Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement applies to www.schools.norfolk.gov.uk.

This website is run by Norfolk County Council. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

Change colours, contrast levels and fonts
Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We aim to meet the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at AA level.

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

Some images contain text which you may not be able to read
Some links don't make sense on their own
Some PDF documents aren't fully accessible to screen readers
Some of our videos don't have captions or audio description
Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
Some of our tables are not accessible
Some pages have missing headings
The colour contrast of some elements in different states is not accessible
Colour has been used as the only way to convey the meaning of the state changes for some elements
Some email newsletter sign up forms:
- Have an email form field that does not support autocomplete
- Do not show error messages when the form hasn't been correctly completed and the user attempts to submit the form using a keyboard. This makes it hard for users to identify errors they have made and correct them
- Tell screen reader users that all fields have invalid input until they have been completed correctly. This may confuse users as this is not typical form behaviour
- Are embedded on the page in an iframe that does not have a descriptive accessible name. This may make it difficult for users to identify the form or find it on the page
- Have text that does not resize
Some search forms have unlabelled or incorrectly labelled fields
Some links only use colour to distinguish them from standard text
When resizing the text on some pages, some content becomes obscured or is not possible to resize

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, email csepublishing@norfolk.gov.uk

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, email webaccessibility@norfolk.gov.uk.

We'll consider your request and get back to you within 3 working days.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations'). If you're not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Norfolk County Council is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 (opens new window) (opens new window) AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliances with the accessibility regulations

Videos

Some of our videos don't have written transcripts. This fails WCAG 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative). We are creating written transcripts for new videos and will either remove old videos that don't have written transcripts or add written transcripts to them. We aim to do this by April 2025.

Forms

Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1.1 (keyboard).
Search forms have unlabelled or incorrectly labelled controls. This fails WCAG 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions and WCAG 4.1.2 (name, role, value).
When resizing text, the 'Search' button in the website header is obscured. This fails WCAG 1.4.4 (resize text).

PDFs

We are currently reviewing the 180 PDFs on our site. We will either turn these into web content or update them so they meet accessibility criteria by April 2025.

Missing headings

Some headings on the home page operate as headings but are not coded as headings. This means screen reader software will not detect them as headings.

This fails:

WCAG 1.3.1 (information and relationships)
WCAG 2.4.5 (headings and labels)

State changes

When some elements are in different states such as normal, hover, focus or select, the colour contrast between the text or styling (such as an outline or border) and the background, is not accessible.

This fails WCAG 1.4.11 (non-text contrast).

Colour as meaning

Colour has been used as the only visual way to convey the meaning of the state changes for some elements.
Links within paragraphs of text only use colour to distinguish them from standard text.

This fails WCAG 1.4.1 (use of colour).

Email newsletter sign up form

Some email newsletter sign up forms do not provide error messages when one or more fields do not have valid input and the user attempts to submit the form using a keyboard. This fails WCAG 3.3.1 (error identification).

Some email newsletter sign up forms include 'aria-invalid="true"' on all form inputs until they have valid input, which triggers the value to change to "false". This is incorrect use of the attribute - on form load it should be set to "false" and it should only be set to "true" if invalid input is detected when validation is performed. This fails WCAG 3.3.1 (error identification).

Some email newsletter sign up forms are embedded on the page using a script. This creates an iframe element within the html. The iframe does not have a descriptive accessible name. This fails WCAG 4.1.2 (name, role, value).

The email form field in some email newsletter sign up forms does not include the attribute and value 'autocomplete="email"'. This fails WCAG 1.3.5 (identify input purpose).

Some email newsletter sign up forms have text that does not resize. This fails WCAG 1.4.4 (resize text).

Accordions

The 'Show' and Hide' text used to show and hide sections of text does not resize. This fails WCAG 1.4.4 (resize text).

Disproportionate burden

Interactive tools and transactions

Some forms and interactive systems linked to the Norfolk Schools website are built using software that does not meet modern accessibility standards. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 (information and relationships).

We are assessing the cost of fixing the issues with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so immediately would be a disproportionate burden (opens new window) (opens new window) within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make another assessment when supplier contracts are up for renewal, and when decisions are made on replacements to existing internal systems. Some of these decisions will be taken within the next year. We will update this information by April 2025.

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Older PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they're accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 4.1.2 (name, role value). The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 (opens new window) (opens new window) if they're not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix older newsletters.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 22 May 2020. It was last updated on 13 September 2024.

We migrated this website to a different content management system (CMS) in February 2024. We have updated this statement to reflect how this has improved the accessibility of this website. We have development work planned to address many of the remaining system-related issues. We aim to have addressed these by the time we reaudit this website. We aim to have reaudited this website and updated this statement to reflect that by April 2025.

This website was last audited on 20 May 2020. Norfolk County Council's Digital Customer Experience Team carried out the test.

We tested this website using Google Chrome's Lighthouse.