OFSTED

Ofsted is currently consulting on its proposed new inspection framework – the draft was published on 16th January with the consultation running until 5th April. The draft framework includes some strong indications that music and creativity will be firmly back on the radar of Ofsted inspectors from September this year. If schools want to achieve Good or Outstanding ratings, they are going to have to teach the full curriculum, right through years 3 – 6 at key stage 2 and throughout years 7 – 9 at key stage 3.

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 However, all it takes is one visit from the Big O for that out-of-date website to become a major issue.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.

Want to receive cutting-edge insights from leading educators each week? Sign up to our Community Update and be part of the action!

Over the past five years, I have had some big changes in my life: I became a dad for the first time; I left my position as a Primary school deputy headteacher; I became an SLE in formative assessment; I set up my own education company with my headteacher... These changes were all massive, but the thing that has made them manageable for me was the smaller, more marginal changes I could make, all of which which contributed to the bigger picture.

Primary school leaders now have a new self-evaluation process that helps them to tighten teaching, learning and administration. The team behind celebrated admin tool Educater have unleashed their latest resource: SEFonline, an online self-evaluation tool that supports SLT staff in preparing for Ofsted inspection visits and shaping their school improvement plans.

Teaching and learning is the key to success! Teachers know it, and Ofsted tells everyone! So why can't we get it right in every school? We know that if teaching is deemed to be good and outstanding, then the outcomes should represent this, and therefore so should the Ofsted grading. So easy, right?

I’m starting 2017/18 after my first year as principal at a school in challenging circumstances, which has been in and out of special measures for several Ofsted cycles. We all know what a school like this looks like on paper, but I hadn’t considered the damage that this does to the core fabric of a school. The climate at Queen Elizabeth's Academy was broken and needed urgent attention.

The UK education system has always expected a lot from its schools, but in the last few years, this has seemingly intensified further, with teacher workloads increasing, guidelines changing and policies updating rapidly and frequently in a bid to improve standards. But with these changes has also come an evolution in the technology at our disposal, helping to streamline processes, and bringing everyone together in a whole-school drive for improvement.

Last year was generally considered a rotten year. Great Britain lost some of it's best-loved cultural icons. Society was politically divided… and Toblerone changed shape. For schools, September brought particularly challenging news: new regulations for school websites, and Ofsted updated their guidance to Inspectors.

 

Your website has become the first port of call for everyone interested in engaging with with your school. It is true of parents who will be looking for information that reassures them that yours is the school for their son or daughter. Your website is your best marketing tool to this audience.

Class Charts, the UK’s leading seating plan and behaviour management software solution, is helping teachers to quickly create data-rich seating plans that are Ofsted-ready. Schools can spend a great deal of time creating their class seating plans, but creators Edukey believe that this need not be the time consuming chore it once was. Class Charts is proven software that links seamlessly with SIMS, creating instant seating plans for each class.

  •  Start 
  •  Prev 
  •  1  2 
  •  Next 
  •  End 
Page 1 of 2

In order to make our website better for you, we use cookies!

Some firefox users may experience missing content, to fix this, click the shield in the top left and "disable tracking protection"