To help you, we have provided a bullet point list of the key requirements as of September 2022. As more changes arise and are brought to our attention we will update this page accordingly. Note, for technical accuracy, some of the content below is taken directly from the GOV.UK website for which we provide a link here. We also outline how we help to show this information on your website.
Introduction (please read!)
We have spoken to a small number of lead OFSTED inspectors about our approach to the delivery of key and statutory information within the website. Note that Ofsted itself does not stipulate what you must publish on your website but they do check that your school complies with the statutory requirements and that the data provided on the site is appropriate to provide a clear reflection of the school.
How you show that information is for you to decide.
What maintained schools must publish online
As of September 5th 2022, the following is a complete list if requirements. New (or recent) additions to these requirements are shown in bold.
- Contact details
- Admission arrangements
- School uniforms (New 09/22)
- Ofsted reports
- Test, exam and assessment results
- Performance measures website
- School opening hours (New 09/22)
- Curriculum
- Remote education (New 12/21)
- Behaviour policy
- Pupil premium and recovery premium
- PE and sport premium for primary schools
- Public sector equality duty
- Special educational needs and disability (SEND) information
- Careers programme information
- Complaints procedure
- Governors’ information and duties
- Financial information
- Charging and remissions policies
- Values and ethos
- Requests for paper copies
Note: Where additional and significant notes are needed, they are shown as a click-through button in the text below to reach the relevant section on the .GOV website.
Contact details
You must provide the name of your school, its postal address and the school's telephone number, together with the name of the member of staff who deals with queries from parents and other members of the community, not forgetting your SENDCo name and contact information (unless you’re a special school).
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR .GOV NOTES
Admission arrangements
Foundation schools and voluntary-aided schools and Community schools and voluntary-controlled schools have different rules on this topic. Use the link below for the full details.
If your school’s governing body determines your admission arrangements, you must publish them on your website by 15 March each year and keep them on your website for the whole school year.
You must explain:
- how you’ll consider applications for each relevant age group at your school
- what parents should do if they want to apply for their child to attend your school
- your arrangements for selecting the pupils who apply (if you are a selective school)
- your ‘over-subscription criteria’ (how you offer places if there are more applicants than places)
- You must also publish a timetable for organising and hearing admission appeals for your school by the 28 February each year.
There are many additional notes for this topic. Please use the link below.
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR .GOV NOTES
Commonly, we provide a web link to the local authority admissions website within the the webpage. Where you need to provide your own admissions arrangements, either separate from the local authority or, as a supplement to the local authority's guidelines, then we also support downloadable documents which describe the admissions policy and process.
School uniforms
The DfE produces statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms which schools must have regard to when developing and implementing their school uniform policy. The guidance requires schools to publish their uniform policy on their website.
The published uniform policy should be easy to understand and, where a school has a school uniform, should:
- clearly state whether an item is optional or mandatory
- make clear if the item will only be worn at certain times of the year (for example, if it’s summer or winter uniform)
- make clear whether a generic item will be accepted or if a branded item is required
- make clear whether an item can only be purchased from a specific retailer or if it can be purchased more widely, including from second-hand retailers
OFSTED Reports
You must publish either a copy of your school’s most recent Ofsted report or a link to the report on the Ofsted website.
- Although it is not stated as a mandatory requirement, it is seen as helpful information to provide web links to the OFSTED Parent View and the Government School Comparison websites for your school
Tapiochre usually provide web links to all of the key OFSTED sites
Test, exam and assessment results
Key stage 4 and 16 to 18 performance measures will be published by the Secretary of State for the 2021 to 2022 academic year.
For key stage 4 and 16 to 18 results, you will need to update your website to include the latest measures, which once published, will be based on tests, exams and assessments from the 2021 to 2022 academic year.
You do not need to publish your key stage 2 results for the academic year 2021 to 2022 on your website, as the Secretary of State will not publish this data. This is because statutory assessments returned for the first time since 2019, without adaptations, after disruption caused by the pandemic.
There are many additional notes for this topic. Please use the link below.
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR .GOV NOTES
Performance Tables
You must include a link to the school and college performance measures website and your school’s performance measures page.
School opening hours
Schools should publish on their website their opening and closing times and the total time this amounts to in a typical week (for example 32.5 hours).
Schools should show the compulsory times they are open. This time runs from the official start of the school day (morning registration) to the official end of the compulsory school day. It includes breaks, but not optional before or after school activities.
The Curriculum
You must publish the following information about your school’s curriculum:
- the content of your school curriculum in each academic year for every subject - this includes mandatory subjects such as religious education, even if it is taught as part of another subject or subjects, or is called something else
- the names of any phonics or reading schemes you’re using in key stage 1
- a list of the courses available to pupils at key stage 4, including GCSEs
- how parents or other members of the public can find out more about the curriculum your school is following
You must also set out how over time you will increase the extent to which disabled pupils participate in the school’s curriculum, as part of your school’s accessibility plan. There are more details in the special educational needs and disabilities section.
An appropriate method for displaying this information is to use downloadable documents. For example, if you use curriculum map files, with one file being used for each year group, then these maps can be shown as downloadable documents. This is becoming a common approach and allows visitors to understand clearly a holistic approach to support for the curriculum.
Information which is related to reading and phonic schemes within key stage one is often found within the body of the page as clear text.
Remote education
You should consider publishing information about your school’s remote education provision on your website. An optional template is available to support schools with this requirement.
Behaviour policy
You must publish details of your school’s behaviour policy.
The policy must comply with Section 89 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.
Read guidance on developing and publishing your school’s behaviour policy.
Pupil premium and recovery premium
All schools that receive pupil premium funding must publish a pupil premium strategy statement each year by 31 December.
In the strategy statement, you must explain how your pupil premium and recovery premium is being spent and the outcomes that are being achieved for pupils. It’s important that parents and governors understand this, and you should write it with them in mind.
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR .GOV NOTES
PE and Sport Premium for Primary Schools
If your school receives PE (physical education) and sport premium funding, you must publish:
- the amount of premium received
- a full breakdown of how it has been spent
- the impact the school has seen on pupils’ PE, physical activity, and sport participation and attainment
- how the improvements will be sustainable in the future
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR .GOV NOTES
Public sector equality duty
The Equality Act 2010: advice for schools outlines how your school can demonstrate compliance with the public sector equality duty – for example, including details of how your school is:
- eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited under the Equality Act 2010
- advancing equality of opportunity – between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not
- fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
- consulting and involving those affected by inequality, in the decisions your school takes to promote equality and eliminate discrimination - ffected people could include parents, pupils, staff and members of the local community
As public bodies, local authority-maintained schools must comply with the public sector equality duty in the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. This means you must publish:
- details of how your school complies with the public sector equality duty - you must update this every year
- your school’s equality objectives - you must update this at least once every 4 years
Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) information
You must publish an information report on your website about the implementation of your school’s policy for pupils with SEN. You should update the report at least annually.
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR .GOV NOTES
Careers programme information
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.
FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR .GOV NOTES
Complaints procedure
You must publish details of your school’s complaints procedure, which must comply with section 29 of the Education Act 2002.
Read guidance on developing your school’s complaints procedure.
You must also publish (as part of your SEN information report) any arrangements for handling complaints from parents of children with SEN about the support the school provides.
Governors' Information and Duties
You must publish information on the governing body in line with statutory guidance on the constitution of governing bodies of maintained schools. This should include:
- details of the structure and responsibilities of the governing body and its committees
- the full names of the chair of the governing body and chair of each committee
- 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)
- relevant business and financial 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)
- attendance record at governing body and committee meetings over the last academic year
You should also publish the same information for associate members making it clear whether they have voting rights on any of the committees to which they have been appointed.
The detail and extent of information required in this section has increased significantly since it was initially mandated. In addition, it has become necessary to show the information in plain text on the page rather than as a downloadable series of information files about the governing body, its functions and associated data. This has resulted in Tapiochre taking the approach to dedicate a page to the governing body. The information needed is tabulated so that all aspects of the governing body is provided to clearly in one place. A link to the governing body page is provided within this section to allow the visitor to quickly reach that information.
Financial information
You must publish:
- how many school employees (if any) have a gross annual salary of £100,000 or more in increments of £10,000 - we recommend using a table to display this
- a link to the webpage which is dedicated to your school on the schools financial benchmarking service - follow the prompts to find your school’s specific page
Charging and Remissions policy
You must publish your school’s charging and remissions policies (this means when you cancel fees). The policies must include details of:
- the activities or cases where your school will charge pupils’ parents
- the circumstances where your school will make an exception on a payment you would normally expect to receive under your charging policy
Read about school charging and remission.
Values and Ethos
Your website should include a statement of your school’s ethos and values.
Tapiochre normally extract the statements required from the school prospectus and include them in the body of the page here in plain text.
Requests for Paper Copies
You must include a statement to advise visitors that any information described on the page can be available as hardcopy, at no charge, upon request from the school.