School Statutory Website Requirements

[Gongalong]

Hi folks,

 

I can't find a good fit on any of the technical forums, so am posting here. Hope that's OK!

 

Does anyone know if the government requirements for what is needed on a school website (specifically maintained for us) have changed recently? I remember the gov.uk website having a nice clear list of policies, but what seems to be the current guidance (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-maintained-schools-must-publish-online) has changed. (In all fairness, it does say updated April 2023.) There's no longer a clear list of policies, and there are a lot less policies listed than previously e.g. no requriement for a child protection policy, which seems odd.

 

(How would schools be advised that the requirements have changed?)

 

Thanks

[ITGuyNW]

The last changes I knew about were having to display the times of the day and uniform policy (including where to get pre-owned uniform)

[dmj]

(How would schools be advised that the requirements have changed?)

Usually the HT will get notified, but they probably have important things to do. Instead, there's a button on that page to "Get emails about this page" and it will let you know if there are statutory changes.

[Gongalong]

The last changes I knew about were having to display the times of the day and uniform policy (including where to get pre-owned uniform)

There seem to have been lots of policy requirements removed, plus some additional report requirements.

Usually the HT will get notified, but they probably have important things to do. Instead, there's a button on that page to "Get emails about this page" and it will let you know if there are statutory changes.

Thanks, very useful! I've signed up to that. (Here's hoping they don't move the page...)

[Face-Man]

The LGFL have a free RAG audit for school websites https://lgfl.net/safeguarding/school-website-rag-audit-tool there are different requirements depending on what type of school you are

[Gongalong]

I've figured out why I was confused. I've found the page I was thinking of, which relates to *policies* that schools must have: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-policies-for-schools-and-academy-trusts/statutory-policies-for-schools-and-academy-trusts

 

So, although schools must have certain policies, they don't have to publish all those policies.

 

What do folks here do, do you only publish what is required, or do you publish all statutory policies on your website?

[andy_b]

Quite like this guide too : https://www.schudio.com/school-website-requirements/ , can be a bit spamy with emails.

 

Used to use thekey's checklist, but not so much now.

 

We try to keep policies to a minimum, but it isn't always easy to determine which to publish -especially when policies refer to each other.

[dmj]

The LGFL have a free RAG audit for school websites https://lgfl.net/safeguarding/school-website-rag-audit-tool there are different requirements depending on what type of school you are

 

I immediately thought how forward thinking of them to use an AI with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to do this, but no - RAG = Red, Amber, Green in this context

[Brax]

I've figured out why I was confused. I've found the page I was thinking of, which relates to *policies* that schools must have: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statutory-policies-for-schools-and-academy-trusts/statutory-policies-for-schools-and-academy-trusts

 

So, although schools must have certain policies, they don't have to publish all those policies.

 

What do folks here do, do you only publish what is required, or do you publish all statutory policies on your website?

We do add a few extra policies that would regularly get looked at by parents like the schools mobile phone policy for example.