Why Do Schools Have Policies and Procedures?

Educational bodies have the responsibility of teaching our future generation. From primary schools to colleges and universities, these institutions must be carefully managed and structured in order to function effectively.

Across England and Wales alone in 2021, there were 11.5 million schoolchildren and full-time students. This puts into perspective just how many individuals go to receive a high-quality education that will set them up for success in the future and pave the way to their professional careers. Therefore, it’s of vital importance that educational institutions function like a well-oiled machine.

One of the ways educational bodies ensure that they not only provide a good-quality education, but keep children, staff, and parents safe, is by using policies and procedures. By implementing these and putting them into practice, schools can rest assured that they are prioritising and meeting the needs of their students and staff so that they can thrive.

In this article, we explore the question of why schools have policies and procedures. This includes delving into what these policies and procedures might look like, why they’re important, and how they can be best created,implemented, and reviewed to support all those within school environments.

What Are Policies and Procedures in Schools?

Policies and procedures in schools are clearly and concisely written and documented expectations, structures, and processes that need to be understood and followed by both students and staff within an educational setting.

These policies in schools cover everything relating to school work and life, and are applicable to staff, students, parents, and even governors. Without policies and procedures in schools, these parties lack clarity on what they can expect school life to be like, as well as how everyone is expected to behave and the responsibilities that they have.

It’s important to say that all parties, whether parents, students, or staff, need to familiarise themselves with the relevant school policies and procedures if they are to play their part in nurturing a healthy and supportive educational environment.

What is the Purpose of Policies in Schools and Why Are They Important?

The purpose of policies and procedures in schools concern the four aforementioned parties that play core roles in educational environments: students, staff, parents, and governors. As such, the purpose of educational policies are collectively, or separately, applicable to these parties.

Policies and procedures in schools are critical for several reasons. On the whole, without the implementation of policies in schools, staff, students, parents, and other educational bodies would not be unified in their approach to make schools the best place they can be to support the future generation.

The purposes of policies in schools, and specific reasons why they are important, include the following:

Helping staff to effectively and efficiently carry out their role and responsibility of educating and protecting students.
Helping students to understand how they should behave and what is expected of them in order to get the most out of their educational experience
Ensures that everyone collectively understands how they need to act in a school environment and how the school operates day-to-day by offering a consistent and clearly outlined framework
Creates an environment in which both students and staff feel like they are safe and protected
Outlines the values of the school and what it stands for for all parties to see, especially parents, staff, educational bodies, and governors
Works to gain the attention of and attract staff students and parents to the school environment for work or education
Ensures that student welfare and safety is always maintained as a top priority, with several policies working independently to protect children and support staff to know how to do this

Types of Policies and Procedures in Schools

There are several types of school policies and procedures that relate to different aspects of school life as well as different figures in education, primarily staff and students. Many of these school policies are required by law in the UK. So, it’s critical that schools are outlining these educational policies clearly and concisely and sharing these with relevant individuals for their knowledge.

These school policies that are required by law are known as statutory policies. However, there are also curriculum policies - relating to areas of the educational curriculum - and discretionary policies, which refer to policies schools may want to implement but which aren’t required by law.

Some examples of types of policies in schools include:

Curriculum policy
School admissions policy
Complaints policy
School behaviour policy
Sex education policy
School policies about bullying
Special educational needs (SEN) policy
Equal opportunities policy
Health and safety policy
Staff discipline and grievance procedures
Performance management policy
Teachers pay and conditions
Child protection policy

Who Creates School Policies and How?

School policies can be created by anyone within a school environment who senior educational members perceive to be responsible to create them. Often, headteachers may ask a specific member of staff to develop these school policies. It may be that this person has previous experience creating school policies, or has demonstrated an ability to be able to do so to a high standard.

In some cases though, some specific school policies may be more complex and sensitive in nature. In these instances, schools may want to gain more professional advice and guidance, such as from lawyers, before finalising any policies and sharing them with the wider school community.

How Do You Write School Policies?

When creating policies for schools, it’s important to ensure that they are written in a clear way that incorporates little to no jargon, making it easy for all readers to understand them. These school policies must also be concise - and so easy to grasp. If any specific terms need to be incorporated in a policy that a layman might not understand, make sure that its meaning is clarified to avoid misinterpretation or confusion among those aiming to understand the school policy.

Considering your audience is always crucial when writing school policies, and a big part of this is ensuring that policies in schools are accessible to everyone. Do some of your audience speak another language as their first language, with little understanding of english? In this case, you might want to consider translating a school policy so that it can be understood by everyone.

How Often Should School Policies Be Reviewed?

Depending on the school policies in question, there are different requirements for their renewal. For policies like the SEN report, child protection policy, and admission policy, these are all required to be reviewed annually.

There are other policies that require reviewing less frequently. For example, the data protection policy only needs to be reviewed every two years. The accessibility policy needs to be reviewed even less frequently after three years. In other cases, school policies are expected to be regularly reviewed, but the exact frequency of this is determined by a group of governors or the head teacher of the school.

Whenever a school policy is reviewed, it is essential that any new information is updated in the policy immediately for everyone to see. Dates should be set for reviewing school policies in plenty of advance to ensure they are being regularly reviewed every year or few years.

However, if there are any particular changes to a school environment, such as new technologies or IT systems being introduced, it’s important that (even if the policies in schools are not due for a renewal) that they are renewed to account for these changes.

It is good policy to ensure that a school is reviewing its policies and processes regularly to continue to support everyone within a school system.

How Should School Policies Be Enforced and Communicated to Staff, Pupils, and Parents?

When it comes to making your school policies available for all to see, you might want to consider putting them in a dedicated place on your school website. However, for those who might need a paper copy of the policies in schools if they don’t have access to the internet, you should have these on hand for when they’re requested.

There are some school policies that are required by law to be displayed on a school’s website. By good practice though, it may be useful to have all policies and procedures available online for staff, parents, and students to refer to when they need to.

Often, older students are also given a student handbook, which can act as a useful resource and reference for pupils to use to know exactly what school policies are applicable to them specifically, and how they are expected to behave and act in their learning environment. For younger students, having a more illustrative format of this - using pictures and diagrams - can be more effective.

FAQs

Why Is It Important That Your School Has An Acceptable Use Policy?

An acceptable use policy - also known as an AUP - is a policy implemented in schools to hold students, teachers, and parents accountable for using technology responsibly. As such, it’s important for your school to have an AUP to make sure everyone is using the internet safely for the protection of themselves and those around them, and to protect school data. AUPs should be just one consideration in a larger safety framework within schools.

What Are The Benefits of Acceptable Use Policy?

AUPs have several benefits. They not only stop users from accessing unauthorised or inappropriate sites, but they also should prevent them from making any private or confidential data for themselves, the school, or fellow students accessible to others. Overall, by having an acceptable use policy, schools put in place a core measure to protect themselves from people behaving in a way that could compromise their data and reputation.

What Is A Health and Safety Policy in Schools?

A health and safety policy in schools holds staff and other professionals in the workplace accountable for:

Identifying hazards in schools
Assessing the risk hazards pose to people within a school environment
Putting in place measures swiftly to control or mitigate hazards

A school health and society policy must hold the health and wellbeing of any persons within, or visiting, a school environment at the forefront of its principles.

Summary

Thanks to policies and procedures in schools, thorough standards remain in place to protect all those who work, learn, or visit school environments. Not only this, but these school policies and procedures ensure that everyone is aware of the expectations and responsibilities that that have within a learning environment, and teaches them how to act for the protection and wellbeing of all.

We hope that this article has helped you to understand why schools have policies and procedures, as well as highlighted aspects of how policies and procedures are created, who is responsible for them, and what typical policies and procedures in schools are.

Our Safeguarding in Education Training for School Staff is a crucial training programme for anyone in education to understand how best to safeguard their students. Created with the latest safeguarding legislation and guidance at the forefront of its design, staff can explore safe learning practices in education settings as well as specific safeguarding issues and how to act accordingly.