School profile

A School profile is a document which must be produced by most maintained schools in England, under the provisions of the Education Act 2005.

The profile replaces the requirement for school governors to produce an annual report to parents. The profile is, in part, pre-populated with data provided by the Department for Education and Skills and its agencies, including the Office for Standards in Education. This data includes standard information such as number of pupils and school type, and a summary of school performance in National Curriculum assessments.

In addition, schools and their governors are required to compile sections of the profile in answer to the questions as follows:

*What have been our successes this year?
*What are we trying to improve?
*How have our results changed over time?
*How are we making sure that every child receives teaching to meet their individual needs?
*How do we make sure our pupils are healthy, safe and well-supported?
*What have we done in response to our Ofsted report?
*How are we working with parents and the community?

Such profiles must be produced by all maintained schools in England, except for maintained nursery schools. Other school types are not required to produce a profile, although may elect to do so. The profile must be produced at least once in each academic year, with an updated profile being published by 31 July each year. Profiles are expected to be published on the SchoolsFinder website operated by the Department for Education and Skills, although as of January 2007 on-going technical problems had prohibited this in many cases.

External links

* [http://schoolsfinder.direct.gov.uk/ SchoolsFinder website]
* [http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/newrelationship/schoolprofile/ Teachernet Guidance on School Profiles]