Safety & Safeguarding

Keeping children safe is everything.

Ask.School is built around the safeguarding frameworks that govern UK education. Every feature, every guardrail and every default has been designed with child safety as the first priority.

KCSIE alignedUK GDPR compliantDfE guidance compliant
Compliance

Built around the frameworks that matter

KCSIE 2024

Keeping Children Safe in Education is the statutory guidance all schools must follow. Ask.School’s safeguarding guardrails support your duties under Part 1 and Annex D, including online safety, filtering and monitoring obligations.

DfE AI Guidance

The Department for Education’s guidance sets out that pupils should only use AI with appropriate safeguards. Ask.School provides the filtering, monitoring and oversight that schools need to deploy AI responsibly.

AI Product Safety Standards

The UK government’s safety standards for education require safety by design, content filtering, age-appropriate safeguards and robust activity logging. Ask.School meets these standards across every requirement.

Safety by design

Every guardrail, built in from day one

Aligned with KCSIE, DfE guidance and the AI Product Safety Standards across every feature.

Safeguarding alerts

When a conversation touches on self-harm, abuse, neglect or any other safeguarding concern, the chatbot responds with the right support information and alerts your designated safeguarding lead straight away.

Only answers from your school

The chatbot only answers from the documents and knowledge your school has provided. It will not invent answers, share its own opinions, or wander off-topic.

Always clearly a tool, not a person

The chatbot doesn't pretend to be a person. It has no name, no avatar, no fake personality. Students are gently reminded that talking to a real adult is always different — and always available.

A clear record of every conversation

Every conversation is logged. Your safeguarding team can read what was said, see what was flagged, and review the full picture whenever they need to.

No tricks to keep you using it

No streaks, no points, no badges, no flattery. Nothing designed to keep students hooked. Ask.School is a tool — useful when you need it, easy to put down when you don't.

Your data never trains AI

Nothing your school, parents or students type into Ask.School is ever used to train artificial intelligence — ours or anybody else's. Conversations and documents are used to answer questions for your school, and that's it. No quiet recycling, no third-party model improvement. Your data stays yours.

Data protection

Transparent, private and compliant

Ask.School does not collect personal data from chatbot users. Parents and students can ask questions without creating accounts or providing identifying information. Conversation data is never used to train AI models.

All data processing complies with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. We maintain a Data Protection Impact Assessment as required by the AI Product Safety Standards. Your school's data stays within your organisation and is never shared with other schools or third parties.

Start free trial

No personal data collection

Chatbot users never need accounts. No names, no emails, no tracking.

UK GDPR & DPA 2018

Full compliance with UK data protection law. Data Protection Impact Assessment maintained.

AI clearly identified

Every chatbot clearly identifies itself as an AI system. Users know what it can and cannot do.

No data sharing

Your school’s data is isolated. Never shared with other schools, never sold to third parties.

Your role

Your responsibilities

The DfE guidance is clear: schools remain accountable for the AI tools they deploy. Ask.School gives you the controls to meet your obligations.

Designate a safeguarding lead

Assign a member of staff to receive safeguarding alerts and review flagged conversations. This is consistent with your existing KCSIE designated safeguarding lead responsibilities.

Review and approve content

You control what documents and information the chatbot uses. Staff should review the knowledge base regularly to ensure accuracy, as the DfE guidance requires professional judgement over all AI outputs.

Understand the safeguarding rules

Ask.School enforces a strict set of safeguarding rules that cannot be changed or overridden. These are based on KCSIE, DfE guidance and the AI Product Safety Standards. Your DSL should familiarise themselves with how the system responds.

Monitor and audit

Regularly review conversation logs and safeguarding alerts. KCSIE requires appropriate filtering and monitoring — Ask.School provides the tools, but oversight remains with your safeguarding team.

Get started today

Safe AI for your school community.

Ask.School is designed from the ground up around safeguarding. Read the rule-by-rule breakdown of every guardrail, or start your free trial.

KCSIE compliant  ·  UK GDPR  ·  UK-based support  ·  DPA ·  Sub-processors

Safeguarding Hub | Ask.School