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Safeguarding and support for pupils

 
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NAHT members are at the forefront of safeguarding children. School leaders are committed to keeping children safe, so they can learn well. NAHT believes that all pupils should receive the support they need to maintain their well-being and achieve their potential, both within school and from wider services including health and social care.

NAHT is campaigning to:

Enable schools to play their part in supporting pupils' well-being

  • Lobby for pupils and schools to get the support they need from wider services including health, social care, police and youth services
  • Influence the implementation of the proposals from the mental health green paper, including the senior lead for mental health and mental health support teams
  • Support schools to access relevant, high-quality training and resources to enable pupils to exercise their right to support for their mental well-being.

 

Support schools to safeguard and protect pupils

  • Engage with the DfE over proposed changes to the role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead
  • Influence changes to Keeping Children Safe In Education, Working Together and Sexual Violence and harassment guidance
  • Campaign to improve online safety for children and young people
  • Press the government to ensure home educated children are adequately safeguarded
  • Promote guidance and resources to support schools to protect children at risk of harm including involvement with violence and other crime.

 

Enable schools to support vulnerable groups of pupils

  • Campaign to ensure pupils with SEND can receive the support they need from schools and wider services
  • Press for improved alternative provision and collaborative approaches across communities to support pupils excluded from school
  • Provide information to schools to help them to support disadvantaged children
  • Enable schools to make informed decisions regarding parental requests to home educate
  • Ensure reforms to behaviour guidance and networks is evidence-based and appropriate for all schools and a diverse pupil population. 
 

SEND at breaking point — the human stories behind the headlines

Our latest Leadership Focus feature, SEND: a system at breaking point, tackles a challenge that school leaders across all settings are increasingly encountering: the mounting struggle to secure the right support for children with additional needs.

The situation is stark. The number of children with additional needs is rising faster than the system can manage, leaving schools and families to navigate the consequences on their own.

In this feature, you’ll find:

  • Real experiences from school leaders doing everything they can with too little support
  • Stories of children who’ve thrived when staff were given the right tools and conditions
  • A view from Wales and Northern Ireland, showing how different approaches and challenges affect SEND provision
  • What needs to change, and what NAHT is calling on the government to fix.

What shines through is the dedication and creativity of leaders and staff, even in the toughest circumstances.

We want to hear from you

After reading the piece, we’d welcome your reflections, whether that’s what resonates most strongly with you, what feels familiar or what you think is being missed.

We share member feedback directly with our policy and campaigns teams, and your insight genuinely shapes the work we do – from the positions we take to the priorities we press government to act on. Your voice really does make a difference.

First published 18 December 2025

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