School website requirements in England: a working checklist

Establish which rules apply

This guide concerns schools in England. It is not a checklist for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Even within England, a maintained primary school and an academy trust do not have identical publication requirements. School phase, provision and funding can also affect the information that applies.

The Department for Education publishes separate guidance for maintained schools and for academies and further education colleges. Both distinguish information that must be published from information the department recommends should be published. For maintained schools, the guidance draws on school information regulations and other legislation; for academies, funding arrangements also matter. Read the current source for the actual school rather than treating a neighbouring school's menu as the standard.

Make an applicability register

Begin with a register, not a tick beside a menu heading. Suggested fields are requirement, authority, school applicability, publication address, content owner, approval date, review trigger and evidence. A result of "not applicable" should include a brief explanation and an approver.

For example, the existence of a page called "Funding" does not show that the current required report is available or that it contains the right information. Record the specific item and open the actual page or file. A link that reaches last year's report is a maintenance issue, even when the navigation appears correct.

Review the main information areas

The following table is an organising aid. It is deliberately not a complete legal specification: verify each row against the current guidance and your circumstances.

Area to inspect	Questions for the content owner
School identity and contacts	Are the responsible contacts and school details accurate?
Admissions	Does the information reflect the correct admission authority and year?
Curriculum	Can families understand the provision and find relevant policies?
SEND and accessibility	Is the applicable information current and easy to locate?
Behaviour and complaints	Are the approved procedures clearly identified?
Funding and outcomes	Are applicable reports and measures for the relevant period published?
Governance	Does the school or trust publish the appropriate current information?
Equality and other policies	Are the applicable statements, objectives and review arrangements covered?

The point of this grouping is to prevent material from being missed during an audit. It does not imply that every document in every category is mandatory for every school.

Distinguish publication from approval

A website editor needs clear authority to publish, but content approval usually belongs to the person responsible for the subject. Give policy owners a specific request: verify the current approved version, state its review position and identify any public information that must accompany it.

Keep draft and public files separate. Use a consistent title and display the relevant policy or reporting period. Do not silently rename a previous version with the current year. When replacing a document, preserve useful links or provide an accurate redirect so families do not keep opening obsolete material.

Make the information usable

A downloadable document may be appropriate for a formally approved policy, but key practical information can also be explained in accessible HTML. Families should not have to read an entire policy to find the absence contact or the complaints starting point. Keep the summary accurate and make clear that the full policy contains the detail.

Check documents on a phone and with keyboard navigation. Scanned pages without usable text are difficult to search and read with assistive technology. The accessibility guide explains how to combine technical checks with real tasks.

Add scheduled and event-driven reviews

A termly website check is a useful organisational routine, but some changes cannot wait until the next scheduled audit. A new headteacher, a revised policy, a changed admissions arrangement or a new published report should trigger a content update.

Record deadlines from the current authoritative requirement in the register. Avoid embedding remembered dates into a permanent checklist without rechecking them. Give each approaching deadline an owner and a backup so staff absence does not leave it unattended.

Record evidence honestly

Use statuses such as verified, needs correction, awaiting approval and not applicable. A tick should mean that someone has opened the public item and checked its contents against the relevant requirement. Record the date and reviewer role; there is no need to publish an internal reviewer's personal details.

Take the unresolved list to the appropriate leadership or governance meeting. Prioritise missing or misleading essential information, assign fixes and recheck them after publication. Keep the working register alongside the content audit, so compliance checks and routine editorial maintenance support the same reliable website.