Child on Child Abuse and Harmful Sexual Behaviour

What the course covers

Child-on-child abuse and harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) represent significant safeguarding challenges that require a clear, proactive, and child-centred response. This course provides comprehensive guidance on understanding the continuum of sexualised behaviours—distinguishing between healthy, problematic, and harmful sexual behaviours—while aligning practice with statutory guidance such as Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE).

Learners will examine the different forms of child-on-child abuse, including sexual violence, sexual harassment, peer-on-peer abuse, bullying, technology-assisted HSB, and initiation rituals. The course outlines how power imbalances, age gaps, and digital environments influence these behaviours, highlighting the critical importance of challenging toxic cultures, sexism, and misogyny.

By completing this module, staff will understand how to handle disclosures sensitively, conduct proportionated safety risk assessments, implement in-school support plans, and coordinate multi-agency safeguarding referrals. The training ensures independent school staff can effectively protect victims while managing alleged perpetrators within a legally compliant framework.

What your team takes away

• Differentiate between healthy sexual development, problematic behaviour, and harmful sexual behaviour.
• Identify indicators of sexual violence, sexual harassment, and technology-assisted abuse.
• Respond appropriately to disclosures, ensuring victims are supported and kept safe.
• Implement robust in-school risk management plans and coordinate with statutory safeguarding partners.

How it runs

The course opens in a browser on a phone, a tablet or a desktop, with nothing to install. Progress is saved as it goes, so someone can stop and pick it back up. The assessment sits at the end, and passing it issues a certificate with its own reference number that an inspector or an auditor can check.

Who it is for

Teachers, teaching assistants, pastoral staff, boarding house staff, Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs), and senior leadership teams in independent schools.

Schools Safeguarding