Filtering and Monitoring Standards: Practical Checklist

Overview

The DfE filtering and monitoring standards sit alongside KCSIE 2025. Schools must identify a senior leader and governor with named responsibility, review the systems at least annually, and assure themselves they are effective. Filtering blocks harmful content; monitoring records what people do so concerns can be acted on. Both are required.

Key points

• •Filtering and monitoring are distinct duties — both must be in place.
• •Named senior leader (often the DSL) and named governor are required.
• •Annual review is the minimum; six-monthly is good practice.
• •Effectiveness is judged by outcomes, not just by the technology installed.
• •Provider contracts must show how alerts reach the right person, fast.
• •Out-of-hours and BYOD scenarios must be considered, not ignored.

Practical steps

1. 1

   Confirm in writing who the senior leader and link governor for filtering and monitoring are.

2. 2

   Run the SWGfL Test Filtering tool annually to confirm category coverage.

3. 3

   Review monitoring alerts received over the past year — who saw them, how fast, what action followed.

4. 4

   Ask your provider the standard questions (see external sources) and record the answers.

5. 5

   Brief governors on outcomes once a year, with anonymised examples.

6. 6

   Update the acceptable use policy if any technical changes are made.

Warnings

• !Do not assume filtering protects against every category — risks evolve faster than block lists.
• !Do not let monitoring alerts pile up unread — even one missed alert can be serious.
• !Do not exclude BYOD or staff devices from the conversation.

Checklist

• Senior leader for filtering and monitoring is named in writing
• Link governor for filtering and monitoring is named in writing
• Annual review of filtering and monitoring completed and minuted
• SWGfL Test Filtering (or equivalent) run in the last 12 months
• Monitoring alert log reviewed termly by the DSL
• Provider has confirmed alert escalation routes in writing
• Out-of-hours alerting procedure documented
• BYOD and staff devices included in scope or explicitly out of scope

External sources

• Meeting digital and technology standards in schools — filtering and monitoring — Department for Education
• Test Filtering — South West Grid for Learning
• Appropriate filtering and monitoring definitions — UK Safer Internet Centre