Safer Internet Centre for 2025 Reaccreditation

Lightspeed Systems Re-Accredited with the 2025 UK Safer Internet Centre Filtering Accreditation

At Lightspeed Systems, safeguarding students and ensuring a secure online environment for schools is at the heart of what we do. We are proud to announce that we have been re-accredited with the 2025 UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) Filtering Accreditation, reaffirming our commitment to providing schools with trusted, effective, and compliant filtering solutions. This accreditation highlights our dedication to maintaining the highest standards in online safety, ensuring that schools can rely on Lightspeed to protect students while enabling access to valuable educational resources.

What is the UKSIC Filtering Accreditation?

The UK Safer Internet Centre’s Filtering Accreditation is a rigorous certification designed to evaluate and recognise filtering providers that meet strict criteria for safeguarding students in educational settings. Accredited providers must demonstrate their ability to block harmful or inappropriate content while allowing access to legitimate educational resources. Lightspeed Systems has been a long-standing leader in this space, and our re-accreditation for 2025 underscores our ongoing efforts to stay ahead of the curve in filtering technology and compliance.

Here’s some of the things from the detailed discussion, highlighting changes and developments in Lightspeed Filter’s capabilities:

1. Proven Technology with Continuous Refinements

Lightspeed continues to rely on its robust client-based (agent) approach for filtering across Mac, Windows, Chromebooks, and iPads. While the core technology remains consistent, we’ve made iterative refinements to adapt to the constantly changing internet technologies and updated compliance policies in education. This ensures that schools benefit from a reliable and familiar system that evolves to meet modern challenges.

2. Preparing for the Chrome Extension Manifest V2 to V3 Transition

With Google’s upcoming deprecation of Manifest V2 (June 2025), Lightspeed is proactively updating its Chrome extension to Manifest V3 well in advance of this deadline. While this change is largely behind the scenes, we are committed to supporting schools—especially those with limited technical resources—to ensure a smooth transition. Clear communication and guidance will be provided throughout the process.

3. Expanded Content Categories for Modern Needs

To address emerging technologies and trends, Lightspeed has introduced new content categories, giving schools more precise control over online access:

• Generative AI: A new category for AI-specific tools, such as large language models and generative image platforms, allows schools to manage access to these rapidly evolving technologies.
• Esports: A dedicated category for esports platforms enables schools to tailor policies for educationally relevant activities or block them selectively.
• Safe Search Differentiation: Safe-search-compliant domains are now categorised separately from general search engines, giving administrators clearer control over search services.
• Shared domains: Schools can block access to shared, free domains to host proxies or mature content allowing IT administrators to easily prevent students from using new domains to circumvent filtering measures.

These updates empower schools to adapt their filtering policies to the ever-changing digital landscape.

4. Balanced Real-Time Content Scanning

Lightspeed has piloted on-device real-time scanning for user-generated content, such as chatbot interactions and generative AI responses. While others are focusing on blocking these technologies, instead, we emphasise monitoring and alerts to provide safeguarding insights—such as identifying student crisis indicators—without hindering legitimate educational use cases. This balanced approach ensures that schools can protect students while fostering innovation in learning.

5. Policy Management Overhaul

Lightspeed is transitioning to a policy-first management model, offering greater flexibility for multi-site or multi-academy trust (MAT) deployments. This new approach allows:

• Centrally defined policies to be applied across multiple organisational units (OUs), regardless of directory structure.
• Policies to be exported, shared, and imported across Lightspeed instances, simplifying collaboration between schools.
• Enhanced visibility into top-visited sites within each category, enabling administrators to make informed decisions about what to allow or block.

This overhaul streamlines policy management, making it easier for schools to maintain consistency and efficiency.

6. Enhanced Reporting and Integrations

Lightspeed continues to integrate with external solutions like CPOMS for safeguarding and compliance. By focusing on user-friendly dashboards, we ensure that Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) and other stakeholders can access relevant data without needing advanced technical expertise. Future plans include deeper interoperability with MIS systems and standardised policy file import/export capabilities to help schools share best practices.

Why This Accreditation Matters

The UKSIC Filtering Accreditation is more than just a badge of approval—it’s a testament to Lightspeed’s commitment to safeguarding students while enabling effective digital learning. Schools can trust that our solutions meet the highest standards for filtering harmful content, supporting compliance, and fostering a safe online environment.

Looking Ahead: Lightspeed’s Vision for 2025 and Beyond

At Lightspeed Systems, we are dedicated to continuous improvement and innovation. Our roadmap for the coming year includes:

• Fully rolling out the policy-first management model to simplify deployments for MATs and multi-site schools.
• Refining reporting structures to provide category-specific examples based on each school’s actual usage.
• Expanding “monitoring + alerts” integrations to capture safeguarding concerns while minimising inadvertent overblocking.

Our philosophy remains the same: to balance blocking harmful or high-risk content with giving teachers and students the freedom to use legitimate educational resources.

Partnering with Schools for a Safer Digital Future

We are honoured to be re-accredited by the UK Safer Internet Centre for 2025 and remain committed to supporting schools with trusted, effective filtering solutions. Together, we can create a safer, more secure online environment for students while empowering educators to deliver impactful digital learning experiences. For more information about Lightspeed’s filtering solutions and how we can support your school, visit our blog or contact us today!