The Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2023 update released earlier this year, regarding key changes to the KCSIE requirements and the new DfE Web Filtering standards, states that schools safeguarding leads are now responsible for web filtering and monitoring in their schools – previously seen as the responsibility of the school’s ICT Support teams. The KCSIE update sets out that schools are to play a much more pivotal role in how their web filtering is setup, monitored and used as a safeguarding tool to provide a safe, secure digital environment at schools for all students. The process will initially require the DSL’s to work closely with their SLT’s, and governors to get a grasp on how their web filtering is configured and to try to understand why… so, it is imperative that schools understand what is now expected of them, which resources are available to help and where these are to be found.
Mark Bentley at the LGfL runs a fantastic online course – LGfL’s Safeguarding Shorts for DSLs / other SLT: Web filtering in 30 minutes, that provides an overview and is a good starting point to better understand the filtering provided by the LGfL, how it works, the new school’s staff responsibilities and the reporting offered – once you have attended the above course you will be much clearer about what is involved and where you can obtain help, advice and support.
Here is a link to training offered by the LGfL:
LGfL (https://lgfl.bookinglive.com/book/add/p/5)
There is a vast array of useful LGfL content for schools that will help with understanding more about this area and this can be found at:
https://lgfl.net/Filtering-and-SafeTech
https://lgfl.net/services/webscreen-support
The Wandsworth ICT Support team is intent on providing you with the best possible advice, guidance, and support to help with these new changes, which can be challenging for school’s staff to take on, in an already busy and pressured environment. So, with the new KCSIE guidance and key changes to web filtering in mind, we have put together a new user guide on S4S that will help you to get to grips with the LGfL’s WebScreen / (SchoolProtect) system, understand the basics of how the system works and provide you with the practical knowledge you will need to monitor / manage your school’s web filtering and run reports necessary to meet the new requirements. The guide can be found at https://s4s.wandsworth.gov.uk/Article/151570
