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On 15 October 2024, the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) widened access to its free Protective Domain Name Service for Schools (PDNS for Schools), including academies, multi-academy trusts and independent schools. Eligible organisations should ask their DNS provider to register through MyNCSC; whether a school can use the service depends on how its DNS is provided.
What PDNS for Schools does
DNS is the system devices use to look up domain names when they connect to websites. PDNS checks those requests against threat intelligence and blocks requests for domains identified as malicious. That can help prevent access to domains associated with threats such as malware, ransomware, phishing and spyware. The NCSC developed the service in partnership with Cloudflare and Accenture.
The Department for Education (DfE) says the school service integrates with existing school networks and requires no additional hardware. It is a DNS-based protective layer, not a complete cyber security service: it does not replace endpoint, network or email protections.
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Who can use the expanded offer
The expanded offer covers more than individual schools signing up on their own. Eligibility depends on the organisation and the DNS service that reaches its schools. The NCSC’s guidance includes:
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- Local authorities and specified devolved-administration public-sector networks that provide DNS to schools.
- English local authorities providing DNS to maintained schools.
- School internet service providers in England with wide reach.
- Multi-academy trusts, academies and independent schools not served through the listed providers, if they can implement PDNS.
The NCSC’s 15 October 2024 announcement described the offer as being made available across the UK. Its detailed eligibility routes distinguish between providers and schools, so an organisation should confirm its own route rather than assume every school must register independently. NCSC eligibility guidance
How to find the right registration route
- Identify who provides your DNS. Ask the person or team managing the school’s IT or internet connection if you do not know. The provider may be a local authority, trust, public-sector network or school ISP.
- Ask that provider to check eligibility and register. The NCSC directs eligible organisations to have their DNS provider register through MyNCSC.
- Confirm which schools and sites are covered. Establish whether the provider’s DNS service reaches every intended school network and site, and agree who will coordinate registration and operational questions.
- If the school is not served by an eligible provider, check whether it can implement PDNS directly. The NCSC’s guidance includes trusts, academies and independent schools outside the listed provider routes where implementation is possible.
This is not necessarily a school-level purchase or hardware installation. The DfE describes PDNS as integrating with existing networks without additional hardware. DfE Cyber Security Hub: Protective domain name service
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PDNS complements safeguarding filters
The NCSC says PDNS complements, rather than replaces, existing safeguarding filtering. Its job is to block DNS requests to domains known to be malicious; schools still need their safeguarding arrangements and other security controls. Blocking known malicious domains can reduce exposure, but it does not guarantee that a school will avoid cyber attacks.
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The NCSC’s 15 October 2024 announcement said that more than a third of schools and colleges in England had experienced a cyber incident during the previous academic year, attributing the figure to recently published Ofqual statistics. The announcement did not specify the underlying population, period or method, so the figure should be understood as the NCSC’s dated account, not a measure of incidents in the current academic year. NCSC announcement, 15 October 2024
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The NCSC Annual Review 2025 reported that more than 13,000 schools were already protected after rollout in England and Scotland. It also recorded an intention to extend the service to Wales and Northern Ireland by the end of 2025; that intention alone does not establish whether or when the extension was completed. NCSC Annual Review 2025
The same review reproduced a Medway Council implementation example: 24 million allowed DNS queries and 19,000 blocked queries before the reported implementation event, compared with 66 million allowed and 10 million blocked queries afterward. Those are council-specific figures, not a national result or a controlled estimate of PDNS’s effect. For further school cyber security resources for governing boards, staff and IT teams, see the NCSC Cyber Security for Schools guidance.
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