What must a school website have?

A school website must have two things: the information the rules require, and the answers a parent is looking for. Most school sites manage the first and bury the second.

What does the law require in England?

If you are a school maintained by a local authority, the Department for Education sets out what you must publish online. The list is long. The main items:

• Contact details and who to speak to.
• Admission arrangements.
• Your most recent Ofsted report, or a link to it.
• Exam and assessment results, and a link to the performance tables.
• The curriculum for each year and subject.
• Your behaviour policy.
• How you use pupil premium and the PE and sport premium.
• Your provision for special educational needs and disabilities.
• The complaints procedure.
• Governors' information.
• Your charging and remissions policy.

Academies and free schools have similar duties, set by their funding agreement. The guidance changes, so check the current list on GOV.UK once a year rather than trusting a blog. Including this one.

What happens if something is missing?

Inspectors and governors look at your website before they visit. Missing information is an easy mark against you, and an avoidable one.

Most of the time nothing is missing on purpose. A policy was updated and the old PDF stayed up. A member of staff left and nobody else knows how to edit the site. That's the real problem. Not the list. The fact that nobody owns it.

What do parents look for first?

None of the above. A parent wants five answers, fast.

1. 01Is this school right for my child's age and where we live?
2. 02What is it like? Show me the place and the people.
3. 03What does it cost, or how do admissions work?
4. 04When are the term dates and the open days?
5. 05Who do I call, and can I book a visit now?

If she can't get those from her phone in a minute, she leaves. She will not download a forty-page prospectus to find the fees.

How should the two lists live together?

Separately. This is the fix almost every school site needs.

The front of the site is for parents. Plain words, real photos, the five answers, one clear button to enquire or book a visit.

The statutory information goes in one labelled section, kept tidy, with a date on each document. Inspectors know where to look. Parents never have to wade through it.

What about private schools, nurseries and tutoring centres?

No legal list for the website itself. Your list is the parent's one, and you should answer it better than a state school does, because you are asking for money.

Say what you charge, or at least how fees work. Schools that hide fees think they're being premium. Parents think they're being dodged.

Who should be able to update it?

Your own office. Today, without calling anyone.

When I plan a site, the first question I ask is who will change the term dates in September. If the answer is the web designer, the site will be out of date by Christmas. Build it so the school secretary can do it in two minutes.

What should you check this week?

Open your site on a phone. Time how long it takes to find the term dates, the fees or admissions page, and a way to contact you. Then find your behaviour policy and check the date on it.

If either test hurts, you know what to fix. I covered the bigger question in does a school really need a website. If you want yours done properly, that's what we build. Tell me about the school and I'll give you an honest read.