As of this month, new Ofsted guidelines on school websites have gone into force, but it’s a bit confusing what these actually are. We’ve written this blog post to help demystify the changes a bit, and it should be helpful whether or not you’re a School Jotter user.
The main focus of the new requirements is governor disclosure. Basically, you now have to put information on who your governors are, what they do etc onto your website on a publicly accessible page – previously, this was recommended but not compulsory information. So here’s what you’ll need:
- Name: You’ll need to have the names of your governors – photos can also help, but aren’t compulsory
- Category: What type of governor are they?
- Which body appoints them: Who appointed them to their position as governor
- Their term of office: When will they be serving until? Is it a time-limited or a more permanent position?
- Committees: The names of any gubernatorial committees they serve on
- Their positions of responsibility: For example, if they’re the Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary etc – what position do they hold?
- Voting rights: What things can they vote on and how this will influence the school?
Additionally, in order to make sure that any potential conflicts of interest are laid bare, the following information needs to be disclosed to the public:
- Any relevant business interests: Who they work for – are they part of a company who might benefit from school contracts?
- Details of positions at other schools: Do they govern any other schools? If not, this doesn’t need to be filled in.
- Any relationships at the school: If a governor has a relationship to another governor or member of staff at the school, you’ll need to put it down here. This includes spouses, partners and relatives.
Of course, these are just the new requirements – there’s still plenty of existing ones! Take a look at our Ofsted checklist for more information – you can print it out and tick off the areas you’re compliant in to give you a better idea of how you’re doing. Alternatively, perhaps you’d be interested in a free healthcheck by one of our website consultants – you don’t need to be with School Jotter, we’re here to help you!
