Safeguarding children with SEND in international schools

UNICEF says children with disabilities face heightened risks of violence, abuse and neglect compared with their peers. The World Health Organization (WHO) lists special needs, intellectual disability and neurological disorder among the child risk factors for maltreatment.

International schools often say learning support, inclusion or additional needs instead of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The risks apply under any name.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and English guidance name similar causes. These are the ones that matter most in school:

• More dependence on adults for daily and intimate care
• Fewer people who see the child and could notice a change
• Less access to lessons on body safety and healthy relationships
• Not knowing that what is happening is abuse
• More bullying and isolation, sometimes with no outward sign
• Difficulty telling anyone, or not being understood when they try
• Signs of harm put down to the condition

Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) is statutory guidance for schools in England. The 2026 edition says children with SEND, or certain medical or physical health conditions, can face extra safeguarding challenges online and offline (paragraphs 249 to 251).

It asks schools to reflect these barriers in their child protection policy. Examples include assuming that behaviour, mood or injury comes from the condition, bullying that shows no outward sign, and communication barriers.

Any report about a child with SEND needs close liaison between the DSL and the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO). Schools should also consider extra pastoral support and support for communication.

KCSIE is written for England. Your host country may add its own duties to report, so read mandatory reporting laws for international schools and ask local counsel what applies to you.

A common gap is an assumption. A child hits out, withdraws or arrives with a bruise, and the adult thinks it comes with the diagnosis. KCSIE names this as a barrier.

The condition may explain some of what you see. Ask a few questions before you decide it explains all of it.

If any answer worries you, write down what you saw and tell the DSL the same day. Put these questions to yourself first:

• Is this new, or has it changed in the last few weeks?
• Does it happen with one adult, one place or one time of day?
• Does the explanation fit what I actually saw?
• Would I report this if the child had no diagnosis?
• Has anyone asked the child in a way they can answer?

Some children use few words. Others use signs, symbols, pictures, a device or behaviour. Some have never been taught the words for private body parts or for what is not allowed.

NSPCC guidance says to avoid asking a parent or carer to interpret when you have a safeguarding concern. If that adult is the person causing harm, the child loses their only way to tell.

An international school can have two barriers at once. A child may speak a home language that staff do not share and also use signs or symbols. Plan for both.

Behaviour is also communication. A sudden change around a person, a place or a routine is worth writing down, even when the child cannot say why.

A standard procedure often assumes that the child can speak, sit in a meeting and tell an adult what happened. Check each step against a child who cannot.

Use this checklist as a starting point and adapt it to your own policy:

• Name the SENCO or inclusion lead in the policy and say how they work with the DSL
• Keep a short communication profile for each child who needs one, showing how they say yes, no, pain and fear
• Name a trusted adult at school for each child and tell the child who it is
• Write intimate care plans with parents and the child, so staff know what routine care looks like
• Teach body safety and relationships in a form each child can follow, then check what they understood
• Tell staff who work one to one that they can go straight to the DSL
• Book interpreters or specialist support early, not on the day of a meeting

Follow your school's child protection procedure and tell the DSL the same day. If a child is in immediate danger, call your local emergency services first.

Keep your words short and your pace slow. Use the child's own way of communicating and give them time. These lines work for most children:

• "I am listening. You can tell me or show me."
• "Take your time. I am not in a hurry."
• "Thank you for telling me. It is not your fault."
• "I cannot keep this just between us. I need to tell someone who can help."

Every adult who works with the child needs this training, starting with those who spend the most one-to-one time. That includes learning support assistants, therapists, nurses, drivers and boarding staff. See safeguarding training for non-teaching staff.

Do not decide that a child is confused because of their diagnosis. Do not ask a parent or carer to explain what the child means. Write down the words, signs or actions you saw, with the time and place.

Practise with short scenarios from your own campus. A learning support assistant notices that a pupil now refuses to go near one adult. What should the assistant do next, and who do they tell?

Try another. A child who uses picture cards keeps pointing at the same picture. Ask staff what they think the child is saying, and what they would write down.

Put the DSL, deputies and SENCO in the same session. They need to know each other's roles before a report arrives.

Pick one child with a communication need and trace what would happen if they were hurt. Who would notice, how would the child tell, who would hear it and how would the DSL reach the child's own voice?

Then ask the people closest to the process. Ask learning support staff whether they know how to report, and ask the SENCO when they last met the DSL. Fix the weakest step and test it again.

Check that your child-on-child abuse training covers these children too. KCSIE says they can be affected by bullying without showing any outward sign.