For Academies, 16-19 Academies, Free Schools, Maintained Schools & FE Colleges
Ensure your website is Ofsted Compliant
Website Checklist
For Academies, 16-19 Academies, Free Schools, Maintained Schools & FE Colleges must publish specific information on its website to comply with The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations.
We’re all aware that Ofsted inspectors spend time before or during an inspection reviewing content on your school website. But with little notice of an impending visit, keeping your site up-to-date could save time and hassle during that all important Ofsted visit countdown!
In this guide you will find:
Essentials: A checklist of statutory information which is required to be present on your website
Desirables: A checklist of recommended content for your website
Perfection: Tips to enhance your school website
Update Summary 2023 -2024
24 October 2024
There have been updates to the following sections;
• Test, exam and assessment results
• Pupil Premium
• PE and sport premium
• Complaints policy
There has also been additional detail added to the ‘governance information' section
15 May 2024
The guidance was reformatted to improve usability. Updates were made to the following sections;
• Curriculum (included information on publishing a music development plan)
• Test, exam and assessment results
• A new section was added detailing ‘Pay gap reporting’
25 April 2023
Updates have been made to the ‘collecting and publishing governing board diversity data’ to clarify that information should be widely accessible to members of the school community and the public.
17 April 2023
A section on collecting and publishing governing board diversity data has been added.
Essentials
Every Academy, 16-19 Academy, Free School, Maintained School and FE College must publish on the website.
Accessibility Plan for Disabled Students Suggested Location
Schools must comply with the requirements under paragraph 3 of Schedule 10 in the Equality Act 2010 and publish (reviewed every three years) how the school is:
Increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school’s curriculum
Improving the physical environment for the purpose of increasing the extent to which disabled pupils are able to take advantage of education and benefits, facilities or services provided or offered by the school
Improving the delivery to disabled pupils of information which is readily accessible to pupils who are not disabled
Admissions Arrangements
Academies, Trusts and Maintained Schools must publish a summary of the admissions process for the whole of the offer year (reviewed annually) including:
Admissions procedure
Information about in-year admissions
Appeals procedure
Academy Schools admissions arrangements are required to comply with the school admissions code and school admissions appeal code (N/A for sixth form colleges)
FE colleges and 16-19 academies should publish their admissions arrangements including details of:
Open days
The applications process
Priority applications
Policies / SEND
Suggested Location
Admissions
Annual Reports, Accounts and Financials Suggested Location
Publish the following financial information:
Annual report (by 31 January each year)
Annual audited accounts (by 31 January each year)
Memorandum of association
Articles of association
Names of charity trustees and members
Funding agreement
Information on the number of school employees with a gross annual salary of £100,000 or more in increments of £10,000
A link to the School’s website page on the Schools Financial Benchmarking website (https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/)
Sixth form colleges should publish information on the following:
Their instruments and articles of government
Their annual members’ report and audited financial statement every year (and retain this for 2 years)
Gender pay gap reporting:
Academy trusts, academies and FE colleges with 250 or more employees must in line with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017:
Report their gender pay gap information to the government via the gender pay gap service
Report gender pay gap information prominently within one year of ‘snapshot date'
Policy for behaviour including anti-bullying strategy (recommended to be reviewed annually)
Careers Programme Information for Secondary Schools
Publish information about the school’s careers guidance to year 7 to 13 pupils including:
Contact details including the name, email address and telephone number of the school’s Careers Leader
Summary of the school’s careers programme, including details of how pupils, parents, teachers and employers may access information about the careers programme
How the school measures and assesses the impact of the careers programme on pupils
The date of the school’s next review of the information published
Circumstances in which providers of technical education and apprenticeships will be given access to year 8 to 13 pupils
Secondary academies, 16-19 and FE colleges must publish a policy statement known as the ‘Provider Access Legislation’
/ Behaviour
Careers
Charging and Remissions Policies Suggested Location
Publish the school’s charging and remissions policies (recommended to be reviewed annually) including:
The activities or cases where the school will charge pupils’ parents
The circumstances where the school will make an exception on a payment, which is normally expected to receive under the school’s charging policy
Complaint’s Procedure
Schools must publish their complaints policy in compliance with section 29 of the Education Act 2002.
Schools must also publish the details of any arrangements for handling complaints from parents and carers about the support they provide for pupils with special educational needs (SEN). They must do this as part of their SEN information report.
Academy Trusts and FE colleges must publish details of their whistleblowing procedures Policies / Complaints Policy
Contact Details
School/College name
Postal address
Telephone number
Name of the member of staff who deals with queries from parents and other members of the public
Homepage / Contact
Who to contact to request a paper copy of the information on the website (this must be supplied free of charge) Contact
Name of Headteacher / Principal Welcome / Contact
Name and address of the chair of the governing body (if applicable) Governing Body / Contact
Name and contact details of the SENCo (N/A for sixth form colleges and special schools) Staff List / SEN
The contact details of their academy trust and a link to it’s website, if applicable
Academies are required to publish details about the academy sponsor:
If the school’s owner is an individual, publish their full name and contact details (address and a telephone number)
If the school’s owner is a group or organisation, publish the address and telephone number of its office
Contact
Sponsor
Curriculum Suggested Location
The content of the school’s curriculum in each academic year for every subject including mandatory subjects
How parents or other members of the public can find out more about the curriculum the school is following
The names of phonics or reading schemes the school is using (Key Stage 1)
A list of the courses available to pupils including GCSEs (Key Stage 4)
How the school meets the 16-19 study programme requirements (Key Stage 5)
Academies must publish their policy on relationships education or relationships and sex education
Information to make parents and carers aware they have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of RE
Alongside the content of their music curriculum, all academies are expected to publish information about their music development plan
Academies must prepare an accessibility plan that sets out how, over time, they will increase the extent to which disabled pupils participate in the curriculum.
Curriculum
Equality Objectives
Public sector equality duty
Academies and FE colleges must publish:
Information of how the school complies with the public sector equality duty - updated annually
The school’s equality objectives - updated at least every 4 years
How the school is eliminating discrimination (Equality Act 2010)
FE Colleges must publish:
An annual equality, diversity and inclusion review, including data on protected characteristics at these levels:
Board
Executive Leadership
Staff
Student
And the actions taken to address disparities
Policies / Equalities and Additional Intervention
Ethos and Aims Statement
Suggested Location
Statement of the school’s ethos and values Ethos and Vales
FE Intervention
FE colleges in intervention must publish:
The FE commissioner’s summary intervention report on their website, within 14 days of the report being issued and keep this on the website until the notice to improve is lifted
Exam and Assessment Results
Display the most recent performance measures as published by the Secretary of State (2018 to 2019 performance measures until new performance measures are published). Schools are not required to publish exam and assessment results from 2019 to 2020 academic year.
Key Stage 2 Results
Display information from the primary performance tables and headline measures including:
Progress scores in reading, writing and maths
Percentage of pupils who achieved at least the expected standard in reading, writing and maths
Percentage of pupils who achieved at a higher standard in reading, writing and maths
Average ‘scaled scores’ in reading and maths
Key Stage 4 Results
Display information from the secondary performance tables and headline measures including:
Progress 8 score
Attainment in English and Maths - percentage of pupils achieving a grade 5 or above in GCSE English and maths
Attainment 8 score
Percentage of pupils that enter the English Baccalaureate (EBacc
Average point score for the English Baccalaureate (EBacc)
Percentage of pupils staying in education or going into employment after key stage 4 (pupil destinations).
Key Stage 5 Results (16-18)
Display information from the 16-18 performance tables and headline measures including:
Attainment measures
Progress measures
Progress students have made in English and Maths
The average grade students get at 16 to 19 study
Retention Measures
Destination Measures
Suggested Location
Intervention
Suggested Location
Exams & Key Stage Results
Exams & Key Stage Results
Exams & Key Stage Results
Governors’ / Trustees’ Information and Duties
Publish the Governors’ Handbook or the following information:
Schools should publish information about the structure and remit of the governing body and any committees, including the full names of their chairs.
Schools should publish, about each governor who has served at any time over the past 12 months:
Their full names
The date they were appointed
Their term of office
The date they stepped down, where this applies
Who appointed them, in accordance with the governing body’s instrument of governance
Their attendance record at governing body and committee meetings over the last academic year
Schools should publish governors’ relevant business, financial and pecuniary interests, including:
Governance roles in other educational institutions
Any material interests arising from relationships between governors or relationships between governors and school staff, including spouses, partners and close relatives
Schools should also publish this information for associate members, and whether they have voting rights on any committee they have been appointed to. DfE also encourages schools to publish easily accessible data about the diversity of:
Their board
Any associated committees
Board or committee members can opt out of sharing their information, such as protected characteristics, including after the data has been published. Schools must ensure that individuals cannot be identified, which may be a particular issue when board or committee member levels are low.
FE colleges and 16-19 Academies must publish:
Their submitted annual accountability statement (part 2) within 3 months of the start of the academic year –that is, by 1 December
Regular reviews of how well the education or training provided by the college meets local needs, in particular, those related to employment
A statement in their annual report on the development of governors and governance professionals
A summary of the outcomes of their external governance review and the associated action plan (at least every 3 years, with updates following the annual governance self-assessment)
Information on governor recruitment (selection of procedures and the work of any search committee)
Instrument and articles of government
Ofsted Reports
Copy of the school’s current Ofsted report or a link to the report as published on: https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/
Suggested Location
Governing Body
Suggested Location
Ofsted Information
PE and Sport Premium for Primary Schools Suggested Location
Schools that receive PE and sport premium funding must publish, by 31 July each year:
The amount of premium received
A full breakdown of how it has been or will be spent
The impact seen by the school on pupils’ participation and attainment in PE and sport
How this improvement will be sustained
By 31 July each year, schools are required to publish the percentage of pupils in their year 6 cohort who have met the national curriculum requirement to:
Swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
Use a range of strokes effectively – for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke
Perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations
Performance Tables
Link to the school’s DfE Performance tables as published on: https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables
Pupil Premium
Schools that receive pupil premium funding must publish a strategy statement on their school website by 31 December each year. It must explain:
How the academy is spending the pupil premium funding
The education outcomes which disadvantaged pupils are achieving
Schools must publish the statement in the DfE template provided on the pupil premium guidance page. DfE recommends that schools plan their pupil premium spending over 3 years. If they do so, they must still update their statement annually to reflect:
Their spending activity for the current academic year
The impact of pupil premium in the previous academic year
Remote Education
Publish information about the school’s remote education provision. An optional template is available on providing remote education information to parents on https://www.gov.uk/
Request for Paper Copies
If a parent requests a paper copy of the information on the school’s website, this must be provided free of charge
School Opening Hours
School opening and closing times, with the total amount of hours required per week (including breaks but not after school activities)
School Uniform
Publish your school uniform policy (this can be in the form of a download or a text page on your website) and ensure the following is included:
Any differences between required and optional items of uniform
If a piece of uniform has to be branded (for example, a jumper with your school logo) or if a generic item can be worn
Whether a piece of uniform should be worn in specific weather conditions (for example, summer and winter clothing)
If any uniform that can only be purchased via a single retailer (ensure to provide the contact details for said supplier)
Where secondhand uniform can be purchased
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
Publish the school’s annual policy for pupils with SEND (reviewed annually).
The policy must be updated to reflect any changes made throughout the year. The Policy must comply with:
• Section 69 of the Children and Families Act 2014
• Schedule 1 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014
• Section 6.79 to 6.82 of the SEN and Disability code of practice 0 to 25 years
The Policy must contain the following information:
The arrangements for the admission of disabled pupils
The steps the school has taken to prevent disabled pupils from being treated less favourably than other pupils
The facilities the school provides to help disabled pupils to access the school
Suggested Location
Parents / About Us
Suggested Location
Key Information / Parents
Suggested Location
Policies / SEND
Desirable content for your website
At Cleverbox we suggest the following content to enhance your school website.
Desirable content checklist
Data protection
Protection of biometric information of children in schools and colleges
Register of pupils’ admission to school and attendance
School Information published on a website
Capability of staff
Early career teachers (ECTs)
Staff discipline, conduct and grievance (procedures for addressing)
Single central record of recruitment and vetting checks
Suggested Location
Statement of procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse against staff Policies
Child protection policy and procedures
Children with health needs who cannot attend school
Designated teacher for looked-after and previously looked-after children
Early years foundation stage (EYFS)
Supporting pupils with medical conditions
School exclusion
Health and safety
A supporting narrative to explain the gender pay gap with an action plan that sets out how to address it
First aid in schools
Premises management documents
General Suggested Location
British values
Facilities hire
Staff list Information
Safeguarding and child protection Policies
School prospectus Admissions
Staff vacancies Vacancies
Governors Suggested Location
Dates for meetings
Attendance records Governors
Students
Year 6 transition information
Code of conduct
Links to educational sites
Links to emotional support sites
After-school clubs / extra curricular activities
Exam information
Parents
Attendance and punctuality
Assessment and reporting
Safeguarding and online safety
Pupil exclusion information
Letters home (downloadable)
Uniform list and suppliers (downloadable order form)
Lunch menu (menu, cost, free school meals)
Information about the PTA / Parents Forum
Parents feedback page
News and Dates
News articles
Suggested Location
Students
Suggested Location
Parents
Suggested Location
Newsletters News
Calendar events Calendar
Term dates Calendar / Parents
Sixth Form Sixth Form
Alumni
Dress code
How to apply Calendar
Perfection
Top tips to make sure you have a great school website:
Top Tips
Remove out of date information/external links and hide ‘under construction’ pages
Keep main navigation sections to a minimum using clear titles
Avoid long drop down menus, instead, keep information in subsections
Keep all news up to date - we suggest weekly posts
Avoid making viewers download a document for a small piece of information, copy it into the web page
Offer downloadable versions of information where possible
Keep the font, text sizes and heading styles provided consistent throughout the website
Avoid typing in CAPITALS
Avoid underlining text, as it may be confused with a hyper-link
Use high resolution photography