School websites should display many things including news, information, contact details, student resources, a virtual learning environment (VLE) and an events calendar.
But maintained schools must display various things according to government requirements in line with the School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012, and you can find out about these here.
Here are some of the most important to help you prepare your site.
The curriculum
The school curriculum is one of the main things that you will need to include somewhere on your school website. This should include every subject for all the years, as well as the courses available for KS4 students. You should also provide details about how parents can find out more about this area.
Contact details
This is something you will probably put onto your site anyway, but it is one of the main requirements. You should publish the name, telephone number and address of the school, and you should also make it clear and easy to find. You should also include details of one member of staff who will deal with questions.
Exam results
Your Key stage 2 (KS2) and Key stage 4 (KS4) exam results should be displayed clearly on your site. There are also a number of percentages that have to be displayed, like the amount of students who achieved grades C or above in five subjects.
Information about governors
This is a more recent requirement where you must publish information about the school governors along with a register of interests. This register of interests must be published from September 2015, and you must follow statutory guidance, which you can find here.
Admission details
Many parents and students may visit your site looking for admission details, and you will have to publish the arrangements for admissions on your site to make sure visitors can find them.
You can either publish details of how you consider applicants for various age groups, how the students are selected and the process you have for parents to follow. Or you can simply include details of where the admission details are provided so that parents can go and find out.
Latest Ofsted report
You should also include the latest Ofsted report on your website so visitors can quickly and easily read this if they want to. If you do not include the actual report, you should include a link to a place where it can be found.
Paper copies upon request
There are many other requirements that you must follow, such as including details about student premium funding and charging and remissions policies, and these are all stated clearly on the government site linked to above.
In addition, you should also be able to provide paper copies of any information if requested by parents.
Provide even more
These are things you have to include according to government requirements. But why not go further? Provide even more to your visitors by including extra information, news, events, social media, blogs and photographs, and make it a real resource for the whole school community.