monitoring systems should also notify users that the device is being monitored. This could be a message each time they log in.
Expected§ Standard 4 'Have effective monitoring strategies', Technical requirements to meet the standard
School and college monitoring procedures need to be reflected in your acceptable use policy (AUP). Add them to relevant online safety, safeguarding and organisational policies, such as privacy notices.
Expected§ Standard 4 'Have effective monitoring strategies', Technical requirements to meet the standard
Questions schools ask
Does every school have to publish the online safety information for parents?
The official sources we check set no requirement for academies. The official sources we check set no requirement for maintained schools.
When does the online safety information for parents need to be published?
Renewal: No fixed date. The official sources set no renewal date. Keep it accurate whenever it changes.
What must the online safety information for parents include?
Names the SLT member and governor responsible for filtering and monitoring; Says what systems are used to filter and monitor online use; Says that filtering and monitoring processes are in place; Reflects the monitoring procedures in the acceptable use policy.
Where does the requirement for the online safety information for parents come from?
It is set out in Keeping children safe in education 2026 and Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges.
Changes to the official sources
Dated change notes published by the Department for Education on the sources above.
16 September 2026 · Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges
Added information about schools' and colleges' statutory responsibility to keep children and young people safe online.
25 August 2026 · Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges
Updated to reference the Department for Education's generative AI product safety standards.
10 June 2026 · Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges
Updated for clarity on assessing the risk around generative AI in schools and colleges.
2 February 2026 · Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges
Updated to clarify when the standard should be met.
28 January 2026 · Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges
Added additional information on filtering solutions to the 'Technical requirements to meet the standard' section.
22 October 2024 · Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges
1. Identify and assign roles and responsibilities to manage your filtering and monitoring systems. Updates include: - emphasis on the responsibility of governing bodies and proprietors to make sure appropriate systems are in place - outlining Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) requirements in relation to online safety and how the standards can help you meet those requirements 2. Review your filtering and monitoring provision at least annually. We have added a more comprehensive assessment of student risk profiles, including the use of generative artificial intelligence. 3. Filtering systems should block harmful and inappropriate content, without unreasonably impacting teaching and learning. Updates to this standard include: - using safe search in browsers or search engines - establishing clear expectations for the use of devices without functioning filtering and monitoring - ensuring that bring your own devices (BYOD) have adequate filtering and monitoring measures in place - awareness of new technologies that reduce the effectiveness of filtering measures 4. Have effective monitoring strategies that meet the safeguarding needs of your school or college. Updates to this standard include: - clarification on the role of in-person monitoring - new information added to 'The technical requirements to meet the standard' - new information added to the technical requirements to meet the standard, regarding school managed device, monitoring reports and incident response, stating schools should have a policy for incident response in relation to monitoring incidents
1 earlier changes are listed on the source pages.
We last checked these sources on 21 September 2026.
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Official wording that does not apply to schools (1)
All staff should receive appropriate safeguarding and child protection training (including online safety which, amongst other things, includes an understanding of the expectations, applicable roles and responsibilities in relation to filtering and monitoring – see paragraphs 173-177 for further information) at induction.
Official sources last checked 21 September 2026 · register version 1.0.4