UPDATE – This page is a few years old now so please visit our website for the latest Free Ofsted & statutory school website content checklist.

 

There are new statutory requirements which will affect the school website content of maintained schools from 1st September 2016.

These requirements have been introduced via the The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 – basically amendments to The School Information Regulations 2012.

(If you’re an academy, free school or college you now have guidance too! See our blog post on the recommendations from the DfE.)

There are 3 main areas of change:

Pupil Premium

A pupil premium strategy must now be published rather than a statement as required previously. The pupil premium amount must be stated along with various statements such as the main barriers faced, how you will address them and the reasons for that approach. You must also state the next review date of your strategy.

Key stage 2, 4 & 5 results

As a result of the way performance measures are changing, the information you must publish on your website is also changing and there’s a new list of prescribed measures to be published.

For KS5, there is a new requirement to publish results from March 2017.

Complaints procedure

There is a new requirement to publish the school’s complaints procedure on your school website. It must comply with Section 29 of the Education Act 2002.

Our Free Ofsted and Statutory checklist includes all the new requirements in detail.

 

Ofsted Inspection Handbook

Ofsted updated their School Inspection Handbook in August 2016. We’ve been through it and there’s a small change which relates to school website content.

Text in the section “Inspectors’ planning and preparation” (paragraph 29) has been updated from:

29. The lead inspector will prepare for the inspection by gaining an overview of the school’s recent performance and any changes since the last inspection. The lead inspector will use all available evidence to develop an initial picture of the school’s performance. The planning will be informed by analysis of:
….

information on the school’s website, including its statement on…

to

information on the school’s website (taking into account current government requirements for maintained schools and academy funding agreements and non-statutory guidance) including its statement on…

This statement “taking into account current government requirements” was previously included slightly ambiguously further down the paragraph. However, by moving it’s position it is now crystal clear that Inspectors will be reviewing school website statutory requirements compliance as well as ‘non-statutory guidance‘ for academies and free schools.

 

Finally

Of course, you’ll still need to ensure you’re on top of the existing statutory requirements which stem from:

The School Information Regulations 2016
Special Educational Needs Regulations 2014
The Constitution of Governing Bodies of Maintained Schools 2015

Again, you might find our Free Ofsted and Statutory checklist handy as it pulls them all together into one place.