Here’s something many school leaders don’t realise until it’s too late: Ofsted inspectors check your website before they ever set foot in your school. In the days leading up to an inspection, the team will review your site to understand your school’s vision, check statutory information is in place, and form an early impression of how well you communicate with your community.
A well-prepared school website won’t guarantee a good inspection outcome — but a poorly prepared one can create unnecessary questions before the inspection has even begun. Here’s exactly what inspectors look for, and how to make sure you’re ready.
1. Statutory Information Must Be There — and Easy to Find
The Department for Education sets out a clear list of information that every school website in England must publish. Ofsted inspectors will check for it. The key items include:
- Your school’s vision, values, and ethos
- Admissions arrangements and appeals process
- SEND policy and SEN Information Report
- Safeguarding policy and details of your Designated Safeguarding Lead
- Behaviour and exclusions policy
- Curriculum content by year group and subject
- Pupil Premium strategy statement
- PE and Sport Premium report (primary schools)
- Equality objectives and accessibility plan
- Financial information (for academies: annual accounts, CEO salary band)
- Governor information and meeting minutes
- Ofsted reports (including the most recent)
Every one of these needs to be published and up to date. A missing or outdated policy is a red flag — not just for compliance, but for the impression it creates.
2. Information Needs to Be Findable, Not Just Present
Having the right content buried deep in your site is almost as problematic as not having it at all. Inspectors don’t have time to dig through poorly structured navigation. If your SEND report takes five clicks to find, or your safeguarding policy is hidden in a document dump, that’s a problem.
A well-designed school website structures statutory content logically — typically under clear sections like “About Us”, “Parents”, “Policies”, and “Governors” — so that anyone can find what they need within a couple of clicks. If you’re not sure whether your site passes this test, try timing yourself finding five key documents. If it takes more than 30 seconds each, your navigation needs work.
3. Content Must Be Current
Outdated content is one of the most common issues inspectors flag. An Ofsted report from four years ago with no newer one published, a term dates page still showing last year’s calendar, or a governor list that includes people who left two years ago — these details matter. They suggest a school that isn’t actively maintaining its online presence.
Build a simple content review into your annual school calendar. Set a reminder each September to audit key pages and update anything that’s changed over the summer. It takes a couple of hours and removes a significant inspection risk.
4. Accessibility Matters
Since 2020, all maintained school websites are legally required to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 AA standard) and publish an accessibility statement. This covers things like sufficient colour contrast, alt text on images, keyboard navigation, and readable font sizes.
Ofsted won’t conduct a full accessibility audit, but a site that’s clearly inaccessible — tiny text, no alt tags, PDFs with no readable alternative — doesn’t reflect well. And beyond inspection, accessibility is simply the right thing to do for your community.
5. First Impressions Count
Beyond the checklist, inspectors are humans forming an impression. A school website that looks professional, loads quickly, and clearly communicates the school’s character tells a story about how that school operates. A cluttered, slow, or outdated site tells a different story — even if every statutory box is technically ticked.
Think of your website as the digital equivalent of your school entrance. You wouldn’t let the reception area fall into disrepair before an inspection. Your website deserves the same attention.
Is Your School Website Inspection-Ready?
At Brothers Creative, we’ve helped schools across Northamptonshire and the East Midlands build websites that are fully Ofsted-compliant, easy to navigate, and designed to make the best possible impression. Whether you need a full redesign or a targeted compliance review of your existing site, we can help.
Get in touch for a free, no-obligation chat — we’ll take a look at your current site and tell you honestly where you stand.
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