Yes, in a maintained school, and not just by publishing them.
The head teacher must publicise the behaviour measures in a written document, and must take active steps at least once a year to bring them to the attention of pupils, parents and everyone who works at the school — including people who work there unpaid. “It’s on the website” is publication; it is not the annual step the statute asks for.
updated 8 Jul 2026last checked 22 Aug 2026
What the source actually says
The publicising duty, with both limbs:
“The measures determined by the head teacher under subsection (1) must be publicised by him in the form of a written document as follows— (a) he must make the measures generally known within the school and to parents of registered pupils at the school, and (b) he must in particular, at least once in every school year, take steps to bring them to the attention of all such pupils and parents and all persons who work at the school (whether or not for payment).”
— Education and Inspections Act 2006, s.89(6), current text as revised legislation.gov.uk
What is being publicised is the head teacher’s determination, which the statute requires to exist in the first place:
“The head teacher of a relevant school must determine measures to be taken with a view to— (a) promoting, among pupils, self-discipline and proper regard for authority, (b) encouraging good behaviour and respect for others on the part of pupils and, in particular, preventing all forms of bullying among pupils, (c) securing that the standard of behaviour of pupils is acceptable, (d) securing that pupils complete any tasks reasonably assigned to them in connection with their education, and (e) otherwise regulating the conduct of pupils.”
— Education and Inspections Act 2006, s.89(1), current text as revised legislation.gov.uk
Read “all persons who work at the school (whether or not for payment)” carefully. It reaches supply staff on site, teaching assistants, and volunteers — a group routinely left out of the September briefing and then held to rules nobody showed them.
Which schools this section covers:
”“ relevant school ” means— (a) a community, foundation or voluntary school, (b) a community or foundation special school, (c) a maintained nursery school, (d) a pupil referral unit, or (e) a school approved by the Secretary of State F1 …under section 342 of EA 1996 (approval of non-maintained special schools);”
— Education and Inspections Act 2006, s.88(5), current text as revised legislation
Academies are not in that list, so an academy’s behaviour policy duty comes from its funding agreement and the independent school standards rather than from this section. The “F1 …” is legislation.gov.uk’s own marker for words repealed by a later amendment, reproduced here as it appears in the text.
Your school may still require it
Your school decides what the measures actually say, how the annual step is done — an INSET slide, a signed acknowledgement, a policy read at induction — and can require you to evidence that you have read them. The duty is that you are told, not that you agree.
See also Does my school have to have a behaviour policy?, Do I get a say before the behaviour policy changes? and Must the school rules say what I can search for?.