Primary school website readiness: what DfE requires UK schools to publish
The Department for Education (DfE) publishes statutory guidance on what information English schools must make available on their websites. For primary schools — whether maintained or academy — this covers 31 items across six categories. Failing to publish required information is not a minor oversight: Ofsted inspectors are trained to check website publication as part of the section 5 and section 8 inspection frameworks.
This guide covers what is required, where it should be published, and how a free automated checker can help you identify gaps before an inspection — or before a parent notices.
Why website publication matters
DfE statutory guidance does not exist to create paperwork. Each publication requirement exists because parents, governors, and inspectors need to be able to verify that a school is meeting its obligations. A safeguarding policy that exists in a filing cabinet but is not visible on the website does not meet the publication requirement. An admissions policy last updated three years ago may mislead applicants.
Ofsted's Education Inspection Framework explicitly requires inspectors to review the school's website as part of pre-inspection preparation. A school with visible, current, and well-organised website publications sends a strong signal of governance health before an inspector sets foot through the door.
The 31 required publication items
The following items are drawn from DfE's statutory guidance. Some items apply only to maintained schools; others apply only to academies. Items marked for academies include annual accounts and trust financial information.
What counts as 'published'
DfE guidance does not require a specific format for most items, but the information must be visible, accessible, and up to date on the school's website. Key principles:
- Accessible from the main navigation. Information buried three or four clicks from the homepage may not satisfy the spirit of the guidance.
- Clearly labelled. A PDF titled "Doc_v3_FINAL_2023.pdf" is harder for parents and inspectors to find than one titled "Safeguarding_Policy_2025-26.pdf".
- Current. Many items must be reviewed annually. An outdated policy may be worse than no policy if it references superseded legislation.
- In a format that can be read. Images of text do not satisfy the requirement for accessible publication. PDFs should be text-readable.
Maintained schools vs academies
The DfE publishes separate guidance for maintained schools and for academies and free schools. The core publication requirements overlap significantly, but there are differences:
- Maintained schools must publish a charging and remissions policy. This is not required for academies.
- Academies must publish their annual report and audited accounts, and the number of employees earning over £100,000.
- Both types must publish SEND information, governance information, admissions, safeguarding, and inspection/performance links.
The Edvance free checker allows you to select your school type so results are tailored to the requirements that apply to you.
How the free checker helps
The Edvance Website Readiness Checker currently runs 32 publication checks and returns an evidence-backed snapshot — showing what was found, where it was found, and why the result was classified that way. It also groups findings into a short list of suggested next actions so you know exactly where to start.
The checker runs in under a minute and requires no login. It does not access your website's admin area and cannot make any changes to your website.
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