Schools and other education settings are complex learning communities, involving many different roles and functions. In order for schools to be safe, supportive environments where students can learn and thrive, there needs to be clear procedures, structures, and expectations in place. Policies are a formal way of documenting the procedures and values of a school. In this article, we will look at the function of school policies, which policies schools should have in place, including statutory school policies, and provide general guidance surrounding writing effective policies.
Policies and procedures cover all aspects of school life. They can be written for a variety of audiences, depending on the subject, including students, parents, staff, and governors. Policies ensure that values are applied consistently, define clear expectations, and help provide a framework for employees and students alike. Staff are responsible for familiarising themselves with the school’s policies, and for following the procedures contained within them.
Key general purposes of school policies include to:
Broadly speaking, school policies come under the following categories:
Certain policies and documents are required to be in place by law. These usually cover major strategic areas, and the specific requirements differ according to the type of educational setting. The Department for Education keeps updated lists of statutory policies for schools and academies.
Click on the drop downs below to see which statutory policies are required in each area. For each policy, we have included the following information:
Applies to:
Review:
The arrangements must be determined annually. Government guidance requires the setting to consult on any changes. Where no changes are made, consultation is required at least every seven years.
Approval:
The full governing body or a committee of the governing body must approve, where the school is its own admissions authority.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
This applies directly to academies and free schools via their funding agreements.
Review:
Governing bodies can decide how often to review this policy but the DfE recommends an annual review.
Approval:
The governing body can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Under the Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations 2018, schools must register with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
You must adhere to GDPR requirements.
Review/Approval:
Annual registration with the information commissioner’s office is required.
The DfE advises that governing bodies, an individual governor, or headteacher review this requirement annually.
Applies to:
Review:
The DfE recommends an annual review.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review/Approval:
This must be a live document. The governing body can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher. The register itself can be kept by appropriate school staff.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
This must be a live document that must be updated as soon as possible after a change, and at least annually.
Approval:
The governing body can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Further guidance:
Details of the information to include on websites:
Applies to:
The DfE also strongly advises academies to consider following the guidance.
Academies should have a written complaints procedure, which is available on request to parents. The DfE recommends that academies publish this online and make it available to anyone who requests it.
Review:
Governing bodies can decide how often to review this policy but the DfE recommends an annual review.
Approval:
The governing body or the proprietor can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
The DfE recommends that governing bodies review this annually.
Approval:
The governing body of a local-authority-maintained school or management committee can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body or an individual governor. Academies can set their own terms for approval.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
The DfE recommends that governing bodies review this annually.
Approval:
The governing body must ensure that the school is compliant.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
For local-authority-maintained schools, the governing body is free to decide how often you review. The DfE recommends that governing bodies review this annually. All other establishments may want to include this policy but should refer to general employment law.
Approval:
For local-authority-maintained schools – the governing body must not delegate responsibility for establishing their staff discipline, conduct, or grievance procedures.
For academies – the governing body is free to delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
This applies to all schools, colleges and further education institutions where early years education is delivered. They are linked to safeguarding policies.
Review:
This is a live document covering staff currently appointed. Schools should also maintain a single central record of pre-employment checks.
Approval:
The governing body of a local-authority-maintained school or a management committee of a PRU is generally free to delegate approval to:
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
Governing bodies can decide how often to review this policy but the DfE recommends an annual review.
Approval:
The governing body or the proprietor can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Academies and free schools have greater freedoms than maintained schools.
Schools must follow the statutory guidance when making pay award decisions and creating their pay policies.
Review:
This must be reviewed annually.
Approval:
The governing body or the local authority will need to approve.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
This should be reviewed every three years.
Approval:
The governing body or the proprietor can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
This should be reviewed and updated annually as a minimum.
Approval:
The governing body or the proprietor must approve.
The policy should be available publicly on the school or college website, or elsewhere.
Further guidance:
Our Hub article, Creating A Safeguarding Policy, contains a useful template.
Applies to:
Review:
The DfE recommends that governing bodies review this requirement annually.
Approval:
The governing body must approve.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Those delivering the EYFS are required to have policies and procedures on a range of issues covering safeguarding and welfare.
Schools are not required to have separate policies to cover EYFS requirements where they are already met through an existing policy.
An EYFS profile assessment is required for each child during the academic year they reach the age of 5 (for most children this is the reception year in primary school).
Nursery settings catering for children under the age of three must complete a summary check when a child is aged two.
Review:
Review frequency varies. Further details are available in the statutory guidance.
Approval:
The governing body can determine approval.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
The SEN information report should be updated annually, and if any changes to the information occur during the year, these should be updated as soon as possible.
Approval:
The full governing body or proprietor must approve.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
The governing body, proprietor, and management committee can decide how often this is reviewed. However, it should be regularly reviewed and readily accessible to parents and school staff.
Approval:
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
The governing body can decide how often this is reviewed. The DfE advises that this is reviewed annually.
Approval:
The governing body or the proprietor can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
The headteacher can decide how often this is reviewed. The DfE advises that this is reviewed annually.
Approval:
The headteacher can delegate approval for this.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Academies and free schools have greater freedoms than maintained schools.
Independent schools must ensure:
Review:
The governing body can decide how often this is reviewed. The DfE advises that this is reviewed annually.
Approval:
The full governing body or a committee of the governing body must approve this.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
The DfE advises that this is reviewed annually.
Approval:
The governing body or the proprietor can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
The governing body, proprietor, or local authority is free to decide how often it is reviewed. The DfE advises that governing bodies review this requirement annually.
Approval:
The employer can determine how to implement and approve.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
The DfE advises that governing bodies review this requirement annually.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
There are many aspects of school premises that require safe management and maintenance such as asbestos, fire safety, and statutory testing. Those with duties for maintaining school buildings should make sure that the policies, procedures, and the condition of the estate are compliant with appropriate legislation, including health and safety.
Independent schools, academies, and free schools have sole responsibility.
For local-authority-maintained schools, both local authorities and schools have responsibilities for the repair and maintenance of premises.
Review:
The DfE advises that governing bodies review this requirement annually.
Approval:
The governing body can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Applies to:
Review:
Under specific duties, governing bodies, local authorities, and proprietors are required to draw up and publish equality objectives every four years and publish information annually. They need to demonstrate how they are meeting the aims of the general public sector equality duty.
Approval:
The governing body can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Applies to:
Academies and free schools have greater freedoms than maintained schools. Although this requirement is not mandatory for academies, the DfE strongly advises academies to consider following the guidance.
Review:
For local-authority-maintained schools with a delegated budget, the governing body is free to decide how often schemes for paying governors’ allowances are reviewed. The DfE advises that this is reviewed annually.
(Where schools do not have a delegated budget, the local authority may pay allowances and expenses at a rate determined by them.)
Approval:
The governing body can delegate approval to a committee of the governing body, an individual governor, or the headteacher.
Applies to:
Review:
The governing body, proprietor, or local authority is free to decide how often it is reviewed. The DfE advises that governing bodies review this requirement annually.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Review:
This is a live document that should be updated as soon as possible after a change.
Approval:
The governing body can delegate approval subject to the local authority scheme.
Further guidance:
Applies to:
Schools must publish details of their careers programme for young people and their parents. They must also publish a statement setting out their arrangements for provider access.
Review:
The DfE advises that governing bodies review these annually.
In addition to the statutory policies, school leaders will want to produce a variety of discretionary policies to cover other areas of school life, including key curriculum areas.
The full list would depend on the setting, but some common ones include:
The following Hub articles contain guidance regarding additional policies:
Policies should be clear, informative, and concise. When writing any policy, you should
take your audience into account. Ensure that you do not use jargon and remove any ambiguous statements which could be misinterpreted.
You need to consider how to make your policies accessible. Depending on your setting, this might include providing translated materials, providing paper copies for those without internet or printer access, or making sure you follow good practice with regards to making communications dyslexia friendly, for example.
The actual writing of policies can be delegated to any member of staff – with approval being given in line with the specific requirements for each policy. For example, curriculum policies are often written by those responsible for that area of the curriculum.
For some policies there is a legal requirement for them to be published on the school website, however many schools decide to share all their policies online. This enables parents, and other individuals, such as prospective employees, to easily access the information. Bear in mind that you will need to offer written copies if requested.
A setting may wish to organise policies into handbooks or group policies together (for example PSHE and British Values often sit well together). Separate handbooks can be created for staff, students, parents, etc, each containing the relevant policies and documents.
Some statutory policies have specified review periods, as detailed in the drop downs above, whilst others are reviewed at the discretion of the leadership team. It is good practice to review all policies regularly. Each policy should state when that version was written and the date of the next pending review.
Reviewing policies ensures that the information remains up to date and in line with current legislation. For example, all relevant safeguarding policies should reflect regular changes in key guidance, such as Keeping Children Safe in Education (our Hub article is updated with key amendments as they are published).
Policies should be accessible, accurate records of a setting’s procedures, values, and expectations. These documents help all members of the school community to work together to create a safe and enriching learning and working environment for all.
