Adopting the Child Protection Procedures for Schools 2025: A Board Checklist

The board of management shall adopt the updated procedures “no later than their last meeting prior to 31 December 2026”, under Circular 0041/2025, section 2.3. On adoption, the board must ensure the latest Department Child Safeguarding Statement and Risk Assessment templates are used. Plan the decision and implementation together.

What changed from the 2023 procedures?

The Department of Education and Youth published the 2025 procedures on 28 May 2025. Its child protection procedures page confirms that the 2023 procedures continue until the school formally adopts the 2025 procedures. Schools may adopt earlier than the final deadline.

Circular 0041/2025, Appendix 1, summarises confirmed changes. These include a new chapter on retrospective abuse allegations, clearer distinctions between mandated and non-mandated personnel, an expanded deputy DLP role, a separate record-keeping chapter and a new training-and-supports chapter. It also identifies changes relating to volunteers, bullying as a child protection concern and recruitment safeguards.

Use that summary to organise preparation, then read the relevant chapters of the 2025 procedures. Avoid assuming that a new cover page and a policy date are the whole transition. Responsibilities, reporting routes, records, oversight and staff understanding all need attention.

The adoption deadline and the board decision

Section 2.3 of the circular ties the deadline to the last board meeting before 31 December 2026. That wording matters: a board whose last scheduled meeting is in November should not plan to postpone the adoption decision until late December when it does not expect to meet.

Adoption is a formal board decision to use the updated procedures. Record it clearly, identify the version adopted and make the implementation actions understandable. An intention to review the document later is not the same as an adoption decision. Equally, a board should not describe incomplete actions as completed merely to produce a reassuring minute.

Start with the meeting calendar and work backwards. Give the principal and DLP time to review templates, arrange training and brief personnel. Ask the governance administrator or secretary to include the decision as a clear agenda item, supported by the procedures, circular, proposed statement and an implementation summary.

Move to CSS1 and the current risk assessment

The circular requires the latest Department templates for the Child Safeguarding Statement and Risk Assessment on adoption. The Department’s current supports include CSS1, which combines the statement and risk assessment. Chapter 9, particularly sections 9.4.1 and 9.5.2, addresses use of the Department template and adaptation to the school’s circumstances.

Use the current Department templates and supporting booklets, rather than a copy retained from an earlier year. Review the school’s actual activities, potential risks of harm and procedures for managing them. Template examples are prompts; they are not an exhaustive assessment of every school.

Check the DLP, DDLP and relevant-person details. Identify school-specific activities that need inclusion, such as arrangements outside the ordinary classroom routine. Keep the risk assessment focused on harm to children under the safeguarding framework. It is not a replacement for the separate health-and-safety assessment.

The current Child Protection Safeguarding Booklet also provides student-friendly templates CSS 4(a) for primary and CSS 4(b) for post-primary. The booklet’s contents and template headings distinguish them from CSS1. They support the additional student-friendly statement requirement, rather than replace the full statement and risk assessment.

Section 9.10.1 covers the full statement. Provide it to school personnel, the patron and parents’ association; make it available on request to parents, Tusla, the public and the Department as specified. Publish it on the school website and display it prominently near the main entrance.

Section 9.10.2 requires a student-friendly statement, including the DLP’s name and photograph, displayed beside the full statement. The templates allow adaptation for the school context, including communication needs and home languages. Check that children can understand who to speak to rather than treating the student version as another administrative attachment.

Allocate responsibility for the website and physical display. Open the live website link after publication and confirm it serves the newly adopted version. Check that staff copies and the entrance display agree with it. A board can review a short publication record without circulating child protection case material.

DLP/DDLP training and retained evidence

Circular 0041/2025, section 2.4, requires attendance at Department-provided DLP/DDLP training and retention of a record. Chapter 11 sets out training and supports. Section 11.1.1 says role training should be refreshed at a minimum every three years, with records of attendance retained.

Use the DLP role and handover guide to check appointment, deputy support, cover and access to protected records. The expanded deputy role needs real preparation: the deputy supports implementation and records, remains informed about active cases and can take over effectively during absence.

Keep an attendance record that identifies the person, role, provider and date. Distinguish completed training from booked or outstanding training. If access to a required session is unresolved, contact the relevant Department/Oide support route and record the action being taken; do not claim that a booking satisfies attendance.

Staff awareness and board familiarity

Section 2.5 of the circular addresses training for all school personnel as directed by the board. Section 8.1 covers circulation of the circular to board members, personnel and the parents’ association. Chapter 11 reinforces the need for personnel and board members to understand their responsibilities.

Briefing should cover where the procedures are kept, the reporting route, DLP absence arrangements, confidentiality and distinctions between mandated and non-mandated responsibilities. Staff should know the routes for allegations involving the DLP or another employee. An acknowledgement of receipt is useful evidence of circulation, but does not establish competence by itself.

Prepare a short question-and-answer discussion after circulation. Use hypothetical situations to identify misunderstandings without discussing identifiable cases in a general staff meeting. Record any further training or clarification needed and who will arrange it.

Minuting adoption and follow-through

Record the decision to adopt the 2025 procedures separately from the decision to adopt the Child Safeguarding Statement and risk assessment. Section 9.12 requires formal adoption of the statement and a minute recording that fact. It also requires the board to satisfy itself and record that display, publication and circulation requirements have been met.

A practical minute identifies the decision, document version or date, and the evidence considered. Where publication follows the meeting, assign the action and arrange the board’s subsequent confirmation. Keep the minute factual. Do not write that all requirements are complete if the website update or training evidence is still outstanding.

Continue the annual review cycle after adoption. The CSS annual review checklist distinguishes the school procedures’ annual requirement from the Children First Act’s 24-month and material-change requirements. Adoption does not replace continuing oversight through the CPOR checklist.

Adoption checklist in time order

Identify the last board meeting before 31 December 2026.
Circulate Circular 0041/2025 and the updated procedures for preparation.
Check the appointments and cover arrangements for DLP and DDLP.
Confirm role-training attendance and retain the evidence.
Obtain the latest CSS1 and appropriate student-friendly templates.
Review school activities, risks of harm and protective procedures.
Prepare the full and student-friendly statements for board consideration.
Brief personnel and arrange required training and awareness work.
Put formal procedures and statement adoption decisions on the agenda.
Minute adoption and allocate any outstanding implementation actions.
Complete display, website publication and required circulation.
Confirm the evidence, follow-up and next annual review arrangements.

If the board meets only once more before the deadline

Use the remaining meeting for a prepared adoption decision, not an introductory discussion with no decision planned. Ask the principal and DLP to identify outstanding work now, and give board members the relevant documents ahead of the meeting. Prioritise templates, training evidence, staff awareness and publication arrangements.

If the ordinary schedule cannot support the required decision, the chair and school authority should arrange appropriate governance action under their applicable rules and seek advice from the patron, management body or Department where needed. Do not assume an informal email exchange is an authorised substitute for a board meeting. Record the decision and complete the implementation work without delaying any child protection reporting obligation.

Frequently asked questions

When must schools adopt the 2025 Child Protection Procedures?

Circular 0041/2025, section 2.3, requires the board to adopt the updated procedures no later than their last meeting prior to 31 December 2026. Schools may adopt earlier.

Do we need a new Child Safeguarding Statement?

On adoption, the board must ensure the latest Department Child Safeguarding Statement and Risk Assessment templates are used. Review and formally adopt the school’s statement and risk assessment using the current templates.

What templates must we use?

Use the latest Department CSS1 Child Safeguarding Statement and Risk Assessment template. The Department also provides student-friendly CSS 4(a) for primary and CSS 4(b) for post-primary to support the student-friendly statement required by section 9.10.2.