The Department for Education (DfE) is responsible for children’s services and education across England, supporting millions of learners through schools, further and higher education, apprenticeships and skills development.
Alongside its wider education responsibilities, the Department also plays a critical role in safeguarding children and young people from harm, including helping education settings build resilience to radicalisation and extremist influence.
With safeguarding pressures continuing to grow across the education sector, the Department for Education identified the need to strengthen support for schools and colleges navigating complex challenges across extremism and radicalisation.
Prevent data continued to highlight the scale of the issue within education settings, while Department-led research identified a clear need for stronger resilience-building approached through open classroom dialogue, improved teacher confidence, and whole-school safeguarding strategies.
Drivers for Change:
Increase Prevent referrals across education settings
Growing safeguarding pressures impacting schools and colleges
Low confidence among teachers in facilitating sensitive discussions
The need for stronger whole-school resilience approaches
A requirement for compliant procurement delivered efficiently and at pace
To support the delivery of this safeguarding initiative, Bloom provided a fully managed procurement solution through the NEPRO Three framework, enabling the Department to access specialist expertise quickly and compliantly.
Working collaboratively with the Department for Education, Bloom supported the development of a procurement specification focused on delivering targeted training resources for schools and colleges.
The programme aimed to strengthen teacher confidence in facilitating challenging discussions, while supporting leadership teams in developing effective whole-school approaches to resilience and safeguarding.
The programme aimed to strengthen teacher confidence in facilitating challenging discussions, while supporting leadership teams in developing effective whole-school approaches to resilience and safeguarding.
Key elements of the solution included:
Development of compliant procurement specifications
Early suppler engagement and market testing
Delivery of mini competition through NEPRO Three
Evaluation & award support throughout the procurement lifecycle
A fully managed procurement process delivered at pace
The mini competition was issued to six suppliers, with CONNECTFUTURES C.I.C. successfully appointed to deliver the project.
From initial engagement on 26 June 2025, the tender was released on 21 July, with contract award complet
Through NEPRO Three, the Department for Education was able to access the specialist capability needed to support schools and colleges in responding to complex safeguarding challenges around extremism and radicalisation.
The framework enabled the Department to:
Appoint a suitably qualified specialist supplier through a compliant and proportionate route to market
Deliver the procurement within a condensed timeframe, helping the programme progress at pace
Secure expertise in extremism resilience, safeguarding education and teacher development
Develop practical training resources designed to build teacher confidence and support constructive classroom dialogue
Strengthen whole-school approaches to safeguarding, resilience and culture development
Bloom supported the Department throughout the process, providing end-to-end procurement and contract management support. This included supplier engagement, mini-competition management, evaluation support, contract award and ongoing contract management, helping ensure the project remained compliant, well managed and focused on the intended safeguarding outcomes.
The project ultimately supported the Department’s wider objective of helping education settings create safer, more resilient learning environments, while equipping teachers and leaders with the tools and confidence needed to support young people effectively.
Read the full case study