Safeguarding Leadership Tools

🔒 Fully aligned to the final Ofsted School Inspection Toolkit 2025

New for 2025, this comprehensive safeguarding audit pack provides DSLs, child protection leads and SLT with everything needed to review safeguarding culture, systems and compliance across the eight key areas that matter most to inspectors.

☑️ Complete 46-page safeguarding audit document covering strategic leadership, operational management, staff training, safer recruitment, child-on-child violence, site safety and continuous improvement, with structured questions and evidence prompts to evaluate current provision and identify next steps

☑️ 18-page step-by-step audit guidance explaining how to conduct effective safeguarding audits, triangulate evidence, and avoid common pitfalls when reviewing school provision

☑️ Ready-to-use templates and tools including action plan template, safeguarding evidence checklist, stakeholder question bank for staff, pupils, parents and governors, plus one-page summary template for SLT and governing body reporting

Ideal for DSLs, deputy DSLs, headteachers and safeguarding leaders reviewing statutory compliance, preparing for inspection or strengthening safeguarding practice.

🔎 Want a closer look? Click here to preview the audit pack🔗 

👉 This audit pack is part of our Complete School Leadership Audit Set, which includes eleven audits in one purchase, saving you money whilst ensuring you can evaluate your entire school provision across all Ofsted evaluation areas plus plus three essential good practice audits.

🔒 Fully in line with KCSIE 2025 and the 2025 Education Inspection Framework

This Single Central Record (SCR) Compliance Bundle gives DSLs, headteachers and school leaders a practical toolkit for checking safer recruitment and record-keeping processes against Part 3 of Keeping Children Safe in Education. Whether you're preparing for inspection or conducting routine compliance checks, these templates help you identify gaps quickly and document your findings clearly.

You'll get:

☑️ Single Central Record (SCR) Overview Checklist – conduct whole-record checks to verify you're recording information about the correct people (staff members, trainee teachers, agency and third-party workers, volunteers and contractors), confirm the right checks have been completed for each role (enhanced DBS checks, children's barred list checks, Section 128 checks, right to work in the UK checks and other statutory and recommended checks), and identify any missing dates or information

☑️ Single Central Record (SCR) Spot Check Template – triangulate your SCR evidence by comparing records against personnel files, identify discrepancies between your SCR and actual documentation, and document your findings clearly for governors and inspectors

All templates are fully editable Word documents so you can adapt them for your school's specific context and reuse them throughout the year to maintain compliance.

👉 Looking for further support on preparing for inspection? These resources are also available as part of the full Ofsted Inspection Preparation Pack too.

Looking to boost key messages about safeguarding and remind staff, volunteers and governors about the indicators of abuse, neglect and exploitation? This digital download bundle of eleven safeguarding posters is an ideal way to share reminders about common signs and indicators you might see for different safeguarding issues, including:

• Physical abuse
• Sexual abuse 
• Emotional abuse
• Neglect
• Domestic abuse
• Child-on-child abuse
• Bullying and cyberbullying
• Child sexual exploitation (CSE)
• Child criminal exploitation (CCE)
• County lines
• Sexual harassment and violence

Each poster is in PDF format, so can be printed and displayed or sent as part of your safeguarding newsletters, e-bulletins and communication. The posters are an ideal way to get staff thinking about what they notice about the children in their care as well as publicly broadcasting your commitment to keeping children safe.

Please note this is a digital download - you won't receive physical copies of the posters. These posters are also available as part of much more comprehensive pack to support school leaders with safeguarding: Safeguarding Training Pack - Full Academic Year

Asking the right safeguarding questions can be challenging for school governors who want to ensure the school is upholding its statutory child protection duties. It can be difficult to know what safeguarding questions to ask, what safeguarding data should be gathered, how to present this information to the full governing board and how to support and challenge the school on safeguarding. This handy template supports this process by providing questions that governors can ask when they conduct safeguarding visits in school.

This flexible pack is perfect for safeguarding link governors or anyone looking to support a safeguarding governor with their role, such as headteachers, trust leaders, governance professionals, DSLs or a chair of governors. With three comprehensive, editable resources - a safeguarding audit for governors, a safeguarding report to governors template and a safeguarding link governor roles and responsibilities document - this pack will support governors who are new to role or in cases where the safeguarding governor needs more structure and support in order to be highly effective in their role.

If you need to use alterative provision (AP) to support any of your pupils, you'll also need to check that the AP is a suitable setting, not only because of Ofsted requirements of using an AP but also to ensure the continued safeguarding and quality of education for your pupil(s).

This checklist is designed to support school leaders to consider how the potential alternative provision approaches the following key areas:

• Safeguarding
• Health and Safety
• Curriculum and Quality of Education
• Behaviour and Attendance
• Pupil Support and Transition
• Communication and Information Sharing
• Ofsted Requirements

You may find it beneficial to work through this checklist with the headteacher of the alternative provision (AP) so that you can agree to any arrangements and adjustments to support your pupil. It also offers guidance around where you may find the information you need to evaluate whether the AP is suitable.

The checklist should be used before a decision is made about sending a pupil to an alternative provision but it can also be used for existing APs that you work with to ensure that your pupils are in a setting that keeps them safe and helps them to thrive. By working through this checklist - which can be used as many times as needed - you can make informed decisions and assure yourself that the AP you choose will meet the needs of your pupil(s). 

Looking for ways to make staff safeguarding training more consistent and engaging? Our Safeguarding Snapshots are the perfect solution. Designed in line with KCSIE 2025 guidance, these one-page safeguarding resources give staff a clear and accessible overview of specific safeguarding issues.

Use them as eye-catching posters in staff rooms or share them in your safeguarding e-bulletins to keep safeguarding knowledge fresh and relevant throughout the year. By making safeguarding training more regular and visible, you’ll strengthen staff awareness and create a safer environment for children and young people.

This Annual Safeguarding Report to Governors template is ideal for school leaders who are seeking a little extra support when considering what to include in their annual report to the governing body to give a picture of safeguarding across the school.

The template is carefully structured so you can work with your safeguarding lead governor to report back to your full governing board across the following areas:

• Safeguarding-related roles and training
• New starter information, including processes for safer recruitment and safeguarding induction
• A Single Central Record (SCR) checklist that can be used by the safeguarding lead governor to ensure the correct safeguarding systems for safer recruitment are in place
• Safeguarding policies and procedures checklist
• Curriculum and online safety
• Child protection overview (e.g. referrals, number and types of child protection cases)

The template is fully editable, so you can add or remove details depending on your school's context.

Ensuring that your governors know your school well - especially when it comes to safeguarding pupils - is a vital part of the leadership and management of any setting. As such, this template can also be found as part of our Reports to Governors Template Bundle, Ofsted Preparation Pack and our Safeguarding Audit Pack. A separate Headteacher's Report to Governors Template is also available to help you to work effectively with your governing board.