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How to respond effectively to the sharing of nudes and semi-nudes: guidance and procedure

Find guidance on what to do following an incident of indecent images of pupils being shared in your school. Plus, see what you should be covering about nude/semi-nude images in your RSE curriculum, and find training resources for staff.

Last reviewed on 26 September 2025

School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 49481

Contents

Familiarise yourself with relevant guidance
Always follow your procedure
How to talk to pupils about incidents
1. Report incidents to your DSL
2. Hold an initial meeting to decide your response
3. Decide whether to refer the incident
4. Inform parents and carers
5. If necessary, conduct a further review
Educate pupils
Next steps

Familiarise yourself with relevant guidance

This article summaries the requirements and guidance for responding to the sharing of nude/semi-nude images set out in the following guidance:

Non-statutory guidance from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the UK Council for Internet Safety on sharing nudes and semi-nudes: advice for education settings working with children and young people
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE)
Searching, screening and confiscation guidance from the DfE

Always follow your procedure

You should have a procedure in place to respond to incidents involving nudes and semi-nudes.

See section 7.9 of our child protection model policy for an example of a procedure, based on the non-statutory advice for education settings.

Be aware, it may not always be possible to follow all the steps in the order set out –