Independent School Health and Safety

The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, SI 2014/3283, set the standards you are registered against. Part 3 of the Schedule, welfare, health and safety of pupils, requires a written health and safety policy that is implemented effectively, compliance with the Fire Safety Order, a written first aid policy, risk assessments covering school activities and premises, plus supervision arrangements. Part 5, premises of and accommodation at schools, requires the proprietor to provide safe and hygienic conditions in which pupils can learn effectively, including adequate lighting, heating and ventilation, properly maintained toilet and washing facilities in appropriate numbers, accommodation for pupils who are ill, drinking water and outdoor space for physical education and play. Where boarding is provided, the accommodation must meet the National Minimum Standards for boarding schools or, where applicable, for residential special schools. Underneath all of that sit the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and the Adventure Activities Licensing Regulations 2004, where the licence fee is £715 from 1 April 2026.

One honest caveat. We work from the Part 5 content as summarised in the Department for Education guidance rather than paragraph by paragraph from the Schedule. Where a report of ours needs to cite an individual paragraph number, we check it against SI 2014/3283 first. We would rather do that than quote a number that has moved.

What changed in April 2026

The Department for Education revised The Independent School Standards: Guidance for Independent Schools in April 2026, with six substantive updates reflecting changes to June 2026. They cover fundamental British values, relationships and sex education, mobile phones, attendance, data protection complaints and, new for 2026, Standard 16A on restrictive interventions including reasonable force and seclusion. Standard 16A requires documented incident recording aligned with the Schools (Recording and Reporting of Seclusion and Restraint) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2025. The guidance is also blunt about premises. Inspectors examine the estate for blocked escapes, missing equipment and hazardous storage. It confirms that such defects are direct breaches of the standards rather than observations to note and move on from.

Separately, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 comes into force on 1 September 2026 and applies to independent schools. KCSIE 2025 remains in force until 31 August 2026. The main structural change is the removal of Annex A, the shorter staff version, meaning all staff follow the same safeguarding expectations, supported by a new Part one overview for all staff. Annex C carries the full change summary. The estate touchpoints are the ones that always matter: site security, contractor vetting, lone working with pupils and off-site visits.

How the ISI framework treats premises

The current ISI framework took effect on 1 September 2023, with the framework and handbook republished for September 2025. There is one routine inspection type, announced, at approximately three yearly intervals, plus material change, progress monitoring after standards failures and additional inspections commissioned by the Department for Education. Section 1 tests risk management across all leadership levels. Section 3, pupils' physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing, explicitly covers premises safety, supervision, first aid protocols and accommodation standards for boarders. Safeguarding forms the concluding section. There are no letter grades. Reports identify standards met or unmet, significant strengths, serious or multiple failings requiring enforcement consideration, plus recommended next steps. In practical terms that means an unmet standard is named in a public document with no grade to soften it.

We work with bursars, estates managers and governing bodies, usually to a calendar shaped by terms, holiday works windows and an inspection that could be announced at any point in a three year cycle.

• Fire risk assessments across the estate, with boarding houses assessed as sleeping-risk residential premises and a separate assessment for each house rather than one document covering the site.
• BAFE SP205 third-party certified fire risk assessments, independently certificated by SSAIB, where you need external assurance for governors or insurers.
• Independent school standards gap analysis against Part 3 and Part 5, written in the language inspectors use so the actions map onto the standard they relate to.
• Pre-inspection premises review, covering escape routes, storage, equipment, records and the actions outstanding from your last fire risk assessment.
• Swimming pool safety review under HSG179, covering the pool safety operating procedure, the normal operating plan, the emergency action plan, supervision ratios and out of hours access control.
• Sports facility inspection covering PUWER for gym equipment, anchoring of goalposts and rugby posts, climbing wall anchors under LOLER and floodlight and Astroturf maintenance.
• Legionella risk assessment and written schemes for a seasonal estate, delivered through our legionella risk assessments service, with a flushing regime designed for the holiday pattern rather than for a normal building.
• Asbestos management support for holiday works programmes, covering the register, the plan and contractor control before the scaffold arrives.
• Minibus and transport policy review, covering driver entitlement, assessment and refresher training, walkaround checks, defect reporting, maintenance records, passenger assistants and fatigue on late returns.
• Educational visits framework review, covering trip categorisation and approval, generic and visit-specific assessments, leader competence, provider assurance and a 24 hour emergency response arrangement that actually answers.