22 Apr2026
Referral to children’s social care
The Early Help plan wasn’t making a difference, so the DSL referred to the local authority’s front door. Mum was told about the referral the same day.
MASH referral.pdf attached. Read by 4 of 4.Safeguard
Write it down in two minutes. Act on it with the whole story.
Any adult in your school can record a worry about a child. Your designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and their team are alerted, see everything that came before, and decide what happens next. SEND, behaviour, attendance and health are part of the same record.
- Said an older lad gives him money to “drop things off”Leo, Year 10 · from a phone, 12:41Urgent, not opened
- Arrived hungry and without a coatAmelia, Year 10 · Mr J Patel, 10:522 of 4 read
- Rising concerns: 3 in the last 30 daysAmelia, Year 10 · pattern alertPattern
- Action overdue: weekly update to social workerAmelia’s support plan, outcome 2Overdue
Logging a concern
The form asks for what you saw and heard, when and where, and what the child said in their own words. It takes a couple of minutes, so it gets done while the detail is fresh.
If something is urgent, the form says so plainly: find a DSL in person now, and call 999 if a child is in immediate danger. It also reminds staff not to promise to keep a secret.
If your school has switched AI on, “Help me write this” turns rough or dictated notes into a clearer draft. The child’s words in quotation marks are kept word for word. The member of staff uses the draft or dismisses it. “Suggest categories” is a separate button that suggests where the concern belongs.
If there’s a visible injury, staff mark it on a body map with numbered markers. Children’s injuries are never photographed.
Who is this about?Amelia, Year 10Amelia has a child protection plan. Her DSL lead will be alerted along with the DSL group.
What happened?Amelia arrived at approximately 08:50 without a coat. When I asked if she was cold she said “I’m fine, I just couldn’t find it”. At break she asked for toast and said “mum was at work late and there wasn’t anything in”. I took her to the pastoral base for breakfast and told Mrs Shah.The child’s own words go in quotation marks.
Body mapMark the location of any visible injury. Never photograph a child’s injury.Add body map
How urgent is it?
RoutineReviewed within the school dayUrgentRisk of harm today
A draft from your notes AI draftFrom your notes above, on a model the school runs. Check every word, especially the child’s, before you use it.
At break Amelia asked for toast. She said “mum was at work late and there wasn’t anything in”. I took her to the pastoral base for breakfast and told Mrs Shah.
Use this draftDismissPupils, parents and the community can report too
Pupils, parents and people in your community can tell you about a worry in their own words, through your school’s own link or a QR code on a poster or your website. It works on any device, with no account and no sign-in.
Every report alerts the DSL team. The DSL reviews it and decides what happens next.
- Pupils’ own worriesPupils use the same link or QR code, on a school device or their own phone, without signing in. There are no pupil accounts to set up.
- Anonymous, unless they chooseThe form asks who they are and how to contact them, and both are optional. If they leave them blank, there’s no way to reply, so the report stays anonymous.
- To the right peopleReports wait in a tray for roles with “Handle anonymous concerns”, by default the DSL and deputy DSL, who are alerted. The DSL attaches a report to a pupil, and it goes on their chronology, or closes it with a note.
- Urgent help, said plainlyThe form says to call 999 if someone is in danger now, and not to wait for a reply. Once a report is sent, it gives the Childline number, 0800 1111.
Worried about a child at Northfield Academy?Scan to tell our safeguarding team. You don’t have to give your name.If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
Alerts that say who has read them
The DSL group is alerted as soon as a concern is sent, along with the child’s DSL lead and anyone else the member of staff chooses, such as a Head of Year. Each role chooses how alerts arrive: in Pupil Protect and by email, in Pupil Protect only, or as one summary email at 07:00 on school days. Coming soon: text messages.
On the concern, the DSL can see who was alerted and who has opened it. Alert emails say only that there is an alert and its category. Names and details stay inside Pupil Protect.
- Sarah BennettDSL, case leadNot read
- Daniel OkaforDeputy DSLRead 11:20
- Priya ShahPastoral leadRead 10:58
- Laura KempHead of Year 10Not read
What the alert email saysYou have a new alert in Pupil Protect: Cause for concern. Sign in to read it.
The chronology: everything, in order
Every concern, action, contact, meeting and document lands on the child’s chronology as it happens. Here are six entries from one example record.
14 May2026
Child protection plan agreed
At the initial conference, Amelia and her brother were made subject to child protection plans under the category of neglect. The school’s support plan started the next day.
ICPC report.pdf attached. Read by 4 of 4.4 Sep12:30
Electricity off over the holidays
She told her tutor the power had been off for two days. She seemed tired, and her uniform was unwashed.
Logged by her form tutor. Linked to 2 Oct.15 Sep08:55
Third late arrival this week
She said she was looking after her younger brother because mum had an early shift. The pastoral lead added an action: refer to the attendance officer and raise a young carers assessment with the social worker.
Logged by the attendance officer. Read by 2 of 2.24 Sep11:20
Core group
The plan continues. Home conditions have improved, but food and missed health appointments are still a worry. The next review is set for 9 October.
Minutes.pdf attached. Read by 4 of 4.2 Oct08:50
Two adults logged the same morning
Her tutor and a teaching assistant each logged a concern. The DSL merged them into one entry and linked it to the concerns from 1 October and 4 September. Both accounts are kept word for word, and the merge can be split again.
Account 1 · Mr J Patel, form tutor, 10:52
“mum was at work late and there wasn’t anything in”
Account 2 · Mr T Reid, teaching assistant, 11:14
“mum was working late and there was nothing in”
Filter by entry type or category, or show key events only. A family timeline puts brothers’ and sisters’ chronologies side by side.
Every entry shows who wrote it, who has read it and which files are attached. Restricted entries stay with the DSL team.
Action plans and next steps
Plans are built around outcomes for the child, each with actions, owners from school and other agencies, and due dates. Overdue actions show up on the DSL’s dashboard.
The child’s voice has its own place on every plan, in their own words.
If AI is switched on, the DSL can ask for suggested next steps on a concern, drafted from the concern, what’s been done so far and your school’s policies. Adding one as an action takes one click. The DSL decides whether to use them.
Outcome 1: Amelia is fed and ready to learn every dayOn track
- Free breakfast club place, daily from 08:15Priya Shah, schoolIn progress
- Uniform and winter coat from the welfare fundPriya Shah, schoolDone
- Share weekly attendance and welfare updateDaniel Okafor, social careOverdue
Amelia’s voice
“I like coming to breakfast club because I can see my friends. I don’t like being late because people look at me.”Recorded by her Head of Year, 20 September
Suggested next stepsFrom this concern and your child protection policy. Your decision.
Share this with her social worker before the core groupAdd as action
Check in on her brother in Year 7Add as action
Pattern alerts
Eight rules check your records every 15 minutes and flag what one person might not spot: rising concerns, brothers and sisters with recent worries, or a cluster in one form. The DSL team is alerted, and a flag clears by itself once the rule no longer applies.
Each rule is a plain count or date check, so anyone can see why a pupil was flagged. Switch any rule off, or change its numbers. If AI is switched on, it can explain the records behind a flag, but it never raises one.
- Amelia H. has 3 concerns in 30 daysRising concernsNew
- 3 pupils in 9K have online safety concerns in 14 daysCluster in a formNew
- Urgent concern not opened after 2 hoursUrgent concern not picked upUrgent
- Rising concerns3 concerns about a pupil in 30 days.
- Escalating concernsA pupil’s threshold level goes up, or a child protection concern follows other concerns, within 90 days.
- Concerns and attendanceAn open attendance flag and concerns in the last 60 days.
- Brothers and sisters2 children in the same family with concerns in 60 days, linked by family in your MIS.
- Cluster in a form3 pupils in one form with child-on-child or online safety concerns in 14 days.
- Urgent concern not picked upNo one in the DSL team has opened it after 2 hours.
- Follow-up date passedAn open concern past its follow-up date, with no action since.
- New concern on a planA new concern about a pupil on a child protection or child in need plan.
SEND, in the same record
Your SEND register, each pupil’s SEN status and stage, classroom adjustments and SEND notes are part of Safeguard, next to what your MIS sends about needs, provision and EHCPs. Notes and register changes land on the child’s chronology, so what you know about a child’s needs sits next to everything else.
It’s included in Safeguard at no extra cost. Roles with “See SEND” can see it, by default the DSL, deputy DSL and headteacher. Other staff see it only on their own pupils’ profiles. You can change this for any role.
- SEND registerEveryone at SEN support or with an education, health and care plan (EHCP), and those being monitored, with reviews due and areas of need.
- Status, stage and adjustmentsThe SENCO keeps each pupil’s SEN status, where they are in the graduated approach and their classroom adjustments. Needs, provision and EHCP details come from your MIS.
- SEND notesObservations, conversations, screenings, meetings and reviews, added to the chronology.
- Coming soon: support plans and EHCP documentsEach child’s plan and their EHCP, kept with the rest of their record, with plan and EHCP reviews.
- Coming soon: provision mapsThe support each pupil gets, so you can see what’s in place across the school.
- Coming soon: drafted for youAI drafts of support plans, reviews and your local authority’s EHCP needs assessment request, from what’s on the record. The SENCO checks every section. How the AI works
Behaviour, next to the concerns
Incidents, rewards and conduct points, detentions and suspensions come across from your MIS. Behaviour lands on the child’s chronology too, so a change in behaviour is seen alongside everything else you know.
It’s included in Safeguard at no extra cost.
- Incidents and rewardsSynced from your MIS, with who recorded them.
- Detentions and suspensionsFrom your MIS too, so what happened and what followed stay together.
- Added by handWhere your MIS can’t send behaviour, staff add it in Pupil Protect.
- Coming soon: reports for parentsBehaviour reports to send home.
- Reward: helped a new pupil settle inBehaviour · Mrs L Kemp, 3 OctReward
- Left lesson without permissionBehaviour · Mr J Patel, 7 Oct. Detention set for 8 Oct.Incident
- Support plan reviewSEND · SENCO, 8 OctReview
- Said he doesn’t want to go homeConcern · Mr J Patel, 9 OctConcern
Attendance and health, on the same chronology
Attendance comes from your MIS and health records are kept in Safeguard, so a run of absences or a new medical need is seen next to everything else you know about a child.
Both are included in Safeguard at no extra cost.
- AttendanceKept in sync with your MIS, four times a school day and overnight, with suspensions too. If your MIS can’t send attendance, take registers in Pupil Protect instead.
- Five attendance rulesMissing education risk (10 school days in a row of unexplained absence), severe absence (under 50%), persistent absence (under 90%), a sudden drop, and a pattern such as the same weekday or around weekends. A pupil who meets one is flagged to the DSL team, next to any concerns about them.
- What you did about itA first-day call list, and phone calls, letters, meetings, home visits and referrals logged on the chronology, so you can see what changed afterwards.
- Health recordsMedical conditions, allergies and individual healthcare plans, kept with the rest of the child’s record. Medicines, first aid and accidents are in Health.
Meetings and minutes
Set up a core group, strategy meeting, child in need review or internal review from the plan. Type the minutes, decisions and agreed actions. Approving them saves the minutes to the chronology and adds the actions to the plan.
Coming soon: if everyone agrees, Pupil Protect records and transcribes the meeting and drafts the minutes, in four steps.
- 1Set up
Choose the meeting type, the people coming and the agenda. Suggested agenda items come from the chronology, and nothing is added unless you choose it.
- 2Ask everyone
The chair reads a short script and records who agreed and when. If anyone says no, nothing is recorded and the chair takes notes instead.
- 3Meet
A live transcript shows who said what. Names of children who aren’t part of the meeting are replaced automatically. The chair can mark decisions and actions as they happen.
- 4Check and approve
The draft minutes, decisions and actions are checked against the transcript. Nothing is saved to the chronology or shared until the chair approves them. Then the audio is deleted.
Coming soon: the audio will be deleted once the minutes are approved, and the transcript kept. Schools will be able to switch meeting recording off entirely.
Draft minutes are ready to check AI draftComing soonFrom the transcript of a 42-minute core group. Nothing has been saved or shared yet.
3Decisions4Actions with owners1Her views captured
“She mentioned a friend, [name hidden], who’s been helping her with homework at lunch.”
1 other child’s name hidden in the transcript.Referrals and sharing with other agencies
Referrals are tracked in Connect, with the lawful basis and whether parents know. If AI is switched on, it can draft the referral summary from the pupil’s recent concerns. The DSL checks it and decides what is sent.
Everything shared or received is written to the sharing log, which no one can change or delete.
Coming soon: updates and plans sent through Connect, so the social worker reads them inside Pupil Protect and you can see when they opened them.
Referral summary AI draft
Use as what’s being sentDismissOn 2 October Amelia arrived without a coat and told her tutor she hadn’t eaten since lunch the previous day, saying “mum was at work late and there wasn’t anything in”. This is the third food- or clothing-related concern since 4 September. School has provided breakfast, a coat and uniform, and a breakfast club place from 5 October.
Correcting a record. Nothing is deleted.
Mistakes happen: the wrong pupil, a wrong date, a detail that turns out to be wrong. A DSL corrects the entry and gives a reason, and the original stays in the history.
- v1Created by a teacher, 30 Sep 14:10
- v2Category added by the deputy DSL, 30 Sep 15:02
- v3Moved to the right pupil by the DSL. Reason: “Wrong pupil, logged against a classmate with a similar name.”
On the first pupil’s record, for DSLs onlyEntry moved: logged against wrong pupil.
- Wrong pupilThe entry moves to the right child with its date, author, actions and files. The DSL types the pupil’s name to confirm, and their DSL lead is alerted.
- A factual errorA correction note is added. The original wording stays visible to DSLs.
- Wrong category or dateThe old value is kept in the history.
- Logged twiceThe two concerns are merged, with both accounts kept word for word.
- Edited or deletedEditing and deleting each need their own permission. Every earlier version is kept with who changed it and why. A deleted concern is hidden from records, reports and alerts, not removed, and can be restored.
Exports for meetings and inspection
Choose what the export is for, and the options follow. Every page is marked OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE and shows who exported it and when. Every export is logged on the child’s record.
For an inspection, the evidence is already in place: chronologies, plans, referrals, who saw each record and when, and staff training and policy sign-off from the compliance area.
- Key events for a meetingFor a conference or core group. Other pupils’ names are redacted, and staff names can be shown as roles only.
- Full chronologyEvery entry that matches your filters, with actions and the names of attached files.
- Transfer fileWhat goes to a new school, through Record transfers. Receipt is tracked, and the file is due within 5 school days.
- Coming soon: subject access requestEverything held about the pupil. AI suggests what to redact, such as other children, staff personal details and agency documents. You and your data protection officer decide each one, and the DPO signs off before export.
- Coming soon: board or governor reportCounts only, no names. Numbers under 5 are shown as “fewer than 5”.
On every pageOFFICIAL-SENSITIVE. Exported by Sarah Bennett, Northfield Academy, 10 Oct 2026 14:05.
Record transfers between Pupil Protect schools
When a pupil joins from another school on Pupil Protect, their safeguarding file can come straight into your chronology. No printing, no posting and no copying it in by hand.
Both schools’ transfer teams are alerted at each step, and every step is logged.
- Leo F., Year 7From Hillside Primary · matched by UPNWaiting for Hillside
- Hana B., Year 8From Oakfield Academy · key events, staff names hiddenImported, 14 entries
- Kai M., Year 9From Riverside School · requested 7 school days agoOverdue
- Matched by UPNA new pupil is matched to their old school automatically after an MIS sync. You can also ask for a file by hand.
- The old school decides what goesTheir transfer team authorises the full chronology or key events only, and chooses whether to hide staff names and other pupils’ names. Each school chooses which categories go in a transfer.
- Straight into the chronologyEach concern arrives with its actions and files, marked as from the old school. If the old school says the pupil is at risk, monitoring starts at the new school.
- Chased for youA request not dealt with in 5 school days is overdue, and the old school gets a reminder email each school day after that.
- Schools not on Pupil ProtectThe file goes by a secure link that works for 30 days, and the receiving DSL confirms receipt there.
Reports, compliance and governors
Build the report you need from your own records, see how ready you are for inspection, and give governors what they need without names.
Reports only count concerns the person’s role can see.
- Report builderConcerns or pupils, grouped by any of 12 things: category, year, form, month, weekday, gender, characteristic, threshold, status, urgent, location or the role of whoever logged it. Show a listing, a summary or a chart, and download it as CSV. Save a report, or have it emailed to you weekly or monthly.
- Overview reportCompared with last year, each group’s share of the roll against its share of concerns, and how quickly the DSL team responds.
- Readiness checksChecks against KCSIE and the inspection handbook, measured from your records.
- Training and policiesChild protection policy, KCSIE, code of conduct and the annual update every year. Prevent and DSL training every 2 years. See who’s due, and who has confirmed they’ve read each policy.
- Section 175 audit8 sections, 3 of them filled in from your records.
- GovernorsA governor role that sees numbers and trends only. Link governors keep private visit notes and share them with the board once they’re free of pupil names, with suggested questions from the data. Policies go to the board for approval, with read tracking and comments for the DSL.
Made for staffrooms and open-plan offices
Safeguarding work happens in shared spaces. Two controls sit at the top of every screen, and nobody stays signed in at an empty desk.
- Hide namesPupils’ names turn into initials and dots, so you can keep working when someone walks past.
- Blank screenHides everything at once, until you enter your password.
- Signed out when idleAfter 15 minutes without activity, or the time your school chooses from 5 to 60 minutes. A warning shows 2 minutes before, and a concern being typed is saved as a draft.
- Only what your role allowsSeven starting roles you can rename, add to or delete, with 46 permissions. A role can see all pupils or only its own forms, years or houses, and can be kept out of restricted categories. Every view of a record is logged.
On a phone, wherever it happens
On duty at lunch or on a trip, staff can log a concern from their phone, dictate it rather than type, and send it straight to the safeguarding team. They can add more detail on a computer later.
If it’s urgent, the DSL team is alerted straight away, and the screen reminds the member of staff to find a DSL in person as well. Coming soon: text message and phone alerts.
Who is it about?Leo, Year 10
What happened?At lunch on the field Leo said an older lad picks him up after school and “gives me money to drop things off”.Example
How urgent?
RoutineUrgent, today
The DSL team will be alerted now. Also find a DSL in person.Send to safeguarding team
See Safeguard with your own procedures in mind.
A 30-minute demo shaped around how your staff record concerns today. Every plan includes the other Pupil Protect products too, so turn them on when you’re ready.