This year, possibly more than ever before, there has been greater demand put on schools to ensure they’re maintaining effective communication with parents and guardians. The school’s website and mobile app is an essential part of this.
School Jotter 3 is the biggest upgrade we’ve made to our school website and app software in recent years, making it easier than ever to keep parents engaged.
Sean Gilligan, Founder & CEO of Webanywhere said: “School Jotter 3 is the most advanced solution we’ve created and has been built combining the expertise of our development team, with feedback from customers. We’ve already had a number of pre-orders from schools who are excited to use such an intuitive platform, and we’re delighted to be rolling School Jotter 3 out to school’s all over the country, starting this month.”

Arthur Howie, Product Lead for School Jotter added: “The feedback we’ve received from customers has been invaluable in helping us to create School Jotter 3, which will be suited to schools of all types. Whether you’re an individual school or a multi-academy trust, we can create a beautifully designed website and mobile app, which is a breeze to update and maintain.”
One of the first customers to see School Jotter 3, Lindsey Caplan from Irlam Primary School, said: “Everything I’d have liked to see streamlined on our school website has been built into School Jotter 3. Building and editing pages has really improved, with far fewer clicks. I can really see this update saving us time, and making it much easier for other people in the school to become involved in managing our website.”
If your school is interested in using School Jotter 3 for your website and mobile app needs, find out more here, or speak directly to one of our education consultants by calling 0113 3200 750.

School websites have become a vital communication tool during the covid-19 pandemic. Despite the inevitable disruption, the team here at School Jotter is available for new sales queries and to offer advice and support to our current schools. Contact us using all the usual channels – details here.

Many schools have been using this time to update their websites. For some, it’s been a simple case of ensuring information is up to date, while other schools have chosen to give their website a complete overhaul or even rebuilt from scratch to provide a brand new portal providing information and resources to parents, children and other visitors. 

Summer is often the time when schools open their doors to potential new students and their families, but opportunities to visit in person are going to be limited this year. A good website can showcase your school and provide insight into its culture and ethos, making it easier for parents and children to make the best choice possible. 

We’ve put together a list of some of our favourite School Jotter websites from 2020. Have a look at the sites below – perhaps they will give you some inspiration for your own website!

Some of the best primary school websites in the UK include: Lindley Junior School, All Saints Church of England Primary School, West Acton Primary School, Woodlea Primary School and many more.

Lindley Junior School – 

www.lindleyjun.org.uk/
It’s easy to see why this school’s website made the list! The animated logo is welcoming, and the amazing drone footage immediately draws you in and gives you a unique perspective of the school grounds and facilities. Seeing the children so engaged in play gives you a really good feel for the school without the need for a physical visit. The school’s identity is strongly represented through the use of colours and images, the site is easy to navigate, and the homepage has all the important information you need, including contact details and latest news updates. 

All Saints Church of England Primary School – 

https://www.all-saints.oxon.sch.uk/
This website also makes good use of colour – there are splashes of green all over the site, giving it a clear and cohesive look. Finding your way around the site is straightforward – the navigation bar is constantly visible at the top of every page, and the calendar at the bottom of the homepage is an easy way for parents to find out what’s going on at a moment’s notice. The large images on the homepage serve two purposes – they are a fun way to showcase the school, and they guide visitors to important pages.

West Acton Primary School – 

https://www.westactonprimaryschool.org/
West Acton make great use of quick links on their no-scroll homepage, showcasing easy navigation as well as great pictures of the school right on the homepage. It doesn’t stop there either – with the rest of the site jam-packed with information around the school. With videos added to many of the inner pages, West Acton Primary’s website gives a truly virtual experience to prospective parents and makes information available easily to current parents. 

Woodlea Primary School – 

https://www.woodlea.durham.sch.uk
Woodlea Primary School’s website takes quite a different approach to the first two websites on our list. Rather than scrolling down the homepage to find what you need, all the information is accessible from a single screen, with pop-ups along the bottom of the page taking you to key areas. It’s a simple yet sleek look using Lion, one of our deluxe themes – you can see this and more deluxe templates at themes.schooljotter2.com .

Bushy Hill Junior School – 

https://www.bushy-hill.surrey.sch.uk
This website uses another of our deluxe School Jotter templates yet has a completely different look and feel to all the other sites on the list. The aerial photo that greets you provides a wonderful overview of the school’s facilities, and the homepage includes a calendar, latest news, and photo links to the areas parents are most likely to visit on a regular basis. 

Rufford Park Primary School – 

https://www.ruffordparkprimary.org.uk
The final website on our list is different in that it’s bespoke – that is, rather than using an existing template, the theme was specially designed for the school. There’s no scrolling on the homepage; instead, it showcases a single large photograph, along with pop-outs for latest news and events, which is a great way to highlight a specific aspect of your school.  There’s a wealth of information tucked away under the navigation menu, yet the site looks clean and uncluttered.
We hope our list has given you some inspiration about how you can update your school website to showcase it to both current and potential families. Whether you choose a template or a custom theme, there’s a design in School Jotter to suit every school’s needs.

Every parent wants to send their child to the best primary school, but how do they know which will help get their little one’s education off to a great start?
Research is a crucial part of the selection process, and school websites are a common first port of call. All primary schools must invest in a polished, professional site that both makes a powerful first impression on parents and provides a competitive edge over other local schools.
Choosing the right company to build your website is essential — and below, we explore what factors make the best school website design providers.

The provider must understand your school’s individual needs

A great website design provider works closely with clients, to gain a clear insight into the primary school’s goals, character and values. The more the team knows about a school and its ethos, the better it can represent them online.
Of course, there are certain fundamental elements of website design that work brilliantly for all primary schools. These include:

• Simple, user-friendly navigation
• A personal welcome from the headteacher to build trust
• Information on what makes the school unique
• A clear menu structure
• Educational resources (performance in league tables, assessment results etc.)
• A guide to the school’s values and goals
• A welcoming tone / personality
• Contact details
• Fast load times, especially on mobile devices
• Responsive design
• Quality images and videos

However, each of these factors has to be incorporated into the school website in an organic but relevant way. No two school sites should be identical.
Asking questions and listening to the school’s leaders is vital: a reliable web design provider will have a true passion for satisfying the client.

A portfolio of live websites is key

Working with an experienced primary school website design provider will help you attract parents and should have a selection of live sites to show you. If they don’t, you’re right to be wary.
This is the same as hiring an artist with no completed paintings or a baker without any cakes to prove their talent: you want to trust that the people you’re employing know what they’re doing.
Reviewing the company’s previous work is a simpler, faster way to assess their credentials than reading a lengthy proposal. Even if it’s a brand new provider, they should have example non-client sites they created to demonstrate their skills.
Take time to explore the live sites and pay attention to your user experience. Was the website well-organised and easy to use? Was there plenty of valuable information and visual content?
Only choose a provider you genuinely feel satisfied with. Don’t be pressured into a decision or go for the cheapest option.

Practical experience matters

Following on from the above, good experience is just as important as a solid portfolio. The more primary schools the provider has worked with, the better their service is likely to be.
Why? Because they’ll have a stronger grasp of what constitutes a great school site. They’ll be well-versed in important elements of education-website design. And, because they’ll know just how crucial it is to sell your school as the best choice for parents.
Any prospective provider you’re considering should be transparent about its background and previous clients. The team may present testimonials on their website and be happy for you to contact schools they worked with in the past.
Speaking to former clients provides reassurance and helps you judge the company’s suitability.

Your primary school website designers should have a strong online presence

Just as your primary school needs an online presence, so too does your prospective website design provider.
Be wary of any team that offers no contact details or a physical address; if they invite communications through an online submission form only, that could mean they will be hard to reach in the future.
And that’s unacceptable if you find your primary school website isn’t working right — or is down altogether — one morning.
Make sure your chosen company is dedicated to great customer service and offers responsive support in the event of any technical problems.

Focus on the latest tools and techniques

When you hire professionals to build your primary school website, you expect professional results. And reliable website design providers should leverage the latest software, tools and platforms to maximise their performance.
Of course, they need to understand that you may not grasp what their work involves and be willing to talk you through it in a clear, accessible way. You should be made aware of their plans for your site, their progress, their schedule and any other important points.
Ideally, your provider will be keen to keep you in the loop and ensure your school website meets your specifications beautifully. If your site doesn’t align with your school’s needs, how do you expect it to attract parents?
A good provider will build a responsive website that offers all the information and resources people need to gauge your school’s suitability for their child.

A complete end-to-end service

At Webanywhere, our expert team has built outstanding websites for many primary schools, delivering bespoke services tailored to each client’s unique needs. Thousands of schools have benefitted from our services since 2003, and we’re happy to work around your own schedule for maximum convenience.
We never charge by the hour for support or consultation. We have the tools, the training and the drive to take your primary school website from the initial design stage to launch — and beyond! Webanywhere’s team will keep your site live and updated for years to come.
Our developers will enhance all content on your site for optimal impact on users and search engines alike, helping your school reach the right people. It’s an exciting process and you’ll stay fully-informed throughout, for your complete peace of mind. We always take quality service seriously, and are committed to 100% satisfaction.
Do you want to learn more about Webanywhere’s bespoke primary school website design? Just click below to get in touch!

Webanywhere’s school mobile app, School Jotter, is trending on the Apple App Store as one of the best Education apps in the market.
School Jotter, a UK school mobile app has been trending at #16 for Education on the Apple app store. The app is increasingly gaining popularity thanks to its ability to connect primary school teachers with parents. School Jotter as the most downloaded school mobile app in the UK is also available in multiple markets including the USA, New Zealand, Australia and more.
The user friendly School Jotter mobile app became a hit with schools as they use it to contact parents and share their latest news, events and updates. Cool features such as push notifications, school calendars and instant communication with parents to name a few are included in this app.
Schools can contact and be contacted by individuals and groups of parents for free, reducing the amount spent on reprographics as school communications like Headteachers’ newsletters can be accessed via the app. With school budgets being reduced, the app helps schools to be more efficient and save time and money.

Currently, there are over 100,000 people using it in the UK making it the most popular school website and communications mobile app in the country. On top of that, School Jotter has received over 100 of 5-star reviews from parents on Google Play describing it as the best method of communication between school and parent.
“Best form of communication when you don’t always get letter on time from the kids, the calendar is fab!” a user wrote.
“Much easier than trying to keep on top of letter that teachers stick in the kids school bags.” said another user.
The School Jotter mobile app has the ability to automatically sync with a school website, meaning this is quick, easy to implement and can transform parental engagement. Using the app is so simple that even the least tech-savvy teachers can update it.
As Ofsted is becoming more and more focused on parental communication and engagement, the School Jotter app makes sure schools effectively meet the requirements that helps them get an outstanding rating.
This application is built by Webanywhere and is part of the School Jotter suite of products. To find out more visit https://www.schooljotter.com/ or call them on 0113 320 0750.

Here at Webanywhere, we offer bespoke school web design and development services that provide schools with unique and highly functional websites, which are scalable, tailored to their needs, and are intended to offer the best user experience possible.
If your target is to generate a strong and unforgettable online brand image for your school, there is a plethora of benefits that come from investing in a bespoke school website.
In this article, we’ll discuss why a bespoke web design offers a more sustainable, professional advantage to your school in the long term.

Superiority Of Custom School Web Design

Your school website needs a personality, and designers will help you come up with a personalised solution, from start to finish. Important factors to consider include navigation, ease of use, layout, graphics and a color scheme.
Since a custom design site is built specifically for your needs, you gain more independence and control. You won’t have to worry about trying to adapt it to suit your purposes as you would with a standard school web design. As long as you are working with a good design team, they will be around to provide ongoing support.

Responsive Design

Responsive websites are designed to give users the best possible experience across all modern computers, tablets, smartphones, and internet ready devices.
In the last decade, mobile data traffic has increased 3000%, this is expected to increase by over 400% by 2021.
Think of the amount of times that you check your phone each day… How often do you use your phone to Google something or check on social media?
80% of internet user own a smartphone and there are more mobile users than desktop users. People have much shorter attention spans and will not give a website a second chance if it has a slow load time or will not display properly on their mobile device. Why should they? We live in a consumer savvy society in which people are used to online instant gratification thanks to technology.
On average, we spend three hours a day glued to our smartphones. A recent Huffington Post study showed that responsive websites saw a 37% increase in unique visitors and a 50% increase in time people spend on pages.

SSL Certificates are a Must

Whenever you use the internet, you are sharing packets of information. This might be something seemingly small, like a request for the contents of a website to be sent to your browser. It might be something more important, like details of a bank card. Every time you click on a link or fill in a form, you share a little bit of information and you get a bit back.
For websites without SSL certification, this information is not encoded. If someone intercepts it then they can read the information you have sent. The growth of wireless networks and mobile browsing has created more possibilities for interception than ever before.
SSL is important because it lets people use your website more safely. Those packets of information, however big or small, can’t be read if they are intercepted.
This has a lot of implications for a school website.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search engine optimization or SEO in short, is a set of rules that can be followed by website owners to optimize their websites for search engines and thus improve their search engine rankings. For example, if a parent searches for your school on Google you want your website to appear first in search results.

1. To make sure this happens, just follow these steps:
2. Check your site’s health on Google Search Console.
3. Submit your sitemap to Google.
4. Take a good look at your title tags.
5. Make sure your meta descriptions are snappy and engaging.
6. Check for keyword cannibalisation.
7. Claim your Google My Business listing.
8. Link to high-authority websites.
9. Share your knowledge in blog posts.
10. Add alt tags to your images. Above all, focus on search intent and user experience.

Support and Security

Ensuring that you keep all software up to date is crucial in keeping your school website secure. This software includes the server operating system and also any CMS or forum software that is used on your site. Hackers can work their way into your website and cause trouble through outdated software.
Your web hosting company should take care of your operating system security updates.
It’s very important to use strong passwords for both your server and website admin areas. It’s equally as important to ask your web users to ensure that their passwords are strong. This will help them to protect the security of their accounts.
If you allow users to upload files to your website, it can be a big website security risk, even if it’s simply to change their avatar. The risk is that any file uploaded however innocent it may look, could contain a script that when executed on your server completely opens up your website.

The Bottom Line

So a bespoke school website should have a unique and true responsive design – not emulated. You will need an expert development and design team, such as Webanywhere, to support and assist you with this.
True scalability and the ability to integrate any online technology (as it becomes available) are a must as well as security from common vulnerabilities.
Most importantly, you need an optimised solution that is light, fast and responsive, and of course good value for money.

As a school, your school web design is your first impression. That means it’s also where your conversion opportunity lies – if you want to attract new parents/guardians and increase enrollment, having a remarkable website is the best place to start.
There’s nothing wrong with having a school website that looks similar to others, but you need to stand out among your competitors in some way. This is why in this article we’ll be discussing the 2018 trends of school web design.

The key components of a school website

To make your school website complete and perfect in 2018, you need the following key components.

• Unique and eye catching design
• Ofsted requirements (Download a checklist here.)
• GDPR compliance
• Responsive mobile friendly web pages
• Search engine optimisation (SEO)
• Contact page with an email form
• Map showing your location
• Availability and Booking system
• High quality hosting

Each website is unique, but the successful ones generally follow a winning formula that contains the above elements.

Directing visitors towards the most important bits

Understanding influential visual cues will allow you to come up with a persuasive design that guides parents’ eye flow for maximum conversions.
Start with prioritising your website goals for a good visual hierarchy. List key points that visitors want to see on the school website. Then, prioritise and arrange them according to their visual importance.
You can use two types of directional cues to help you direct visitors towards the most important bits. Explicit cues take the form of arrows or lines while implicit cues use imagery to subtly direct your prospect’s gaze.

The principle of contrast

Contrast is defined as the difference between two or more elements. It creates visual interest and directs the attention of the user. Here’s an example of a school website that uses contrast.
If all of the elements on a school web page were the same in style and appearance there would be no organisation or hierarchy and the content would be nearly impossible to digest.
This makes contrast an essential part of effective school web design. It takes practice to learn and create the right amount of contrast in your designs but you can start by studying the work of talented designers to see how they use contrast.

Use User Stories to Build Your Website

A user story is a very short story – usually, about one sentence long, that describes something that the user wants to accomplish by using a service.
A good user story should be simple, engaging and accessible to a range of audiences, for example, young parents to old parents.
Stories can be written, drawn, spoken, or recorded. They are a powerful tool throughout multiple stages of the design process and can help persuade your audience.

Less can sometimes be more

Minimal web design doesn’t compromise your creative cutting edge. Your website doesn’t have to be too cluttered or glossy.
Visitors value a minimalist interface when navigating your school website as well as your social media pages.
Apply minimalist principles to make your school web design attractive and effective with fewer elements, simplifying and improving users’ online interactions. Check out examples here.

Implementing psychological motivators

Having a complete understanding of your audience will help you trigger the desired behaviour and increase enrollment.
There are some motivating factors that drive behaviour or key interactions on your school website. For example, the motivation analysis of your audience might reveal that parents in your area are curious, young and intelligent.
Be smart and create relevant content for your audience on your website. This is how you will convince them to choose your school over other schools in the area.

Responsiveness is key to a conversion centered design

Responsive school web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behaviour and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation.
As the spectrum of screen sizes and resolutions is widening every day, creating a different version of a school website that targets each individual device is not practical. The solution is a responsive web design for your school.
The number of users web browsing on mobile devices increases by 25% every year and mobile is the number one choice of device for accessing the Internet and social media.
With a responsive school web design, you will enable people using multiple devices (smartphones, tablets, desktops) to view your website properly.

Try before you buy

There are many school web design providers that allow schools to test out websites for free before deciding whether they want to pay for them. With School Jotter, you can start a free trial for 15 days!
Buying a website before trying it can be a big mistake that will affect your budget and the school community.

If you are after an outstanding school website, Webanywhere can help you using our School Jotter website builder. Join over 4,000 schools in the UK that use School Jotter websites, mobile apps and educational software.

The world of videography is changing rapidly with the introduction of affordable drones in the market. Their ability to carry HD cameras and fly over inaccessible areas makes them ideal for capturing amazing photos and videos. Total drone unit sales climbed to 2.2 million worldwide in 2017, and revenue surged 36% to $4.5 billion, according to research firm Gartner.
You have probably seen websites that already use drone footage on their homepage. This is becoming a trend now with more and more website owners being able to afford such unique and stunning graphics.
The most obvious advantage of a homepage with drone footage is that it grabs people’s attention. If you are a school looking to attract parents with your website there’s nothing you could add to your page that is more attractive than showing video footage of your school facilities and students playing, exercising or studying.

Adding Drone Footage to your Homepage

Drone footage is extremely customizable. If you use a school website provider that has their own drone, you have the opportunity to incorporate exactly the kind of footage you need for your school. You can tailor the material you get to your school’s brand, or your school website provider can do this for you.
If you are planning to purchase a drone for your school to create videos, you will need to get a drone licence from a CAA approved provider.

How to tell a story with your drone footage

Using drone footage is an ideal way to tell a unique story about your school. As you probably know stories usually follow the simple structure of: beginning – middle – end. Try and think of this structure in terms of daily school life. What do parents look for in a primary school? You should use this insight and respond to them with the right video shots. This will help you tell a story that parents can empathise with. It is the emotion within these stories that will resonate with the school community.

Examples of school websites using drone footage

St Margaret Ward Catholic Primary and Hawksworth Primary School are two of the first schools in the UK to use drone footage for their homepages. Webanywhere created the two websites using the leading school website builder, School Jotter.

As a result, the two websites attract more visitors and make the school community proud.
With a School Jotter website, it is easy to embed drone footage to your homepage without knowing how to code. School Jotter is known to be one of the easiest website builders to use and this is why more than 4,000 schools in the UK have School Jotter websites and mobile apps.

Webanywhere can help you create quality aerial footage of your school in the UK. We are known for our creativity, technical skills, and experience. Check out an example of a school website we recently created using drone footage and please feel free to contact us to discuss your next project. We look forward to hearing from you!

When designing or redesigning a school website, there are a myriad of things to consider. One of which is how accessible and user friendly the site will be on mobile and tablet devices.
Put simply, with over 55% of websites loaded on mobile devices rather than desktops, all school websites really must be responsive.
These figures will only start to rise as mobile and tablet devices become cheaper and more accessible across the world. This, coupled with a decline in laptop and desktop sales in comparison to smaller devices, means responsive design isn’t really a choice, it’s a given.

What is Responsive Design?

Responsive Web Design (RWD) is the industry leading, optimal approach to web design in the modern world. Responsive websites are designed to give users the best possible experience across all modern computers, tablets, smartphones, and internet ready devices. Websites designed responsively should scroll, read, and navigate without resizing or panning. The websites are designed and built to fit and function effectively, offering the same user experience across all devices.
You need your school website to be simple, easy to update, and amazing across all devices. It would be a mistake to take mobile and tablet usage statistics for granted. Your prospective pupils and their parents are searching for schools on their phones… Right Now!

Why is Responsive Design a Must?

Mobile Usage is on the Rise…
In the last decade, mobile data traffic has increased 3000%, this is expected to increase by over 400% by 2021.
Think of the amount of times that you check your phone each day… How often do you use your phone to Google something or check on social media?
80% of internet user own a smartphone. There are more mobile users than desktop users. People have much shorter attention spans and will not give a website a second chance if it has a slow load time or will not display properly on their mobile device. Why should they? We live in a consumer savvy society in which people are used to online instant gratification thanks to technology.
On average, we spend three hours a day glued to our smartphones. A recent Huffington Post study showed that responsive websites saw a 37% increase in unique visitors and a 50% increase in time people spend on pages.

Responsive Design Creates a Positive User Experience

In an ideal world, you want your school website to be well designed, well received, and easy to navigate. You want people to remember your website and to return to it or recommend it to a friend.
Responsive design helps with your website functionality across devices, leaving users feeling refreshed, and happy with their experience.
Think about the last time you viewed a sub-standard website and the way that this made you feel about the business that it was representing almost instantly.

Responsive Design Improves SEO

Sure, it’s great to have a functional website that looks great and displays all the information relevant to your school.
However, it’s not so great if nobody can find your website!
Ranking highly across search engines is an important part of any schools marketing plan as they always want to be seen ahead of competitors within their catchment area.
As of 2015, Google decided to favour responsive design for their mobile search results. Which makes sense if you think about it… Why would they favour unresponsive websites that won’t resize and display the correct information on mobiles and tablets?
Families near your school will be using their mobile phones to search for terms such as:
‘Best private schools near me’
‘Best school in my area’
‘Local primary schools’
So, you want to be listed in the top searches for these terms, therefore, it’s crucial that your school has a responsive website.
It’s not just Google that are reprimanding non-responsive sites in their search results, Facebook also favour responsive sites when displaying search results.
You don’t want to make it hard for your target audience to find your school. It’s in every school’s best interest to do what they can to make their website excellent, responsive, and SEO optimized.

Have Your Website Prepared for the Future

One of the best things about investing in responsive design for your website is that it will fully adapt to devices of the future.
As more and more people purchase smart watches and access the internet through large televisions and interfaces, your website will fit to their screens.
RWD doesn’t adapt by the type of device that you are using, it adapts to resolution and screen size, think of it like water pouring into different vessels.

Social Media Increases Mobile Traffic

Social media contributes to over 33% of website traffic and more than 55% of social media consumption happens on mobile devices.
The majority of this traffic comes from apps or social media advertising… Therefore, if you are using social media to drive traffic to your website… The website must be responsive… Otherwise you’re sending people to a site that won’t work properly on their mobile devices.
What a waste of advertising revenue! What a way to make your school look backwards!
All of this must be considered seriously when you make the commitment to your school and your team by investing in a design or redesign of your existing school website.

It is now a legal requirement for all Multi-Academy Trust schools in the UK to provide training providers access to pupils in years eight to thirteen.
In a push for awareness of non-academic routes of education, the ‘Baker Clause’ requires all schools to publish a policy statement on their website setting out their arrangements for provider access.
Introduced by former education secretary Lord Baker in May 2017, this law is an amendment to the ‘Technical and Further Education Act’.
The actual legal obligation for all trusts to publish a provider access statement came into action on January 2nd of this year, but has proven to be adopted slowly across the education industry.
Certain Multi Academy Trusts have been accused of resisting the promotion of non-vocational courses to their pupils, often preferring the promotion of more traditional educational subjects and academic courses.
However, Lord Baker has stressed the importance of fair access for all pupils as they reach important ‘transition points’ in their educational journeys. This is particularly relevant at the ages of 14, 16, and 18 years old when important academic decisions are being made, carving the pathways to further education or vocational careers.

What the statement should include:

The policy statement has to include procedures for accommodating access requests as well as details of the premises and facilities that will be provided.
Pupils and their parents need clear access to an online platform that will list all of the options available for pursuing vocational training courses and the providers of such courses. It should also list the facilities, transportation, and requirements needed for successful attendance and completion of such courses.

Multi-academy trusts fail to implement Baker clause

In a January article, Further Education Week published an article providing evidence that just two of the 10 largest multi-academy trusts in the UK had complied with the legal duty outlined in the Baker Clause.
By the end of January, of ten trusts investigated, only The Kennel Academies Trust and Delta Academies Trust had responded with a copy of their statements and proof that they had published them on their school websites.
Some Academies admitted to FEW that they had prepared a document to upload onto their websites, blaming time constraints and busy periods over Christmas for lack of publication. Others declined to comment when questioned as part of the FEW investigations.

Vocational qualifications to come under greater scrutiny

In 2014, Ofqual announced that it would remove accreditation and change the way vocational courses were regulated in order to improve quality across England and Northern Ireland.
This move was decided so that more openings would become available for a number of potential school leavers across the UK. With vocational courses focusing on design, delivery and awarding as opposed to entry requirements and accreditation.
Ongoing studies have claimed that future generations of school leavers should turn their backs on university education and opt for a more vocational pathway, preparing them for a trade as opposed to an academic degree.
In the UK, there has been a sharp rise in the projected number of medium and low skilled jobs, whilst across some industries there has been a decline in demand for university graduates across the board.
Another 2014 study claimed that two thirds of jobs created by 2022 will be in low or medium skilled occupations that do not demand a degree as a requirement.
This equates to more than 9 million school leavers, therefore the demand for vocational courses and access to such courses is expected to increase rapidly.
However, the most ‘in-demand’ occupation of the future will be linked to health and social care as rising numbers of school leavers are needed to care for the aging population in the UK.

DofE Statutory Guidelines

The Department of Education has stated that the reason the ‘Baker Clause’ has been pushed into UK law is that all pupil should have a clear idea of the range of routes into the workplace. This is so that each individual has the opportunity to make educated and informed decisions about their future, with confidence.
To enforce the ‘Baker Clause’ The DofE published statutory guidelines for schools across the UK on January 2nd 2018. These guidelines clearly stated that schools have to provide opportunities for technical education and apprenticeship providers to talk to pupils, and to publish a statement on their website.
In 2017 the Telegraph Education published the findings of a new report which claims that the number of degree apprentices in the UK is to increase by 650%.

Degree apprenticeships

Degree apprenticeships were introduced UK wide in 2015 and enable applicants to split their time between their universities to study, and the workplaces in industries in which they will eventually be employed. The cost of course fees are split between the Government and employers.
A range of employers of varying sizes are already partnering with universities across the UK to work with these degree apprenticeships.
Some of the brands involved include Mercedes-Benz, Nestle, IBM, Airbus, and Transport for London.
A Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) is a single entity established to undertake a strategic collaboration to improve and maintain high educational standards across a number of schools. A group of schools form a single MAT which has overarching responsibility for their governance.
It’s unclear how long it will take for all UK Multi-Academy trusts to obey the educational laws and publish a policy statement on their websites. However, it is a legal requirement and trusts could face penalties if they fail to comply with government set standards.

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