It's been a busy summer behind the scenes of the DPE Knowledge Bank. Alongside the new academic year checklists and cyber alerts you'll have seen in our regular articles, we've been steadily updating of the portal: new courses, new guidance documents, a reorganised menu structure, and upgrades to several of the compliance tools you use every day. Here's a full round-up of what's changed.
New Training: 2026 Data Protection E-Learning
We've published a new 2026 Data Protection e-learning module, replacing last year's version. It keeps the familiar introduction to Harry the Hacker but adds new scenarios and updated content covering the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and the use of AI. It can be accessed by any member of staff through My Courses under the My Activities menu, or assigned centrally via a to-do in the same way as other courses.
Access the 2026 Data Protection Training course
New Course: Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026
Our KCSIE 2026 course is now live in the training portal, designed to be completed in one sitting. It includes a summary video, the full KCSIE 2026 PDF built directly into the course (so there's no need to source or upload your own copy alongside it), a short multiple-choice quiz, supporting resources, and an automatically generated certificate of completion for your single central record.
The course can be self-enrolled from My Courses, or assigned by a data protection lead as a to-do from the admin dashboard, with completion status updating automatically so there's nothing to chase.
Read more about the KCSIE 2026 course | KCSIE 2026 Data Protection Changes: What Schools Need to Know
New Guidance: Sharing Pupil Allergy Data Safely
With Benedict's Law taking effect from September 2026, we've co-published new guidance with Anaphylaxis UK introducing the Secure Safe Care Information Point (SSCIP) model: a practical framework for sharing life-saving allergy data without it becoming a personal data breach. It covers lawful basis myth-busting for special category health data, a role-based data sharing matrix, and rules for mobile "grab bag" packs used on trips and evacuations.
This guidance is currently available in the free downloads section, and we've also fed the new SSCIP advice directly into the Making the Rounds (MTR) tool's feedback section, along with a new copy function for DPE staff if we regularly visit your school to help track progress quicker.
Download the SSCIP guidance | Read the full article
Updated: AI Policy Template (v2026)
Our AI Policy Template has been refreshed to align with current DfE and ICO expectations. The update strengthens accountability by placing responsibility for AI deployment with the SLT, introduces a "human-in-the-loop" requirement, mandates privacy notice updates where AI is used to process pupil or staff data, reinforces data minimisation in prompts, and aligns with the ICO's Age Appropriate Design Code.
View the AI Policy Template | Read more about the changes
Portal Navigation: A Simpler Way to Get Started
We've restructured the top-level menus to make the portal easier to navigate, particularly for new customers:
- Getting Started menu – a new top-level item bringing together the Welcome page and a new Quick Links page covering: new to DPE, logging a SAR, data breaches, FOIs, redaction, and supplier due diligence/DPIAs.
- Compliance Reports menu – a new home for the ICO Accountability Trackers, Annual Compliance Report, DfE Digital Standards, Governance Overview Report, and Initial Plan.
- Compliance Logs menu – quick access to add a SAR, a data breach, an FOI, or a data protection complaint.
- Popular Policies & Downloads menu – direct links to the policy library, the Data Protection Policy Template, guidance on assigning courses to staff, the Records Management Toolkit, and the SAR Acknowledgement Letter.
- A new Training page bringing all training content together in one place.
Quick Starts Added Across the Best Practice Library
Five Quick Start guides have been added or updated within the Best Practice Library, giving you a fast, practical entry point before you dig into the fuller guidance:
- Subject Access Requests
- Data Breaches
- Freedom of Information
- Redaction
- Supplier Due Diligence (within DPIAs)
Compliance Tools: Retention, Trust Plans and Accountability
Retention Schedule: you can now create a summary table for generic retention, and a new Retention Schedule page brings together the retention tool, guidance on building your own schedule, and a worked example.
View the Retention Schedule page
Initial Plan, previously Initial Trust Plan: an N/A option has been added to the "have recommendations from previous reports been reviewed" question, to account for brand new customers with no prior report; "trust" has been changed to "organisation" throughout to better reflect use by grammar and private schools; and a new tooltip clarifies that private schools are not public bodies and have no FOI obligation.
ICO Accountability Tracker: the Accountability Tracker page has been updated and linked from the Compliance Reports menu, and an Accountability Tracker tab has been added across the best practice libraries wherever possible. The Leadership & Oversight, Training & Awareness, and Individual's Rights sections are now complete.
View the ICO Accountability Tracker
New: Full-Site FAQ Page
Every FAQ across the site has now been pulled together into a single, searchable FAQ page. Let us know if you think any common questions are missing!
DfE Digital Standards: Step-by-Step Guidance
A new step-by-step page and accompanying infographic on the DfE Digital and Technology Standards has been created and added to the overview page, giving schools a clearer, sequential route through the standards.
Also Worth a Read: Your Back to School Checklist
Alongside these portal updates, we've also just published our annual Back to School article. A new academic year brings a full inbox of statutory guidance, policy refreshes and operational pressure, often all landing in the same first few weeks of term, so it's worth pausing to check the key data protection foundations are in place before the pace picks up.
Read: Back to School – Your Data Protection Checklist for the New Academic Year
Explore the Knowledge Bank
All of the above is live now in your DPE Knowledge Bank. If you haven't logged in for a while, this is a good moment to take a look around the new menus and tools.
Log in to the Knowledge Bank | Find out more about the Knowledge Bank
As always, if you have feedback or suggestions on any of these updates, get in touch with the team.
The Data Protection Education Team