First 90 days as a new designated safeguarding lead

As the new designated safeguarding lead (DSL), your first job is to be reachable. Staff need to know who you are, how to find you and who covers when you are away.

Ask the outgoing DSL or the Head to hand over the live cases in person. Read every open file before you read a single policy, because a child may need help today.

If a child is in immediate danger at any point, follow your school's child protection procedure and call local emergency services. Do not wait for your induction or your audit to finish.

• A list of open concerns, and who is monitoring each one
• Where the child protection files are kept and who can open them
• The phone number or inbox that staff use to reach you
• Your deputies' names and the plan for when you are away
• The local emergency number and your main child protection contact
• Any agency, police or family matters still waiting for a reply

Start with what your staff are told to follow: the child protection policy, the staff code of conduct and the low-level concerns policy. If policy and daily practice differ, you want to find that gap early.

Then read outwards. Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) is English statutory guidance that many international schools use as a model, and Annex B of the 2026 edition describes the DSL role. See how KCSIE applies outside England before you copy any clause.

Check what your accreditor expects. The Council of International Schools (CIS), the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) and the International Task Force on Child Protection (ITFCP) all publish child protection standards or guidance.

Local law matters most. Find out who must report abuse in your country, to whom and how fast, then ask local counsel to confirm. This guide to mandatory reporting laws shows the common patterns.

Book short one-to-one meetings in weeks one to four. You are learning how safeguarding works here, and the people doing the work know things the policy does not say.

Open each meeting with the same line: "I am new in this role. What should I know that is not written down?" Then listen and take notes.

With the Head, ask for three things in writing. These are protected time, direct access to them and a named board member for safeguarding.

• The Head, to agree your time, authority and reporting line
• Your deputies, to agree who covers what
• The board member who oversees safeguarding
• The counsellor, nurse and learning support lead
• The IT lead, about filtering and monitoring
• Human resources, about recruitment checks
• One or two local contacts, such as police or a child helpline

Start with a few checks that show whether a concern would reach you, be recorded well and lead to action.

Use your own policy as the yardstick. A safeguarding policy audit checklist gives you the full list when you are ready for it.

Write each gap on a simple list with a risk rating and an owner. Share the list with the Head as a plan, with dates.

• Training: who has had induction and refresher training, with dates and policy version
• Recruitment: does the single central record of staff checks match the staff files?
• Records: are recent concern files clear, factual and dated, with reasons for each decision?
• Reporting: can a new teacher say who to tell, and how, without looking it up?
• Cover: what happens when you and your deputies are all away?
• Online safety: what the filter blocks, who sees the alerts and who acts
• Visitors and contractors: who signs in, and who is supervised

To see what happens in practice, ask a handful of staff from different roles three plain questions. "If a child told you something worrying, what would you do?" "Who would you tell?" "What would stop you?"

Ask students, through the student council or a short survey, who they would go to if something felt wrong and what makes that hard. If anything a child says sounds like harm, follow your child protection procedure and record it the same day.

Some staff will not say in a meeting that they would hesitate. An anonymous survey gives them a safer way to answer.

Pick two or three changes that staff will notice, rather than ten that nobody sees.

KCSIE expects staff to know who the DSL and deputies are. It also suggests a clear, known arrangement for your absence, such as a confidential shared mailbox that someone watches while you are away.

Give each fix an owner and a date. Tell staff what changed and why, so they see that their questions led to action.

• Post the names, photos and contact details of you and your deputies
• Set up one confidential concerns inbox and say who watches it
• Hand every adult a one-page card on what to do if a child tells them something
• Make the child protection policy easy for parents to find
• Add ten minutes on safeguarding to each staff meeting
• Fix the most urgent gap in the training record or the staff checks
• Agree a termly meeting with the board member for safeguarding

The DSL role can feel lonely, because you hold information you cannot share in the staff room. In an international school you may be the only person in your city doing this job.

Find a peer at another school who will talk through hard cases without names. Ask your Head to fund outside case supervision, and read how DSLs avoid burnout early.

Book formal DSL training in your first term. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) runs a new-to-role course aimed at DSLs in England and recommends a refresher at least every two years. Check that any course you choose covers your local law.

Write a short summary for the Head. Say what you found, what you fixed and what still needs work, with owners and dates.

Keep it factual and free of names. ITFCP guidance for international school boards expects the DSL to give the board a safeguarding report at least once a year. The Head and the board member for safeguarding review it first.

Then ask the Head to review your time, cover and training budget against what you have learned. KCSIE says the DSL should be given the time, funding, training, resources and support the role needs.