The DfE standards and KCSIE: what they say about devices

The Department for Education publishes Meeting digital and technology standards in schools and colleges. Separately, Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) is statutory safeguarding guidance. Both affect how schools in England choose and manage devices. This guide pulls out the parts that matter for iPads, Chromebooks and laptops. It is a summary, not a substitute for reading them.

The core standards

The DfE says all schools and colleges should be working towards meeting 6 core standards by 2030: broadband internet, wireless network, network switching, digital leadership and governance, filtering and monitoring, and cyber security. There are further standards too, including one on laptops, desktops and tablets.

The DfE explains that schools and colleges have a statutory responsibility under KCSIE to keep children safe online, which includes appropriate filtering and monitoring systems and cyber security measures. The filtering and monitoring standards and cyber security standards set out the DfE’s recommended approach to meeting those expectations.

What KCSIE 2026 says

KCSIE 2026 is statutory guidance dated September 2026, and it replaces the September 2025 version. It says schools and colleges in England must have regard to it. For devices, the key paragraphs are:

• Paragraph 173: governing bodies and proprietors should ensure the school has appropriate filtering and monitoring systems in place, and that their effectiveness is reviewed at least once every academic year. Reviews should be carried out by the senior leader responsible for filtering and monitoring, with the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and IT support, and should include checks that filtering is working on all internet-connected devices in all relevant locations, with a record kept.
• Paragraph 175 points to the DfE filtering and monitoring standards, which say schools should assign roles, review provision at least annually, block harmful content without unreasonably affecting teaching and learning, and have effective monitoring.
• Paragraph 176 says schools can use the DfE’s Plan technology for your school service to self-assess against the filtering and monitoring standards.
• Paragraph 169 says the child protection policy should cover online safety, including appropriate filtering and monitoring on school devices and networks.
• Paragraph 12 says all staff should get safeguarding training at induction that includes their roles and responsibilities around filtering and monitoring.

KCSIE groups online risks into four areas — content, contact, conduct and commerce — and warns against “over blocking” that unreasonably restricts what children can be taught.

The devices standard

The DfE standard for laptops, desktops and tablets says devices should be safe and secure, and that this should be met now for all devices in use. Points that matter for MDM:

• Devices should be centrally managed by IT support, so security and safeguarding policies are applied consistently and patches are applied.
• Mobile and portable devices should have mobile device management, so IT support can lock or wipe them and secure apps.
• All new devices must be compatible with your existing filtering, monitoring and security systems.
• Devices should have labels or tags and be recorded in an asset register.
• A data protection impact assessment should cover existing devices, new purchases, devices taken off site and any bring-your-own-device scheme.

It also sets minimum requirements when buying, repurposing or upgrading:

• an enterprise or education-grade operating system;
• 3 years of manufacturer support and security patches for tablets, 5 years for laptops and desktops;
• warranties of 3 years for laptops and desktops and 2 years for tablets;
• Wi-Fi support for 802.11ac Wave 2, with Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) recommended;
• a screen size of 9.7 inches for tablets.

Filtering and monitoring on devices

The filtering and monitoring standard says filtering should be active and applied to all school-managed devices, including those taken off site, to unmanaged devices under a BYOD scheme, and to guests. Devices that aren’t school-managed should be on a separate virtual network. Checks should cover school-owned devices “even if they are taken home”, different sites, and whether user groups get the right filtering, and you should keep a log of who checked what, and when.

On monitoring, the standard says a monitoring plan could include device monitoring through device management software, in-person monitoring and network monitoring, with at least weekly reports and immediate reports for high-risk incidents. Users should be told that monitoring is in place — for example with a message at login. If pupils use apps rather than the web browser, the DfE says to check whether your filtering provider can filter app content, and to apply technical monitoring to those devices.

The DfE suggests the South West Grid for Learning filtering test to check that, at a minimum, illegal child abuse material, unlawful terrorist content and adult content are blocked.

Cyber security and updates

The cyber security standard asks IT support to fix high-risk vulnerabilities in operating systems, apps and firmware within 14 days of the fix being released (where the vendor rates it critical or high, the CVSS score is 7.0 or above, or there is no rating). It also says multi-factor authentication must be enabled for staff accounts with access to cloud services or remote access, and for IT admin accounts — which includes your MDM console. The end-of-support date for each device’s operating system should be recorded in the asset register and in your MDM.

Where to start

1. Use Plan technology for your school to see where you are.
2. Check every device type is managed and covered by filtering and monitoring, on and off site.
3. Record end-of-support dates — see Managing Chromebooks and Intune for Education for where to find them.
4. Keep the asset register and DPIA up to date: Asset registers, labels and locks.

For broadband, Wi-Fi and filtering procurement, our sister site Broadband for Schools covers the connectivity standards in more depth.