Home

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.

Safeguarding pupils from radicalisation and extremism

The Department for Education (DfE) plays a central role in helping schools safeguard pupils from radicalisation and extremism as part of their wider safeguarding responsibilities. The DfE provides a range of support, training and guidance to help you strengthen your safeguarding approach and feel assured that you have effective policies and procedures in place to protect individuals who may be susceptible to radicalisation.

Regional Prevent Education Co-ordinators

The DfE’s Regional Prevent Education Co-ordinators support and improve Prevent delivery in each region of England. Further information on their roles and responsibilities can be found here.

The co-ordinators provide regional communications and updates via newsletters which include information on:

regional trends and risk updates
new training, guidance and resources
updates or changes to the implementation of Prevent
relevant news, blogs or other content

You can sign up to receive these updates through their regional newsletters here.

Further support with the implementation of Prevent in education

Additional support, training and advice DfE offers includes:

E-learning courses on Prevent from the Home Office
Virtual training sessions designed by DfE for designated safeguarding leads to understand their responsibilities and the importance of the Prevent duty
Safeguarding learners susceptible to radicalisation guidance which is designed to help you consider indicators of risk and decide what response is appropriate and proportionate
The DfE’s Educate Against Hate website which provides government‑approved guidance, training and practical resources to help schools, parents and carers safeguard young people from extremism and radicalisation.

You can sign up to the Educate Against Hate newsletter on the webpage Educate Against Hate - Prevent Radicalisation & Extremism

Reporting concerns

Concerns about individuals

If you have concerns that an individual is susceptible to being drawn into terrorism and would like advice and support, follow the guidance on making a Prevent referral.

Concerns about educational providers

If you have a concern about extremism within an education provider, including allegations against staff or adverse external influences on a provider, use the reporting extremism form.

Click here for more resources on countering hatred and division in schools

First published 16 February 2026

Safeguarding and support for pupils