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Statutory Website Requirements: What maintained schools must publish online

Statutory Website Requirements: What maintained schools must publish online

As a maintained school, here are what schools need to publish on their websites. These are schools maintained by their local authorities and is required by the School Information (England) Regulations (2008 and subsequent amendments 2012 and 2016) as well as Equality Act 2010 and Children and Families Act 2014 to comply.

Last update: 10 Feb 2025

Statutory Requirements for Maintained School Websites 2024

What academies, including free schools and colleges and any educational institution with academy arrangements must or should publish online according to Statutory Requirements for Academies, Free Schools and Colleges.

Regulation: The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 came into force 1st September 2012. The Secretary of State for Education made the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 537 and 569(4) of the Education Act 1996(1), and section 92 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998(2).

Extracted from Guidance last updated October 2024. Disclaimer: This page is for informational purposes only and does not replace original guidance on https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-academies-free-schools-and-colleges-should-publish-online

For Academies and FE Colleges website requirements, see this page

In summary, schools now have to provide the following information on their website:

Key Information for Academy, Academy Trusts and FE College Websites

  1. Admission arrangements or where they may be found
  2. Behaviour policy
  3. Careers programme information
  4. Charging and remissions policy
  5. Complaints policy
  6. Contact details
  7. Curriculum
  8. Ethos and Values
  9. Financial Information
  10. Governance information
  11. Ofsted reports
  12. Pay gap reporting
  13. PE and sport premium for primary schools
  14. Public sector equality duty
  15. Pupil premium (and recovery premium – allocation, use and impact on attainment)
  16. Remote education
  17. School opening hours
  18. School Uniform
  19. Special educational needs and disabilities SEND information
  20. Test, exam and assessment results
    • Most recent key stage 2 results
    • Most recent key stage 4 results
    • Most recent key stage 5 results

The key information is separated into must be published and should be published. We highly recommend that the school aim to provide all required key information.

Download the PDF Version of this Guide

1.     Admission Arrangements

Schools must publish the following by 15 March and must be available for the whole of the year on offer.

September admissions – normal point of entry
The admission arrangements must explain:

  • how the trust considers applications for places in each relevant age group (that is, the age group in which children are normally admitted to its schools)
  • how many children the trust intends to admit in each relevant age group (known as the published admission number, or PAN)
  • what a parent or carer needs to do if they want to apply for their child to attend one of the trust’s schools
  • how the trust allocates places if there are more applicants than places available

Where applicable, the school must also explain how:

  • children applying to a selective school are selected for a place
  • a parent or carer of a primary-age child can request that a school delay or defer their child’s entry to reception, and the process for requesting admission outside the normal age group
  • many external applicants a school intends to admit into the sixth form

In-year admissions
The school must publish by 31 August,

  • how it will manage in-year applications

If managed by governing body, must also provide

  • an application form
  • supplementary information, if necessary

If local authority (LA) managed, school must publish

  • link to in-year application scheme

Admission appeals must be published by 28 February

  • timetable for organising and hearing admission appeals for your schools by 28 February

This must:

    • include a deadline for appeals at least 20 school days from the date of notification of unsuccessful application
    • include reasonable deadlines for:
      • submitting additional evidence
      • admission authorities to submit their evidence
      • the clerk to send appeal papers to the panel and parties
    • ensure that those making an appeal receive at least 10 school days’ notice of their appeal hearing
    • ensure that decision letters are sent within 5 school days of the hearing wherever possible

Further guidance available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-admissions-appeals-code

Community and VC schools must publish

  • link to local authority website for school’s admission and appeal arrangements

2.     Behaviour Policy

Schools must publish

3.     Careers Programme information

Secondary schools must publish

  • how careers guidance is delivered. This must include
    • name and contact details of careers lead
    • a summary of the careers programme, including details of how pupils, parents, teachers and employers can access information on the programme
    • how the school measures and assesses the careers programme’s impact on pupils
    • the date this information will be reviewed
  • A policy statement to comply with ‘provider access legislation’
    Read section 42B of the Education Act 1997. This statement must set out the circumstances in which they will give providers of technical education and apprenticeships access to year 8 to 13 pupils, as applicable.

Read the statutory guidance for schools and colleges on careers guidance and access for education and training providers, for more information.

4.     Charging and Remissions Policy

Schools must publish

  • charging policy, details of activities where your school will charge pupils’ parents and carers
  • remissions policy, details of circumstances where your school will wholly or partly wave any charge you would otherwise expect parents and carers to pay

5.     Complaints Policy

Schools must publish

6.     Contact Details

All schools must publish

  • School name
  • Postal address
  • Telephone number
  • Member of staff who deals with queries

Mainstream schools must publish

  • Name and Contact details of SEN Co-ordinator (SENCO)

7.     Curriculum

Secondary schools must publish

  • Policy on relationships (and sex) education.

All schools must publish

  • the curriculum content for every subject for each academic year, including mandatory subject e.g. RE
  • information to make parents and carers aware they have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of RE
  • how parents, carers and public can find out more about the curriculum
  • an accessibility plan that sets out over time the extent to which disabled pupils participate in the curriculum

Primary schools must publish

  • key stage 1 phonics or reading schemes

Secondary schools must publish

  • a list of key stage 4 courses, including GCSEs

All schools should publish

    • music curriculum needs to include music development plan. See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-music-development-plan-summary-template

8.     Ethos and Values

Schools should publish

  • a statement of their ethos and values

Download the PDF Version of this Guide

9.  Financial information

Schools must publish

  • number of employees who have a gross annual salary and benefits of £100,000 or more. Information should be presented in £10,000 bandings using a table format
  • a link to the dedicated webpage for financial benchmarking service

10.  Governance Information (Trustees’ Information and Duties)

Schools must publish

  • information about the governing body and its committees inline with the constitution of governing bodies of maintained schools

Schools should publish about each governor who has served at any time over the past 12 months

  • their full names
  • date they were appointed
  • term of office
  • date stepped down, where this applies
  • who appointed them
  • attendance record at governing body and. Committee meetings over last academic year

Schools should publish governors’ relevant business, financial and pecuniary interests

  • governance roles in other educational institutions
  • any material interests arising from relationships between governors or relationships between governors and schools staff including spouses, partners and close relatives

This information should be published for associate members and whether they have voting rights on any committee they have been appointed to.

Schools are encouraged to publish easily accessible data about the diversity of

  • their board
  • any associated committees

ensure that individuals cannot be identified through the publication of data, particularly when board member levels are low. Read more about this in the data protection toolkit for schools and Equality Act 2010: advice for schools.

11.  Offed Report

Schools must publish:

12.  Pay gap reporting

Schools with 250 or more employees must publish

  • report on gender pay gap via gender pay gap service
  • this information in a prominent place on the website within one year of ‘snapshot date’ usually 31 March

Statutory guidance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-gender-pay-gap-information-employers-must-report

Schools with 250 or more employeesmay wish to publish

  • a supporting narrative to explain gender pay gap
  • an action plan on how to address it

Schools with fewer than 250

  • are not required to comply with regulations but,
  • should give serious consideration to the business benefits of reporting gender pay gap

For guidance on who is an employee: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/who-needs-to-report-their-gender-pay-gap#headcount
For information on ethnicity pay gap: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ethnicity-pay-reporting-guidance-for-employers

13.  PE and Sport Premium for Primary Academies

If your school receives PE and sport premium funding, you must publish:

  • the amount of premium received
  • a full breakdown of how it has been spent (or will be spent)
  • what impact the school has seen on pupils’ PE and sport participation and attainment
  • how the improvements will be sustainable in the future

Primary Schools:
You must publish by 31 July, the percentage of pupils within your year 6 cohort who met the national curriculum requirement to:

  • swim competently, confidently, and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
  • use a range of strokes effectively (for example front crawl, backstroke, and breaststroke)
  • perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations

14.  Public Sector Equality Duty

Schools must publish

  • details of how your school complies with the public sector equality duty – you must update this every year
  • your school’s equality objectives – you must update this at least once every 4 years

For guidance: The Equality Act 2010: advice for schools provides guidance on how schools can show they have complied, as required by the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.

15.  Pupil Premium and Recovery Premium

Schools that receive pupil premium funding must publish

Recommended to plan pupil premium use over 3 years

  • update statement each year to reflect
    • spending activity for that academic year and
    • impact of pupil premium in the previous academic year.

16.  Remote Education

Schools should publish

17.  School Opening Hours

Schools should publish

  • Official start and end times of the compulsory school day
  • Total time in a typical week (eg 32.5 hours) including breaks but not after-school activities

18.  School Uniform

Schools should publish clear easy to understand policy on website in line with statutory guidance on cost of school uniforms (guidance from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms)
Should include information on

  • optional or required items
  • if item will only be worn at certain times of the year (E.g. summer or winter uniform)
  • if a generic item will be accepted or if a branded item is required
  • whether an item can only be purchased from a specific retailer or if it can be purchased more widely, including from second-hand retailers
  • where second hand uniform can be purchased

21.  SEND Information

Schools must publish a SEN information report (updated annually and any changes updated as soon as possible).

The report must comply with section 69 of the Children and Families Act 2014, and must contain:

22.  Test, Exam and Assessment Results

All schools must publish a link to the compare performance service and to own performance measures page. https://www.gov.uk/school-performance-tables

a. Key stage 2 (end of primary school) results

Schools must publish

  • most recent KS2 performance measures as published by the Secretary of State
    • percentage of pupils achieved expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined)
    • percentage of pupils achieved higher standard in reading, writing and maths (combined)
    • pupils’ average scaled score in
      • reading
      • maths

Find your school data here: https://www.find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk/#SearchMats

Note: It will not be possible to calculate key stage 1 to key stage 2 progress measures for the 2023 to 2024 or 2024 to 2025 academic years. There is no key stage 1 baseline available to calculate primary progress measures for these years because of Covid-19 disruption. For the 2023 to 2024 academic year, academies do not have to publish progress scores in reading, writing or maths, as the Secretary of State is not publishing these.

b. Key stage 4 (secondary school) results

Schools must publish

  • most recent KS4 performance measures as published by the Secretary of State, comprising
    • Progress 8 score
    • percentage pupils achieving grade 5 and above in GCSE English and GCSE Maths
    • Attainment 8 score

should publish 

    • percentage pupils staying in education or going into employment after KS4
    • percentage pupils entered for English Baccalaureate (EBacc)
    • their Ebacc average point score (APS)

c. Key stage 5 (16-18) information, where applicable

Schools with sixth forms must publish most recent 16-18 performance measures as published by Secretary of State, comprising students headline:

  • progress (value added) measures
  • attainment measures
  • retention measures
  • destination measures

Do not need to publish:

  • value added measures for the 2022 to 2023 academic year, as the Secretary of State is not publishing these
  • English and maths progress measures for the 2022 to 2023 or 2023 to 2024 academic years, as the Secretary of State is not publishing these.

Extracted and summarised from

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-maintained-schools-must-publish-online

First Published 30 June 2016

Updated 17 April 2023

Updated 6 Feb 2025

Download the PDF Version of this Guide

Download the PDF Version

 

Extracted and summarised from

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/what-maintained-schools-must-publish-online#school-uniforms

Published 30 June 2016

Updated 17 April 2023