Check Your Ofsted Statutory Policies — Free Checklist for UK Schools

How to Use This Checklist

Work through the list and tick each policy your school has in place. The progress bar shows your coverage. Once you have completed the checklist, click “Show assessment” to see which statutory policies are missing and what legislation requires them.

Use the category filter to focus on specific areas — safeguarding, curriculum, governance, staffing, or data protection. Add notes to any item for your own records. Export the full checklist as a CSV spreadsheet.

Why This Matters for Ofsted

Ofsted inspectors expect statutory policies to be in place, current, and — for certain policies — published on your school website. Missing or outdated statutory policies contribute to a negative leadership and management judgement. Safeguarding policies receive particular scrutiny: an out-of-date child protection policy can lead to a “safeguarding is not effective” finding.

For review frequency guidance across different regulators, see How Often Should Policies Be Reviewed?

Keeping Policies Current

This checklist tells you whether a policy exists — but existence is only half the picture. Each policy also needs a review schedule, a named owner, and an approval record. Our Policy Review Schedule Generator helps you set up review dates with calendar reminders.