Sexual abuse toolkit: Everyone’s Invited – Guidance for named schools

In response to Ofsted’s ‘Review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges’ (2021), leaders will have implemented the recommendations which were applicable for all schools and colleges at that time.

These recommendations specifically referred to the Department for Education’s (DfE) statutory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), including –

• Regular review and updates to RSHE curriculum

• Training for teachers of RSHE

• Enhanced record keeping (including all instances of sexual violence or harassment), as well as revised approaches to behaviour and sanctions.
• Where applicable, liaison with local safeguarding partnerships, support for DSLs, and training for all staff, including governance.

In line with statutory updates to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE, 2026) leaders must continue to review their policy and practice in line with updated DfE guidance.

All the above areas are still applicable; extending to further enhanced support with modern online abuse and harm.

This includes but is not limited to; misogyny, harmful sexual behaviours (HSB) - including FGM, so called honour-based abuse and forced marriage. Curriculum also includes enhanced awareness of child exploitation and child on child abuse – including deepfakes, pornography, sextortion, consensual and non-consensual sharing of nude and semi-nude images and/or videos, including the inappropriate and harmful use of AI.

The governments Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy further demonstrates that schools are crucial partners in the prevention of violence against women and girls, including education on the prevalence of updated or new laws. For example, those associated with strangulation and stalking.

Working together in education also strengthens guidance on certain types of harm such as:

• abusive behaviour in intimate relationships
• coercive control
• more hidden harms such as child sexual abuse (CSA) and teenage relationship abuse 

Where can leaders find updated guidance?

Statutory RSHE Guidance (July 2025, for implementation by September 2026)

Statutory Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE, 2026)

Working together to safeguard children (2026) – Summary of changes

Immediate steps for named schools

Where a school is named, a variety of responses are likely to be prompted. Leaders (including designated safeguarding leads) should check whether the published testimony is recognised by the school (although anonymous, the testimony may be recognisable through its context and/or any details published).

Where the case is recognised, safeguarding leads should check that the correct procedures were followed at the time of disclosure and respond accordingly.

The table below sets out the referral/support pathways for a variation of different scenarios.

Leaders should select the most appropriate pathway to respond to previously unknown cases.

Schools should remain vigilant to the possibility of safeguarding disclosures being posted on the Everyone’s Invited website and should be ready to respond.

Leaders may find it useful to include a routine check of the site in their schedule of safeguarding activity and audits of provision.