The Safeguarding Conversation Every School Needs to Have

Watch the webinar: Always Protected — Safeguarding Beyond the Classroom in the AI Age

Here's something that gets said a lot in schools but rarely examined closely enough: safeguarding is everybody's responsibility.

What does that actually mean when a child's digital life extends far beyond the school gate? When they're spending hours on devices at home, forming relationships with AI tools, and navigating online spaces that their parents may not recognise and their teachers cannot see?

This webinar brings together practitioners and technology experts who are living this question every single day — and the conversation they have is one of the most grounded, honest discussions about digital safeguarding you'll find.

Who's in the room:

Tania Mackie and Harry Saunders join from Lightspeed Systems — the platform protecting 31 million students across 30,000 institutions worldwide — to talk about what genuine digital visibility looks like and why it matters. Alongside them are Abida Natha, Senior Director of Digital Learning and Designated Safeguarding Lead at Gems Wellington International School in Dubai, and Faiza Mubeen, Director of Inclusion and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead at Beech Hall School Riyadh. Dr. Helen Wright chairs.

What makes the conversation so valuable is that blend: the people building the technology and the people deploying it day-to-day, thinking through the same problems from different angles but arriving, repeatedly, at the same place — the child at the centre.

What they get into

The session opens with something that reframes the whole discussion. Lightspeed's technology doesn't work by flagging keywords. It uses contextual AI analysis — understanding that "kill" in the context of a To Kill a Mockingbird discussion is categorically different from "kill" in a context that should concern a safeguarding lead. That distinction matters enormously, and it opens up a broader conversation about what it means to monitor students with care rather than suspicion.

From there, the panel moves through some genuinely difficult terrain: the responsibility schools have when devices go home overnight; how parents — from very different cultural backgrounds and with very different expectations — can be brought into the safeguarding picture without it feeling invasive; how vulnerable students need safeguarding approaches that are proactive, personalised and relational rather than generic; and what it means to build a whole-school safeguarding culture where the response to an incident isn't just reactive, but part of an ongoing, living process.

There's also a candid discussion about what the data is actually showing. Young people are spending hours talking to AI tools — using them for companionship, relationships, emotional support. That is a safeguarding conversation, and schools need to be equipped to have it.

Why it's worth watching:

Because safeguarding is not a policy document. It is not an annual training session. And in 2026, it is definitely not something that stops at the school gate. This panel reminds you why — and shows you what taking it seriously actually looks like in practice.

Access the webinar recording below!