Safeguarding in schools training

There is a statutory requirement for all school based staff to be trained in basic safeguarding on a regular basis.

In addition a senior member of the school’s leadership team should be trained for the role of Designated Safeguarding Lead responsible for dealing with child protection and safeguarding issues; providing advice and support to other staff; liaising with the local authority and working with other agencies.

There must be another second member of the school staff in a position to make decisions and follow procedures on behalf of the school, or in the absence of the senior Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Courses offered:

Whole school safeguarding and child protection training
Designated Safeguarding Lead (new)
Designated Safeguarding Lead (refresher)

How to

book a course
change your booking.

Whole school training

Whole school training ensures that all staff, volunteers and governors in schools, academies and colleges understand the legal framework and the statutory duties for safeguarding as per the Keeping Children Safe in Education framework.

This training ensures participants have a raised awareness and understanding of:

the concept of safeguarding and promoting welfare
personal and organisational responsibility
identifying the child at risk and the child in need
defining and recognising the categories/indicators of abuse
taking action to report concerns.

From January 2026, we will be changing our whole school training offer, and this will include the withdrawal of the 90-minute workshop. Instead, three alternative offers will be available, each of which has been quality assured by us to ensure they meet school requirements.

The two-hour online workshop option available is now delivered by a safeguarding expert from UK Learning Network. This replaces the previous workshop option delivered by Nottinghamshire County Council which is no longer available. Find out more about this product and how to arrange a booking [PDF].
Two e-learning products are available via the NSPCC website. The safeguarding training for schools, academies and colleges provides an in-depth look at child safeguarding via five modules, each taking around 30 to 45 minutes to complete. A safeguarding refresher course for schools is also available and is a shorter 90-minute module for those who wish to update their knowledge in this area. Please use the links for more information and prices.
A 40-minute e-learning module hosted on our learning management system provides a basic introduction to child safeguarding and is quality assured by the Nottinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (NSCP). For enquiries and prices, please contact Sarah Bale by email at sarah.bale@nottscc.gov.uk

Designated Safeguarding Lead (new)

This course is for those new to the role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead who will become a nominated person responsible for child protection and safeguarding children and young people in a school or educational establishment.

The cost for new Designated Safeguarding Lead is £95 per person. By the end of the training session participants should have a raised awareness and understanding of:

the concept of safeguarding and promoting welfare
the legal and statutory duties and required arrangements schools and educational establishments must have in place
personal and organisational responsibilities
identifying the child at risk and the child in need
recording and taking action to report concerns
working together with other agencies.

IMPORTANT - to take part in this course participants will require use of an individual laptop.

View course dates

Designated Safeguarding Lead (refresher)

This course is for those refreshing the training of the role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead who is a nominated person responsible for child protection and safeguarding children and young people in a school or educational establishment.

This training needs to be completed every two years.

The cost for Designated Safeguarding Lead refresher training is £95 per person. By the end of the training session participants should have a raised awareness and understanding of:

the role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead and key areas of responsibility
the recent changes in legislation and guidance affecting your work with children and young people
managing Allegations Process
current issues in safeguarding
effective contribution to inter-agency working
appraisal of your own safeguarding policies and procedures.

View course dates

IMPORTANT - to take part in this course participants will require use of an individual laptop.

Change your booking

Confirmation and cancellation

If you cannot attend please remember to cancel your place to allow others to book.

You will be charged the full fee for subsistence and course costs if you fail to attend and do not cancel your place.

Changing who is going on a course

If you cannot attend a course and want a colleague to go in your place, you must cancel your booking and your colleague must book their own place.

To view or change your booking

To view or change your booking in any way (such as cancelling your place) you must set up an Eventbrite account. The email address you use to set up your account must be the same one used when originally booking the course. Make sure your email address is correct or you will not receive any of the course information or notifications.

Safeguarding training – Key points for schools

To help clarify expectations around safeguarding training for schools, below is a summary of what is statutory and what is strongly recommended by Nottinghamshire County Council.

Statutory/legal minimum (national guidance - Keeping Children Safe in Ed. 2025). Schools must ensure:

A Safeguarding induction for all staff
An annual safeguarding update for all staff
DSL formal training every 2 years, plus regular CPD through network and Nottinghamshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (NSCP) trainings
Governor induction and regular refreshers

Nottinghamshire best practice recommendations

In addition, we strongly recommend:

Whole-school safeguarding refresher training is undertaken every three years
That annual updates are meaningful and substantive
That updates include local learning from Serious Case Reviews (SCR’s) and Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPR’s), thresholds, and emerging safeguarding themes
All staff (employees and volunteers) read part one of the updated Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) when it is published annually.
That staff with specific safeguarding responsibilities such as Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSL’s), Senior Leaders and Governors also read part two of KCSIE.

Although three-yearly whole-school training is no longer a statutory requirement, we continue to strongly recommend this training as it allows staff to keep up to date with and understand the importance of safeguarding in a way that internal annual updates (normally in September) may not cover in depth. As the scope and content of annual updates can vary between schools, this remains an important part of maintaining consistent safeguarding standards.