September Admissions – normal point of entry
By 15 March each year, the school or trust must publish on its website:

the admission arrangements for children who will be starting school at the normal point of entry in September of the following year. It must retain them there for the whole of the academic year in which offers for places are made.

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 or trust 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
By 31 August each year, the school or trust must publish:

how it will manage in-year applications for places (that is, applications for places in the middle of a school year, or to start in the September of a year which is not the normal point of entry).

If the trust manages those applications, it must provide:

an application form
supplementary information, if necessary

If the local authority manages those applications, the school or trust must publish a link to the in-year application coordination scheme

Admission appeals

By 28 February each year, the school or trust must publish a timetable setting out how it will organise and hear admission appeals.

This timetable must:

include a deadline that allows a parent or carer at least 20 school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to prepare and lodge a written appeal

include reasonable deadlines for:

a parent or carer to submit additional evidence
admission authorities to submit their evidence
the clerk to send appeal papers to the panel and parties
ensure that a parent or carer lodging an appeal receives 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 is available in the school admission appeals code.

What 16 to 19 academies and FE colleges should publish

16 to 19 academies and FE colleges should publish their admission arrangements.
The school admissions and appeals codes do not apply to these settings.

By the September of the academic year before the one in which they will apply, 16 to 19 academies and FE colleges should publish their arrangements. Parents, carers and young people will use these to make an informed choice, so they should remain unchanged during that year.

The admission arrangements should include details of:

the open days planned
how to apply for a place
whether the 16 to 19 academy or FE college gives priority to applications from pupils enrolled at particular schools

What community and voluntary-controlled schools must publish

Community and voluntary-controlled schools must publish a link to the local authority’s website for parents and carers who wish to find out about the school’s admission and appeal arrangements. It is the local authority that manages both processes.

What academy trusts must publish

Academy trusts must publish their audited annual report and accounts on their website by 31 January each year. Guidance is available in the academy trust handbook.

What FE colleges must publish

By 31 January each year, FE colleges must publish their annual report and audited financial statements in an easily accessible location on their website and retain them there for 2 years.

What schools must publish

Schools must publish their behaviour policy. It must comply with section 89 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

What academies must publish

Academies must publish their behaviour policy, including their anti-bullying strategy. Guidance on developing and publishing a behaviour policy is available.

What FE colleges should publish

FE colleges should publish their behaviour policy, including their anti-bullying strategy.

What all secondary schools, secondary academies, 16 to 19 academies and FE colleges must publish

All listed schools above must publish a policy statement to comply with section 42B of the Education Act 1997, known as the ‘provider access legislation’. 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.

For the current academic year, this must include:

the name and contact details of their careers lead
a summary of the careers programme, including details of how young people, parents, carers, teachers and employers can access information about it
how the academy or college measures and assesses the programme’s impact on young people
the date by which it will review this information

Statutory guidance on providing careers guidance is available.

What schools and academies must publish

Schools and academies must publish their:

charging policy, giving details of activities for which they will charge parents and carers
remissions policy, giving details of the circumstances in which they will wholly or partly waive any charge they would otherwise expect parents and carers to pay

What maintained schools must publish

Schools must publish their complaints policy to comply with section 29 of the Education Act 2002. The best practice guidance supports them to set up and review their complaints procedures.
They must also publish the details of any arrangements for handling complaints from parents and carers about the support they provide for children with special educational needs and disability (SEND). They must do this as part of their SEN information report.

What academy schools and trusts must make available

All academies and trusts (with the exception of 16-19 academies) must have a complaints procedure that meets the requirements in the standard at the Education (Independent School Standards (England) Regulations 2014 Schedule 1, Part 7. The complaints procedure must be available to parents and carers of children attending an academy.

What academy schools must publish

Academy schools must publish the details of any arrangements for handling complaints from parents and carers about the support they provide for children with special educational needs and disability (SEND). They must do this as part of their SEN information report.

What academy trusts and FE colleges must publish

Academy trusts must publish details of their whistleblowing procedure.
FE colleges must publish their whistleblowing policy and regularly review it.

What all schools must publish

All schools must publish:

their postal address
their telephone number
the name of the member of staff who deals with queries from parents and carers, and the public

What mainstream maintained and academy schools must publish

Mainstream schools must also publish the name and contact details of their special educational needs co-ordinator.

What academy schools and FE colleges should publish

the name of their headteacher or principal
the name and contact details of the chair of their governing body, if applicable
the contact details of their academy trust and a link to its website, if applicable

What all schools must publish

All schools must publish:

the content of the curriculum in each academic year for every subject, including mandatory subjects such as religious education (RE) – this applies even if it is taught as part of another subject or known by another name
information to make parents and carers aware they have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of RE
how parents, carers or other members of the public can find out more about the curriculum
an accessibility plan that sets out how, over time, they will increase the extent to which disabled pupils participate in the curriculum

What schools with key stage 1 provision must publish

Schools with key stage 1 provision must publish a list of any phonics or reading schemes they use.

What schools with key stage 4 provision must publish

Schools with key stage 4 provision must publish a list of the key stage 4 courses they offer, including GCSEs.

Where relevant:

16 to 19 qualifications they offer

What all schools should publish

Alongside the content of their music curriculum, all schools are expected to publish information about their music development plan. A template is available to support with this.

What all academies must publish

Academies must publish their policy on relationships education or relationships and sex education. They should consult parents and carers when developing and reviewing it. It must meet pupils’, parents’ and carers’ needs, and reflect the community the academy serves.

What academies with 16 to 19 provision should publish

Academies with 16 to 19 provision should also publish information on how their curriculum meets the 16 to 19 study programme requirements.

What schools, academies and FE colleges should publish

Publish a statement of their ethos and values

What academy trusts must publish

Academy trusts must publish the number of employees whose salary and related benefits exceeded £100,000 during the previous academic year ended 31 August. They must present this information in:

an easily accessible form
£10,000 bandings

The requirements to publish financial information are set out in the academy trust handbook.

What FE colleges must publish

FE colleges must publish in their annual accounts the salaries of higher-paid staff, in line with the college accounts direction.

What schools must publish

Schools must publish:

the number of their employees, if any, whose gross annual salary exceeds £100,000, presenting this information in £10,000 bandings – DfE recommends using a table to display this
a link to the dedicated webpage for their school on the schools financial benchmarking service.

What maintained schools must publish

Maintained Schools publish information on the governing body in line with the constitution of governing bodies of maintained schools statutory guidance.

What schools should publish

Schools should publish information about:

their structure
their responsibilities
each governor or associate member
governors’ or associate members’ relevant business and financial interests
whether associate members have voting rights

DfE also encourages schools to publish easily accessible data about the diversity of:

their board
any associated committees

There is no prescriptive way to collect this data, but schools may choose to follow a similar approach to that they use to collate the diversity data of pupils.
Board or committee members can opt out of sharing their information, such as protected characteristics, including after the data has been published.
Schools must ensure that individuals cannot be identified, which may be a particular issue when board or committee member levels are low. Guidance on the Equality Act 2010 and data protection in schools is available.

What academy trusts must publish

Academy trusts must publish the following in an easily accessible format on their website:

a memorandum of association
their articles of association
the names of trust members and academy trustees
the relevant business and financial interests of members, trustees, local governors and accounting officers
their funding agreement
any supplemental funding agreement
up-to-date details of governance arrangements

Further guidance is available in the academy trust handbook.

What academy trusts should publish

DfE encourages academy trusts to publish easily accessible data about the diversity of:

their board
any associated committees

There is no prescriptive way to collect this data, but trusts may choose to follow a similar approach to that they use to publish the diversity data of pupils.

Board or committee members can opt out of sharing their information, such as protected characteristics, including after the data has been published.

Trusts must ensure that individuals cannot be identified, which may be a particular issue when board or committee member levels are low. Guidance on the Equality Act 2010 and data protection in schools is available.

What FE colleges must publish

FE colleges must publish the following:

their submitted annual accountability statement (part 2) within 3 months of the start of the academic year –that is, by 1 December
regular reviews of how well the education or training provided by the college meets local needs, in particular, those related to employment
a statement in their annual report on the development of governors and governance professionals
They should publish a summary of the outcomes of their external governance review and the associated action plan (at least every 3 years, with updates following the annual governance self-assessment).

What FE colleges should publish

FE colleges should publish the following:

their governing body’s structure and responsibilities
details of any committees
the names of the chair and governors
information on governor recruitment, such as selection procedures and the work of any search committee

They may wish simply to publish their governors’ handbook, which should include all of this information.

They should also publish their instrument and articles of government.

DfE encourages FE colleges to make an energy and carbon reporting disclosure equivalent to that set out in the Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018. Guidance is available in the college accounts direction.

What schools and academies should publish

All schools and academies should publish either a:

copy of their most recent Ofsted report, or
link to the report on the Ofsted website

What schools, academy trusts, academies and FE colleges with 250 or more employees must publish

Schools with 250 or more employees must, in line with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017:

report their gender pay gap information to the government via the gender pay gap service
publish this information in a prominent place on their website within one year of their ‘snapshot date’, which, for most public authority employers, will be 31 March

Statutory guidance on the gender pay gap information employers must report is available.

What schools, academy trusts, academies and FE colleges with 250 or more employees may wish to publish

Most public authority employers, including schools, do not need to publish a written statement on their public-facing website.

However, schools with 250 or more employees may wish to publish:

a supporting narrative to explain their gender pay gap
an action plan that sets out how they plan to address it

What schools, academy trusts, academies and FE colleges with fewer than 250 employees should publish

Schools with fewer than 250 employees:
are not required to comply with the regulations, but should give serious consideration to the business benefits of doing so

Guidance on who counts as an employee is available.

For schools interested in looking at their ethnicity pay gap, guidance for employers on voluntary ethnicity pay reporting is also available.

What all schools with primary-aged pupils must publish

Schools that receive PE and sport premium funding must publish, by 31 July each year:

the amount of premium funding received
a full breakdown of how it has been or will be spent
the impact seen by the school on pupils’ participation and attainment in PE and sport
how this improvement will be sustained

The Association for Physical Education and Youth Sport Trust have jointly developed a template that can be used for recording and reporting on the premium’s impact.

By 31 July each year, the academy must also publish the percentage of pupils in year 6 who have 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

Further guidance is available in the conditions of grant document.

What schools, academies and FE colleges must publish

Schools must publish:

details of how they comply with the public sector equality duty, updating this every year
their equality objectives, updating these at least every 4 years

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.

What FE colleges should publish

FE colleges should publish:

an annual equality, diversity and inclusion review, including data on protected characteristics at these levels:

board
executive leadership
staff
student

the actions taken to address disparities

What schools and academies must publish

Schools that receive pupil premium and recovery premium funding must publish a strategy statement by 31 December each year.

It must explain how the:

pupil premium and recovery premium is being spent
school is improving outcomes for pupils by how it is spending this funding

Schools must publish the statement in the DfE template provided on the pupil premium guidance page, so it meets the requirements set out in the conditions of grant document.

DfE recommends that schools plan their pupil premium spending over 3 years. If they do so, they must still update their statement annually to reflect:

their spending activity for the current academic year
the impact of pupil premium in the previous academic year

What schools and academies must publish

Schools should publish information about their remote education provision.

What all schools and academies should publish

official start time of the compulsory school day
official end time of the compulsory school day
total time this amounts to in a typical week, including breaks but not after-school activities

What all schools and academies should publish

Schools whose pupils are required to wear a uniform should publish an easily understandable policy on their website, in line with statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms.

It should include information about:

optional or required items
items that will be worn only at certain times of year (for example, winter or summer uniform)
items that must be branded or can be generic
whether items can be bought only from a specific retailer or more widely
where second-hand uniform can be purchased

What all schools and academies must publish

Schools must publish an SEN information report. It should be updated annually and any changes to the information occurring during the year should be updated as soon as possible.

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

the SEN information specified in Schedule 1 to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 – statutory guidance is available in paragraphs 6.79 to 6.82 of the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years

additional information about the:

arrangements for the admission of disabled pupils
steps the school has taken to prevent disabled pupils from being treated less favourably than other pupils
facilities it provides to help disabled pupils access the school

accessibility plan it has prepared under paragraph 3 of Schedule 10 to the Equality Act 2010 to:

increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the curriculum
improve the physical environment to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can take advantage of the educational benefits, facilities or services provided or offered
improve the way disabled pupils can access information that is easily accessible to pupils who are not disabled

What all schools, academies and college must publish

All schools should publish a link to the compare school and college performance service and to their own performance measures page on it.

Key stage 2

All primary schools and academies with key stage 2 pupils must publish their most recent key stage 2 performance measures, as published by the Secretary of State, comprising:

their progress scores in:

reading
writing
maths

the percentage of their pupils who achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined)
the percentage of their pupils who achieved a higher standard in reading, writing and maths (combined)

their average scaled score in:

reading
maths

Key stage 4

All schools and academies with key stage 4 pupils should publish their most recent key stage 4 performance measures, as published by the Secretary of State, comprising:

their Progress 8 score
the percentage of their pupils achieving a grade 5 or above in GCSE English and GCSE maths (combined)
their Attainment 8 score
the percentage of their pupils staying in education or going into employment after key stage 4
the percentage of their pupils who were entered for the English Baccalaureate (EBacc)
their EBacc average point score (APS)

Key stage 5 (16 to 18)

Academies and FE colleges with students aged 16 to 18 and secondary schools with sixth forms must publish their most recent 16 to 18 performance measures, as published by the Secretary of State, comprising their students’ headline:

attainment measures
retention measures
destination measures

They do not have to publish the following measures for the 2022 to 2023 academic year, as these are not being published by the Secretary of State:

• level 3 value-added
• English and maths progress measure

Pre-inspection planning will be informed by analysis of information on the school’s website including the presence and suitability of the safeguarding guidance

Include suitable safeguarding guidance on your school website. The child protection policy should describe procedures which are in accordance with government guidance and refer to locally agreed multi-agency safeguarding arrangements put in place by the three safeguarding partners.

Individual schools and colleges should ensure they have an effective child protection policy. This should be updated annually (as a minimum), and be available publicly either via the school or college website or by other means.