School Online Safety Programme Assurance Checklist

Use this checklist only where the school operates an online-safety education or whole-school programme. Treat sections on curriculum, engagement, safeguarding, Prevent or other arrangements as not applicable where the relevant arrangement does not exist.

Record the phases, year groups, sites and programme components included in this assurance activity.

Review whether online-safety and online-harm teaching is connected with the school’s culture, ethos, environment and partnerships with families and the community, rather than being limited to isolated lessons.

Record the documents, activities, consultation records or other evidence reviewed for the whole-school approach.

Review the online-safety curriculum or programme content for the pupils and phases covered by this assurance activity, including whether it reflects issues relevant to pupils’ lives.

Record the curriculum materials, pupil information, safeguarding information, feedback or other information used to review whether issues affecting pupils are covered in a timely manner.

Check whether online-safety principles are reflected, where appropriate, in relevant school policies and practice, including safeguarding or child protection, behaviour and bullying arrangements where relevant.

Check how the school communicates its online-safety principles and related expectations to staff, pupils and parents or carers.

Review whether clear routes exist for staff, pupils and parents or carers to report online-safety incidents or concerns, and whether those routes are communicated to the relevant audiences.

Record the reporting routes, communication materials and policy or procedure references reviewed.

Review whether staff have access to current and appropriate online-safety training and resources that support confident delivery of content relevant to pupils’ lives.

Review the resources available to staff for teaching online safety and responding to issues identified through the school’s programme or information.

Record any staff training or resource gaps identified, together with the action owner and planned follow-up.

Review how the school considers pupils whose vulnerability or access to support may differ, including looked-after children and pupils with special educational needs, when providing online-safety information and support.

Record the adaptations, support arrangements, consultation or other evidence reviewed for pupils who may be more susceptible to online harm or have less support.

Review how staff, pupils, parents and carers are engaged in activities that promote the school’s agreed online-safety principles and support partnerships with families and the community.

Where the school uses co-designed programmes, peer-to-peer support or other participatory activity, review how pupil, parent or carer input is gathered and used to address issues being experienced or heard about online.

Record the engagement activities, participants, feedback or other evidence reviewed. If no relevant engagement arrangement exists, record that this section is not applicable.

If the school has an online-safety education, safeguarding or engagement arrangement that includes Prevent provision, review that provision in the following steps. Otherwise record this section as not applicable.

Where Prevent provision forms part of the school’s online-safety programme or related arrangement, review how it is linked to the relevant curriculum, safeguarding, reporting and support arrangements.

Where applicable, record the Prevent-related provision, documents, training, reporting routes or support arrangements reviewed. Otherwise record that this section is not applicable.

Review information available to the school about emerging online-safety issues affecting or being experienced by pupils, including information from staff, pupils, parents or carers where available.

Record any resulting changes or proposed actions for curriculum content, staff resources, reporting routes, safeguarding links, pupil support, family engagement or other programme components.

Record unresolved gaps, risks or areas requiring further evidence identified during this checklist.

Record the agreed actions, responsible roles, review arrangements and evidence needed to close each identified gap.