What schools are asked to do

• Have a music development plan, as set out in the .
• Publish a summary of it on the school website (first due before the 2024 to 2025 academic year).
• Update that summary before the start of each new academic year.

The template itself is not mandatory and schools can adapt it, for example by splitting it by key stage. Your local can help you write yours.

How to use this example: the school, names and partners below are invented. Swap in your own details, keep the four headings (curriculum music, co-curricular music, musical experiences, in the future), and write for parents: plain language, concrete times and costs, and what pupils actually get.

Music development plan summary: Oakfield Primary School (example)

Overview

This summary sets out how Oakfield Primary School delivers music education, in line with the . It covers what we offer this year, what we plan for future years, and how we work with Northshire Music Hub. It is written for parents, carers and pupils, and for anyone who wants to know more about music at Oakfield.

Part A: Curriculum music

This is about what we teach in lesson time.

Every class at Oakfield has at least one hour of music each week, made up of a timetabled lesson plus singing in class and assembly. Our curriculum follows the national curriculum for music and is informed by the DfE’s non-statutory Model Music Curriculum.

How music is taught

• Lessons are taught by class teachers, supported by our music lead, using a planned scheme that builds year on year.
• Pupils listen to and talk about a wide range of music, from classical and film music to pop, jazz and music from around the world.
• Singing is part of every lesson, and the whole school sings together in a weekly singing assembly.
• Pupils record and share their work, so they can hear how they have progressed.

Supporting all pupils

Lessons are adapted so that every pupil can take part. This includes adapted instruments and beaters, visual and symbol-supported notation, ear defenders where helpful, and extra adult support. Our music lead works with our SENCo to plan for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Qualifications and awards

Pupils who take instrumental lessons can work towards graded exams through their tutor. Year 4 pupils taking part in whole-class ukulele receive a certificate from Northshire Music Hub at the end of the year.

Part B: Co-curricular music

This is about opportunities for pupils to sing and play music outside of lesson time.

Pupils can sing and play outside lessons in free school ensembles and in paid instrumental lessons, with help available for families who need it.

Help with costs

Pupils eligible for pupil premium, and children looked after, can have instrumental lessons free of charge. Other families facing hardship can apply to Northshire Music Hub’s remissions scheme; our school office can help with this.

Instruments and practice space

Pupils can borrow an instrument from the hub for their first year of lessons. Our music room is available before school and at lunchtime for pupils to rehearse and practise.

Progression beyond Oakfield

We signpost pupils to Northshire Music Hub’s Saturday music centre and area ensembles, so they can keep playing and play with pupils from other schools.

Part C: Musical experiences

This is about all the other musical events and opportunities that we organise.

Every pupil performs at least once a term and sees live music at least once a year, at no cost to families unless shown below.

Every week

• A whole-school singing assembly.
• Live music played as pupils enter and leave assembly, often performed by pupils.
• A “piece of the week” that pupils listen to and talk about in class.

In the future

This is about what the school is planning for subsequent years.

Over the next two years we will widen the range of instruments pupils can learn and give more pupils the chance to keep playing after Year 4.

We will review these plans with pupils, parents and the hub each summer, and update this summary before the start of each academic year.

Further information (optional)

To find out more about music at Oakfield, contact our music lead, Mrs J. Patel, through the school office. Northshire Music Hub’s website lists instrumental lessons, area ensembles and its local plan for music education, and explains how to apply for help with costs.

Tips for writing your own Music Development Plan

The national plan sets out seven features of high-quality school music. Readers of your summary will look for them, so make sure each one is easy to find. Here is where this example covers each.

Common gaps to avoid

• Leaving the DfE’s guidance text in the published page. The template asks you to delete it before publishing.
• Saying “opportunities are offered where appropriate” instead of naming the club, day and cost.
• Leaving out costs and the help available. Parents want to know what they will pay.
• Forgetting the review date, then not updating the summary before the new academic year.
• Not saying how pupils with SEND take part.

Final Note on writing your Music Development Plan

This post is just an example to use as you wish, please double check all information and that the requirements requested by the DfE are all met.

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The importance of clear headings

The top-level headings in your school website’s navigation menu must be instantly recognizable and intuitive. Vague or overly-clever language is no help to good navigation. Your users should know exactly where they’re going before they click. Don’t forget even Ofsted trawl through your website, make it easy for them.

Here are some best practices for main headings:

• Be Direct: Use common, simple terms that cover a broad category, such as “Parents”, “Admissions”, “About Us” and “Contact”.
• Focus on the User: Consider what your primary audiences are looking for. Parents are likely searching for calendars and resources, while prospective families need admissions information.
• Limit the Options: Keep the number of main menu items manageable—ideally between five and seven. Too many choices overwhelm the user and cna cause your menu to wrap over multiple lines.

If you find this a little challenging then look at what other schools are doing or a bit of advice we often give is to target your main stakeholders (Staff, Students, Parents/Carers, Ofsted and the local community).

Utilizing submenus in your school website menu

Once a user clicks a main heading, a well-structured submenu acts as the map for that specific section. This is where you organize all the detailed pages within that category. Submenus are essential for avoiding a chaotic dumping ground of links under a single heading or pages containing mountains of content.

By using submenus, you can neatly group related information, making it easier for a user to scan and locate a specific document or page.

Consider how a “Parents” section can be structured:

• Parents
  • Term Dates
  • Admissions
  • School Lunches
  • Uniform
  • Letters Home
  • Safeguarding

The links above are all pieces of information that we have grouped as being of interest to parents/carers. Our schools at the Astrea Trust are a perfect example and they consistently use this structure across the trust – .

Tips for a well-managed navigation menu

To maintain a pristine navigation system, follow these actionable tips:

1. Conduct an Audit: Go through every menu item and ask: “Is this necessary? Is the title clear? Is this the most logical place for this link?”
2. Use Descriptive Link Text: Instead of a generic link like “Click Here,” use specific text like “View 2026-2027 Academic Calendar.”
3. Review Regularly: School offerings and policies change. Schedule a review of your website’s menu structure every six months, perhaps around the start of a new semester.
4. Get External Feedback: Have a parent, a new teacher, or even a community member try to find specific information (like the lunch menu or the school’s mission statement) and note where they struggle.

A clear, well-structured navigation menu is the silent workhorse of your school’s website, it is one of the key steps of designing a new school website. It minimizes user frustration, enhances accessibility, and ensures that vital information is found quickly and efficiently. Make managing this core element a priority—your community will thank you for it!

If you need any further help with your main menu take a look at our simple guide for managing it .

The post Why Your School Website Menu Matters appeared first on realsmart.

Before starting the setup process contact realsmart support team to ensure the correct APIs are in place.

The Google Guardian feature connects parents and guardians to students Classroom information.
Because guardians are not members of the student’s School domain they must receive an invitation using their own email address. After they accept the invitation they become Classroom guardian.

Once you have synced your Guardians to realsmart you can then review them and select which to sync to google as there may be some that have requested NOT to be synced

Once approved you’ll see the addresses move from ‘Parent Emails Available’ to ‘Parent Emails to Provision’ lists.

If you want to remove a parent in the future just tick and use the ‘Disapprove Parents Emails’ button.

Once you are happy that the ‘Parent Emails to Provision’ list is complete hit the ‘Start Classroom Data Sync’ Button which will start the sync to google.

Within 24hrs parents will recieve an automated email invitation from google, as below. The parent or guardian just needs to hit ‘Accept Invite’

Only once they have accepted the invitation will they become a Google Guardian.

The parent will then get the option for how regularly they want to receive summaries or non at all.

Contact realsmart support if you need any help setting up your guardians to Google Classroom sync.

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Getting your website seen by search engines (like Google) can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. This is where a sitemap comes in – it’s a super important, though often an overlooked part of managing your website. Think of a sitemap not just as a technical detail, but as a detailed map for your website. It guides those search engine “robots” (called crawlers) and helps them understand what your website is all about and how it’s organised therefore making it easier to present in a results page.

What is a Sitemap?

Simply put, a sitemap is a file that lists all the important pages on your website that you want search engines to find and include in their search results. Imagine it like the table of contents for a really big book, but for your entire website! There are two main types:

• XML Sitemaps: These are specifically made for search engines. They’re written in a special code (XML) and tell search engines extra details about each page, such as when it was last updated, how often it changes, and how important it is compared to other pages on your site.
• HTML Sitemaps: These are lists of links that people can read and use. While not as crucial for search engine optimisation (SEO) as they once were, an HTML sitemap can still be helpful for visitors trying to navigate very large or complicated websites.

What are the benefits of having a sitemap?

1. Helps Search Engines Find and Understand Your Pages

This is probably the biggest reason to have a sitemap. Search engine bots explore the internet by following links from one page to another. Even though they’re incredibly smart, they can sometimes miss pages – especially on brand-new websites, sites with confusing layouts, or pages that are buried deep within your site. A sitemap clearly tells search engines: “Hey, here are all the pages I want you to know about!”

2. Gives Visibility to “Lost” Pages

“Orphan pages” are pages on your website that don’t have any links pointing to them from other pages on your site. Without these internal links, search engine crawlers would never be able to discover these pages. A sitemap gives search engines a direct way to find and index these otherwise isolated bits of content, making sure no valuable information goes unseen.

3. Improves Your Website’s Search Engine Ranking

By helping search engines find and understand your pages better, sitemaps directly boost your SEO efforts. Indexed pages mean more chances to rank for the right search terms, which leads to more people finding your website through search engines. It’s a basic but essential part of making your website technically sound for SEO.

How to Create and Submit a Sitemap?

Most modern website builders and content management systems such as WordPress (this is what we use!) have plugins (like Yoast SEO or XML Sitemap Generator for Google) that automatically create and update XML sitemaps for you. Realsmart have the plugin XML Sitemap Generator available to use in your plugin library. All you need to do is activate the plugin and the settings page will present you with the URL for your sitemap, it really is simple!

Once you have your sitemap URL, you’ll need to tell search engines about it using their special tools:

• Google Search Console: This is the main place to submit your sitemap to Google. on uploading a new sitemap!
• Bing Webmaster Tools: For submitting your sitemap to Bing.

Make sure to regularly check your sitemap in these tools for any errors, ensuring that search engines can easily access and process it.

We hope this post helps you to go out there and create a sitemap for your school website!

Team realsmart

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In the world of education, strong communication between schools and parents is essential to a child’s success. However, it remains one of the most persistent challenges. A Parent Communication App offers a powerful solution—ensuring important information travels directly from the school office to a parent’s hands. No more crumpled newsletters forgotten in a backpack or messages lost in a crowded inbox.

At realsmart, we believe the answer lies in simplicity and directness. That’s why we created the Smart Parents app—a tool designed to close the communication gap and bring the most important information into one, easy-to-access place.

Let’s explore the key benefits of bringing your school’s parent communication into the modern age.

Benefit 1: A Single Source of Truth

Parents lead busy lives, so finding time to search through emails, check websites, and sort through paper notes can be a challenge. That’s why the Smart Parents app brings all your school’s news and blog updates into one clean, easy-to-read feed. As a result, parents can quickly catch up on everything—from trip reminders to event announcements—at a glance, helping them stay consistently informed and engaged.

Benefit 2: Empowering Parents with Insight

Meaningful conversations about a child’s progress start with good information and so The app provides parents with secure and immediate access to key data on their child’s attendance and behaviour. This isn’t about surveillance; it’s about empowerment. Chiefly when a parent can see a record of positive behaviour or an attendance issue as it happens, they are better equipped to support their child and work in partnership with the school.

Benefit 3: Unmissable, Instant Alerts

What about the information that absolutely cannot be missed? For urgent updates like a school closure due to bad weather or an emergency alert, email is simply not reliable enough. The Smart Parents app therefore uses push notifications to send these critical alerts directly to a parent’s phone. It’s the most effective way to deliver time-sensitive information and provide peace of mind for everyone.

Ready for Smarter Communication?

By unifying news, providing key insights, and ensuring urgent messages are seen, the Smart Parents app builds a stronger, more engaged parent community.

The app is completely free for parents to download and use. If your school is partnered with realsmart then encourage your parents to get connected today!

Download the free Smart Parents app now:

For iPhone:
For Android:

Interested in offering the Smart Parents app to your school community? Contact realsmart today to learn how we can help you streamline communication and foster a more connected environment.

Want to know more about communicating with realsmart products?

Â鶹ӳ»­ at demo

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Why a Social Media Feed is a Game-Changer for Schools

Enhanced Engagement and Community Building

A social media feed transforms your website from a static information hub into a dynamic, interactive platform. Parents, students, and prospective families can see real-time updates, celebrate achievements, and get a glimpse into daily school life. This constant stream of positive content builds a stronger sense of community and keeps everyone connected.

Real-Time Updates and News

Gone are the days of delayed announcements. With a social media feed, important updates, emergency information, or event reminders can be instantly displayed on your website. This ensures that crucial information reaches your audience quickly and efficiently, reducing the need for multiple communication channels.

Showcasing School Culture and Achievements

Social media platforms are excellent for highlighting the unique personality of your school. From classroom activities and sports victories to student projects and community service, a social media feed allows you to showcase the vibrant culture and numerous achievements of your students and staff. This visual storytelling can be incredibly impactful for prospective families researching schools.

Increased Website Traffic and SEO Benefits

By integrating your social media content, you provide more reasons for visitors to return to your website. Each new post on your social media channels can act as a fresh piece of content, attracting new visitors and encouraging current ones to spend more time on your site. Additionally, consistent updates can positively impact your search engine optimization (SEO).

Promoting Events and Initiatives

Whether it’s a school play, a fundraising drive, or a parent-teacher conference, a social media feed is an ideal way to promote upcoming events and initiatives. You can share event details, photos from past events, and calls to action, directly engaging your audience and encouraging participation.

Transparency and Communication

A well-maintained social media feed on your website demonstrates a commitment to open communication and transparency. It provides an accessible platform for sharing information, responding to inquiries, and addressing common questions, building trust with your school community.

Best Practices for Integrating Your Social Media Feed

• Choose Relevant Platforms: Focus on the social media platforms where your school community is most active.
• Maintain Content Quality: Ensure the content shared is positive, engaging, and reflective of your school’s values.
• Regular Updates: Keep your feed fresh with consistent posts to maintain engagement.
• Monitor and Engage: Pay attention to comments and messages, and respond appropriately to foster a healthy online environment.
• Drive traffic to your website: When appropriate post links on your social media that link back to your school website, generate traffic in both directions.

By embracing the power of social media integration, your school website can become a more engaging, informative, and interactive hub for your entire community. It’s an investment in communication that truly pays off.

How can I integrate social media on my school website?

All of our customers have access to the fantastic suite of plugins from . These plugins allow you to connect your social media feeds with your school website. Once connected these feeds are updated daily with your latest content and can be presented in a number of different and eye-catching ways, from Social walls to carousels. 

Use the tool to tweak and perfect your feed so that it fits your brand and looks right at home on your website. We have a on how to connect a social media account but the plugins step by step assistant will take you through the process in no time!

If you get stuck don’t forget to drop our support team an email and we will be happy to help get this setup for you!

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Easy-access WordPress Backend

On the WordPress Dashboard you’ll find a section dedicated to the plugin. This gives you a simple input field for each and every detail of the vacancy you want to create. Simply fill these out. Then, click update, and hey presto! Your school website vacancies will be visible and easy to manage right on your site.

School Website Vacancies works out of the box

Listing vacancies on your school websites shouldn’t feel like a never-ending quest through complicated plugins. These plugins promise the world but deliver only frustration. All too often, businesses find themselves navigating a rabbit hole of clunky interfaces and hidden settings. Consequently, they spend hours sifting through options. Yet, they are left wishing for a simpler, more efficient way to attract top talent directly through their own site. This common scenario leaves many feeling overwhelmed and desperate. They wish for a streamlined solution to manage their recruitment process without unnecessary hassle. Our site vacancies plugin simplifies this challenge by easing the school website vacancy management process.

Top-notch Website Support

Struggling to get things exactly as you want them on your website, feeling a bit lost in the digital wilderness? Don’t worry, we get it. That’s why we’re genuinely proud of our hands-on approach to client support. Forget navigating automated phone trees or waiting ages for a generic response.

Instead, simply send us an email or give us a call, and a dedicated member of our core team will be on to you ASAP. We mean it when we say no query is too small – whether it’s a quick question about a feature, a minor tweak you can’t quite figure out, or something more complex, we’re here to provide the direct, human support you deserve.

We want to help you get everything just right. Whether you’re setting up or managing vacancies on your school website, our team will ensure it runs smoothly and resolves any issues related to school website vacancies immediately.

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You can control MFA for single users, groups of users or the whole organisation through smartadmin.

Once MFA is enforced your users can use their prefered  third-party authenticator app rather than recieving texts over mobile devices.

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Before starting the setup process contact realsmart support team to ensure the correct APIs are in place- Once checked and confirmed follow these simple stepts.

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When you add a profile picture, it personalizes your account and makes it unique. It also helps people recognize you online and lets you know when you’re signed into your account.

This guide will help you automate the process.

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