In May 2018, the DfE published updated their school website requirements and the information which all schools MUST publish on their school website.

In addition, the Ofsted Inspection Handbook was updated in September 2018. There a few additions relating to the school website and we cover these later.

It’s important you review all the changes to ensure your school website remains compliant.  To help, we’ve prepared a summary of the key changes for you below, separating them into clarifications of existing information or new information. They can be read in conjunction with our free ofsted checklist for schools which has been updated to include the new requirements.

School website Requirements:
Key Stage 4 Information

Clarification – pupil destinations are now a “suggestion”

We suggest that schools also publish the percentage of students staying in education or going into employment after key stage 4 (pupil destinations).

Performance tables

New highlighted:

You must include a link to the school and college performance tables and your school’s performance tables page.

Curriculum

New/Clarification – including Religious education

the content of your school curriculum in each academic year for every subject, including Religious Education even if it is taught as part of another subject or subjects, or is called something else

PE and sport premium for primary schools

New:

how many pupils within their year 6 cohort can do each of the following:

• swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
• use a range of strokes effectively
• perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations

Special educational needs (SEN) and disability information

New highlighted:

the accessibility plan you have prepared in compliance with paragraph 3 of schedule 10 to the Equality Act 2010 for:

• increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school’s curriculum
• improving the physical environment of the school for the purpose of increasing the extent to which disabled pupils are able to take advantage of education and benefits, facilities and 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

Careers programme information

New:

From September 2018, you must publish information about the school’s careers programme. This information must relate to the delivery of careers guidance to year 8 to 13 pupils in accordance with Section 42A of the Education Act 1997. For the current academic year, you must include:

• the name, email address and telephone number of the school’s Careers Leader
• a summary of the 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

Read the statutory guidance for schools on careers guidance and access for education and training providers for more information. The statutory guidance also contains further information about a policy statement that you must publish to comply with Section 42B of the Education Act 1997, setting out the circumstances in which providers of technical education and apprenticeships will be given access to year 8 to 13 pupils.

Governors’ information and duties

New/Clarification:

information about each governor, including their:

• full name, date of appointment, term of office, date they stepped down (where applicable) and who appointed them (in accordance with the governing body’s instrument of government)
• any material interests arising from relationships between governors or relationships between governors and school staff (including spouses, partners and close relatives)
• attendance record at governing body and committee meetings over the last academic year

 

Ofsted Inspection Handbook

Several items have been added to the latest (September 2018) Ofsted Inspection Handbook with regard to evidence Inspectors should review as part of their planning and preparation:

• pupil premium strategy (including rationale and evaluation)
• Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium
• PE and sport premium (primary schools)

 

 

Finally

You can also read the newly updated list of school website requirements on the DfE website, though it doesn’t highlight the changes since the last update as we’ve listed them here.

You can also review our blog post about the changes to statutory school website requirements which were made for 2017/18 in our blog post written at the time.

 

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