We like to tell schools what we are building before it arrives, so you can tell us if we have got it wrong. Here is what our team is working on this term.

Trust Hub: one place to run a trust’s websites

Trust leaders have told us the same thing again and again. They are responsible for a dozen school websites, and checking them means opening a dozen tabs.

Trust Hub is a new area on a trust’s own website, for the people who look after the whole trust. It is already running with our first pilot trust, where it lists every school in the trust with its website compliance score, so leaders can see at a glance which schools need attention.

Over the coming months we are adding:

  • A trust overview that brings together compliance, recent activity and anything that needs a decision.
  • A board-ready report you can take to trustees.
  • A weekly summary email on Monday morning.
  • Publishing to every school from one place: news, policies and announcements written once by the trust and shared to its schools, with each school able to approve them first.
The Trust Hub Schools screen for the demo trust Oakfield Learning Trust, listing its schools with their compliance, latest news and last inspection.
Trust Hub lists every school with its compliance score. Screenshot from a demo school; names are fictional.

Ofsted alerts for the trust, not just the school

Our website compliance check can already tell a school when a visit to its website looks like an Ofsted review. Soon the trust can be told too. In Trust Hub, trust leaders will choose who should receive these alerts, so the central team hears at the same time as the school.

The Trust Hub Settings tab for the demo trust Oakfield Learning Trust, listing the email addresses that get Ofsted alerts and the Monday briefing.
Trusts choose who hears about possible Ofsted visits. Screenshot from a demo school; names are fictional.

Smart Writer: an AI writing assistant built for schools

Smart Writer sits in the page and post editors and helps staff write. It can draft a post from a few notes, rewrite something for parents, shorten a long letter, or suggest alt text for an image. It was built around a few rules that matter in schools:

  • It writes in British English: mum, colour, organise.
  • It never makes up facts. When it needs a date, a time or a name it does not have, it leaves a clear marker for you to fill in.
  • It follows your school’s style: the words you use, the words you avoid, and how you sign off letters.
  • You stay in charge. Nothing is published until you choose to publish it.

Smart Writer will be off unless a school chooses to switch it on. We will share more, including how to try it, very soon.

The demo school Oakfield Academy's news post editor after Smart Writer's draft was inserted, with [check: date] markers left for the editor to fill in.
Where it doesn’t know a fact, Smart Writer leaves a marker for you to fill in. Screenshot from a demo school; names are fictional.

The biggest Smart Parents update yet

The next update to the Smart Parents app brings school news in each parent’s own language, School Story with photo consent built in, and conversations on notices. Read what is coming to Smart Parents.

Tell us what you need

Much of what is on this list came from conversations with schools and trusts. If there is something your website should do and does not, we would love to hear it. Email support@realsmart.co.uk, or ask at your next check-in.