What Policies Should a Nursery Publish on Its Website?
Policies and documents
Why publish policies at all?
The Early Years Foundation Stage framework requires group providers to have written policies and procedures, to share details of them with parents and to provide copies on request (EYFS 2026, paragraphs 3.5 and 3.100). It does not say "on your website". But think about how the request actually arrives: a parent emails at 9pm asking for your illness policy, a prospective family wants to see your safeguarding policy before a visit, a local authority officer asks for your complaints procedure. A policies page answers all of them without anyone having to dig through a filing cabinet or a shared drive.
There is a second reason. Parents choosing a nursery are looking for signs that you are organised and open. A tidy, current policies page is one of the strongest signals you can send, and it costs nothing once it is set up.
Which policies should be on the website
Nobody publishes everything. A typical group setting has forty or more written procedures, many of them internal. The ones below are the ones parents look for and the ones that answer the EYFS and funding requirements most directly.
The core five
- Safeguarding and child protection The EYFS requires a written safeguarding policy covering action on concerns about a child, allegations against staff, the use of mobile phones, cameras and other devices, recruitment checks and safeguarding training (paragraph 3.6), plus whistleblowing procedures (3.7). Publish the policy, or a clear statement drawn from it, with the name of your designated safeguarding lead.
- Complaints Providers must have a written complaints procedure and notify complainants of the outcome within 28 days (3.101), and must make available details of how to contact Ofsted (3.102). One page covers both.
- Admissions and fees The DfE’s statutory guidance says providers should publish their admissions criteria and any fees for consumables, additional hours and services (A1.39), and that the costs of chargeable extras should be published on provider websites (A1.40). See our guide to nursery fees and funded childcare on your website.
- Privacy notice Required the moment a form collects personal data (ICO, the right to be informed). Include what you collect, why, how long you keep it and how to contact you.
- SEND and inclusion Providers must share how the setting supports children with special educational needs and disabilities (3.100) and must have arrangements in place to support them (3.77). Maintained nursery schools are required to have a SENCO; other group providers are expected to identify one.
Strongly recommended
- Uncollected child and missing child procedures The EYFS specifically names these among the policies whose details must be shared with parents (3.100).
- Illness, medication and accidents The policy parents ask about most often once their child has started.
- Behaviour How you support behaviour and what you will never do.
- Food, drink and allergies How you collect dietary and allergy information before admission (3.65), how you manage allergens, and whether food is cooked on site.
- Settling in and key person How the key person system works (3.42) and what settling-in looks like.
- Photographs, images and social media What you photograph, what you publish and how consent works. Parents care about this more every year.
- Screen use New from September 2026: providers must have regard to guidance on children’s screen use (3.94). A short statement is enough.
- Equality and inclusion Your commitment under the Equality Act 2010, in plain words.
Usually kept internal
Staff handbooks, HR procedures, risk assessments, fire and lockdown procedures, and anything with names, rotas or site security detail. Available on request is fine for these, and the EYFS wording of "copies available on request" supports that.
How to present policies on a nursery website
One page, clearly grouped
A single Policies page with three headings, "Keeping children safe", "Joining and paying" and "Everyday life", is easier to scan than a long alphabetical list. Put the core five at the top.
Summaries first, PDFs second
Most parents want the gist, not twelve pages. A short summary of each policy on the page itself, with the full PDF underneath, serves both the quick reader and the thorough one. Keep the summary in plain English and the PDF as the document of record.
Show the version and the date
Every policy on the page should show a review date. It tells parents the policy is alive, and it tells you which ones are overdue. When a policy changes, change the summary too, not just the PDF.
Make PDFs accessible
Use real text rather than scanned images, add a document title, and keep headings in order. If a policy is important enough to publish, it should be readable by a screen reader. Our nursery website accessibility guide explains why this matters and how to check.
Keep the file names honest
"Safeguarding-policy-2026.pdf" is helpful. "Final-v3-updated-DO-NOT-DELETE.pdf" is not. Descriptive names help parents, search engines and your future self.
Keeping policies up to date
The problem with policies pages is not writing them. It is the third year, when half the PDFs are out of date and nobody remembers how to change the website. Two things fix that:
- A review calendar. Most settings review safeguarding annually and the rest on a rolling basis. Put the dates in the same place you keep your Ofsted paperwork.
- A website you can update without a developer. If replacing a PDF means emailing someone and waiting a fortnight, it will not happen. Choose a platform where you can swap a document from your phone, or a provider who will do it for you the day you ask. That is how Little Fruitcakes nursery websites work: full CMS access, the Fruitcake Media app to send us the new document, and a team who will make the change for you.
A suggested policies page structure
| Section | Policies |
|---|---|
| Keeping children safe | Safeguarding and child protection, uncollected and missing child, illness and medication, accidents, mobile phones and cameras, screen use |
| Joining and paying | Admissions criteria, fees and funded hours, chargeable extras, settling in and key person, complaints and how to contact Ofsted |
| Everyday life | Food and allergies, behaviour, SEND and inclusion, equality, photographs and social media, privacy notice |
Common questions
Do nurseries have to publish their policies online?
No law says so. The EYFS requires policies to be in writing, their details shared with parents and copies provided on request. A website is the most practical way of doing that, which is why most settings publish their key policies online.
Which nursery policies do parents actually read?
Safeguarding, illness and medication, fees and chargeable extras, and complaints, in roughly that order. Behaviour and food come next once a child has started. Put those at the top of the page.
Should the safeguarding policy be public?
Most settings publish it. Anything that would compromise site security or name individual children obviously stays out, but the policy itself is something parents expect to see, and the EYFS requires you to share details of it.
How often should nursery policies be reviewed?
Safeguarding at least annually and whenever statutory guidance changes, which with the EYFS updating from September 2026 is now. Others on a rolling cycle. Show the review date on the website so parents can see the policy is current.
Sources
A nursery website that’s easy to keep up to date
Little Fruitcakes by Fruitcake Media builds websites for nurseries, preschools and early years settings for £79 a month with nothing upfront. Update it yourself, send changes from the Fruitcake Media app, or just call us and we’ll do it for you.
About Us
Fruitcake Media is a family-run web design and digital marketing agency. Our monthly subscription website model enables small businesses across the UK to get online from just £39 a month.
Contact Us
Glasshouse, Alderley Park, Congleton Road, Nether Alderley, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 4TG
enquiries@fruitcakemedia.co.uk
01625724284