When dealing with assessment, behaviour, attendance, teacher workload and the rest of daily school life, it can be easy to leave website updates for… tomorrow. However, all it takes is one visit from the Big O for that out-of-date website to become a major issue. But how can you find out exactly what’s expected for your school’s online presence, and how do you go about making this a reality? Thankfully, the team at Schudio - led by the dynamic duo of Nicole and Ian Richardson - have released a one-stop-shop resource to walk you through the process.

For the academic year ahead, you’ll want to have Your School Website Requirements Guide saved to your browser’s favourites. This resource is completely free-of-charge and requires no signup. It’s incredibly in-depth, answering any questions you may have (though the Schudio team are quick to answer any queries sent to [email protected]).

“There are specific requirements for academies, free schools and colleges and this guide covers all the latest changes,” the Guide states. “Every year we see at least two rounds of changes to the current requirements for school websites. They’re usually released at the beginning of September but can crop up at any time. It’s possible that a single requirement change will be released, such as the swimming requirements in autumn 2017. More often than not, a raft of changes is released in one hit.”

This comprehensive checklist explains what content to display on your website, offering suggestions on how to implement them to ensure that you not only meet the current requirements, but exceed them as well. The Schudio team designed this resource for ease-of-use, which allows for a consistent approach as you audit your own website.

Example excerpt:

“Demonstrate how your school is inclusive

Many schools have lots of EAL students, and how well you engage this part of your school community will most certainly be evaluated by OFSTED. By adding a good translate feature to your website, you will be inclusive of all your users and provide a really useful tool.

Also, your school needs to effectively demonstrate how you care for and educate those with additional needs, and of course there are the statutory requirements around safeguarding.

We’ll cover that in detail in the full Checklist in Chapter 5 but for now, note that these are issues that are right at the top of any inspector’s agenda.”

If you’d like to quickly check your website against the current requirements, Schudio has that covered too. The School Website Requirements Checker presents you with a report and then sends automatic notifications when school website requirements change. Plus, you don't need a Schudio website - it works with every school website!

Make sure that your school’s website is up-to-date: www.schudio.com/school-website-requirements. The Schudio team are keen to answer any questions you may have, so get in touch via [email protected] / 0333 577 0753 to discuss further. You can even book a phone meeting that suits your schedule here.

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The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 doesn’t mean a great deal to most English schools but it should. In April this year the Government released a directive that schools must publish certain information on their school website from the 1st September 2012. It will be the first stop for OFSTED before they inspect your school. But what if you don’t have a website? Schools will need to ensure they have the facility to publish the specified content online and that staff can maintain the content.

This post will detail all the information that you will need to publish and where to find it.