Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

School definition

What does School mean? In legal practice, “school” denotes an institution providing primary or secondary education to pupils, whether state-funded or independent, and includes special schools. The expression is used across education, public, employment, safeguarding and equality law in issues such as admissions, exclusions, SEND/ASN, governance, premises and duty of care. In England and Wales, statutory definitions are found chiefly in the Education Act 1996 and the Academies Act 2010, covering maintained schools (community, foundation, voluntary aided/controlled), academies and independent schools; pupil referral units, early years and further education institutions are distinct. In Scotland, the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 defines schools, including nursery, primary, secondary and...

Safeguarding in Schools: statutory duties, safer recruitment, inter-agency co-operation, allegations handling, Prevent, FGM and host families under Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together (England)

Published by a LexisNexis Local Government expert

Practice notes

STOP PRESS: This Practice Note is being reviewed to reflect recent updates to statutory guidance. The 2025 version of ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ took effect from September 2025. This statutory guidance sets out the legal duties schools and colleges must follow to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under 18 in education settings. See: LNB News 09/07/2025 33. The 2026 version of ‘Working together to safeguard children in education’ was published on 18 March 2026. This statutory framework sets out the legislation relevant to safeguarding and should be read alongside the statutory guidance. See: LNB News 19/03/2026 30.

What is safeguarding in education?

Safeguarding has a broad meaning within the education sector. Statutory guidance for schools and colleges, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ (known as ‘KCS’), defines safeguarding as:

providing help and support to meet children’s needs as soon as they arise (children are defined as under 18 years of age)
protecting children from maltreatment, whether at home, elsewhere, or online
preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
ensuring that children grow up in...

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Katie Michelon

Katie is a Partner in the education team at Browne Jacobson. She advises schools and academies on a wide range of education law issues including safeguarding, exclusions, admissions, governance and parental complaints. She leads the firm's practice on school intervention and inspection, delivering strategic advice to schools and academies who may be vulnerable to formal intervention measures from their local authority or the Secretary of State and supporting schools with challenging Ofsted inspections. Katie has also advised schools and academy trusts across the country on academy conversions under the Academies Act 2010. She now focuses largely on group and specialist projects, working with a number of multi-academy trusts on their expansion, including academy merger and re-brokerage projects. Katie also regularly delivers training and webinars to school leaders on education law matters....

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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