" School Website Policy " - Do you have one?

[Olliedawg]

Hi all,

 

 As per the title, do you have a "School Website Policy"? Our BM seems to think we need one, but I've read otherwise?

[NegativeKillDeath]

Theres guidance on what must be published What maintained schools must or should publish online - GOV.UK

 

But a policy at the school level for the website isn't something I've seen. 

[Olliedawg]

18 hours ago, NegativeKillDeath said:

Theres guidance on what must be published What maintained schools must or should publish online - GOV.UK

 

But a policy at the school level for the website isn't something I've seen. 

 

That's what I said too - I know there is guidance on what content you must publish, but not a specific policy relating to the website its self.

[DrBeaker]

On 10/11/2025 at 15:54, Olliedawg said:

Hi all,

 

 As per the title, do you have a "School Website Policy"? Our BM seems to think we need one, but I've read otherwise?

 

 

I'd be mighty tempted to be sarcastic and say yeah

 

"Website policy? - Yep, On the website" 😂

[jmak]

I'm very resistant to having policies which have overlapping remits. You almost always end up with discrepancies or at the very least an unnecessary overhead of ensuring all policies are aligned at all times. And remember that a policy is what you do, not how you do it. 

I think you'd struggle to get much beyond: 

 

"The school will publish and maintain a website that complies with the required standard as set out by law, publishers all statutory information about the school and its activities and meets the requirements set out in other school policies."

 

But since statutory requirements mandate that you must publish certain data on your website, this demanding that you have one, even that short statement is superfluous. Beyond what it's statutory, I wouldn't specify anything about a website in a policy - you might find a way you want to improve it that hasn't been envisaged when the policy was written, or you might be obliged to add a data type or remove something which could be in contravention of the policy. 

 

In short: worse than useless.

 

[NegativeKillDeath]

It might be that the website is referenced in a broader communications/social media policy. 

[mavhc]

Luckily in the age of LLMs the number of people who have ever read a policy can drop from 1 (me, to check for errors) to 0 (LLM, to check for errors)

 

I assume no one else ever read it because it's full of errors

[pete]

OP: Is this a "people are doing daft things on the website and they need reining in" query?  

 

We have an "informal until it becomes very formal and you get told off" style and content policy enforced by headteachers, CEO and I that can be summarised as:

• Do not faff with the site template, branding, logos or menu structure without signoff from the CEO
• The headteacher owns the website otherwise - they have final veto.  Out-of-the-ordinary requests should be run by them before it gets to IT.
• With the exception of image-based logos, text in PDFs must be selectable (works in a screen reader.)
  • Image-based banners should have the same information available in readable text.
• Submitted text should be spellchecked and submitted photos should be at least 1 megabyte in size unless it's a logo.
• Department and Faculty leads are responsible for ensuring their content is accurate.  You will be prompted (repeatedly) and then the ticket will be escalated to the appropriate headteacher until a response is received, even if that reponse is "I've checked and everything's correct"
• Make sure you have photo consent for people in photos.

[Olliedawg]

7 minutes ago, pete said:

OP: Is this a "people are doing daft things on the website and they need reining in" query?  

 

We have an "informal until it becomes very formal and you get told off" style and content policy enforced by headteachers, CEO and I that can be summarised as:

• Do not faff with the site template, branding, logos or menu structure without signoff from the CEO
• The headteacher owns the website otherwise - they have final veto.  Out-of-the-ordinary requests should be run by them before it gets to IT.
• With the exception of image-based logos, text in PDFs must be selectable (works in a screen reader.)
  • Image-based banners should have the same information available in readable text.
• Submitted text should be spellchecked and submitted photos should be at least 1 megabyte in size unless it's a logo.
• Department and Faculty leads are responsible for ensuring their content is accurate.  You will be prompted (repeatedly) and then the ticket will be escalated to the appropriate headteacher until a response is received, even if that reponse is "I've checked and everything's correct"
• Make sure you have photo consent for people in photos.

No not at all - I am the only one who makes changes on the website. I just wondered if anyone else had heard of such a policy.

 

Appreciate the responses