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Introduction

This accessibility statement applies to the website at the address below, which is owned and operated by Oak National Academy Limited (“Oak”). We refer to this as “the website”: https://labs.thenational.academy

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;
  • read and use most of the website while zoomed in up to 400%;
  • 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).

We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

There are many options for you to customise your web browser and device to help you navigate this and other websites more easily. AbilityNet has helpful advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible is our website?

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

  • Missing labels: Some buttons and links lack appropriate accessible names, impacting screen reader users.
  • Structural markup: Some pages do not have the headings and landmarks screen reader users rely on to understand and navigate around the page.
  • Information shown visually only: Screen reader users are not told which generated quiz answer is correct or which parts of a lesson are complete.
  • Status messages and updates: Content that changes on the page, including AI-generated content and countdown timers, is not announced to screen reader users.
  • Keyboard accessibility: Some links cannot be reached with a keyboard, and one menu cannot be closed once opened using a screen reader on iOS.
  • Focus management: Keyboard focus can move to content that is hidden or behind a pop-up, and it is not always clear which element is focused.
  • Colour contrast: Some text and interface elements have insufficient colour contrast against their background, impacting visually impaired users.
  • Identifiable links: Some links on the account locked page are not distinguishable from ordinary text, or rely on colour alone to distinguish them from ordinary text.
  • Form controls: Some fields do not have visible labels once you start typing, and optional fields are not announced as optional.
  • Navigation: There is no "Skip to main content" link, and most pages share the same browser title, so pages can be hard to tell apart and navigate around.
  • Links that open in a new tab: Users are not always warned before a link opens in a new tab.
  • Zoom and reflow: When the page is zoomed in, some content is cut off or cannot be reached. This includes the main menu on mobile.
  • Captions and transcripts: Some videos do not have captions or transcripts.

Feedback and contact information

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of our website and lessons. We want our services to support as many people as possible.

If you need information on this website in a different format, such as an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

Please also contact us if you find any problems which are not listed in this statement or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements.

Enforcement procedure

We will endeavour to respond to your feedback, including any complaints, you provide to us, using the contact information above, within 15 working days of receipt. It may not be possible to fully respond to you, at that stage, if further investigations are required. If this is the case, we will let you know and tell you what we are doing to deal with the issue(s) you have raised and when you can expect a full reply.

When we respond to you, we will inform you how we investigated the issues raised by you. We will always acknowledge where we can improve; equally, if we do not agree with you, we will let you know why.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing 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

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

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

We are aware of the following areas of non-compliance and have planned development work to address these:

The following issues fail WCAG criterion 1.4.10 Reflow (AA):

  • At increased browser zoom, content across multiple pages disappears, overflows its container, or becomes unreachable;
  • On mobile and at 300% zoom, the hamburger menu extends beyond the viewport with no internal scrolling, so lower controls cannot be reached.

The following issues fail WCAG criterion 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (AA):

  • Focus indicators are inconsistent and, on pages including sign-up and login, use a 1.4:1 grey border that fails minimum contrast requirements;
  • Placeholder text and chat interface elements on several pages fall below minimum contrast against their backgrounds.

The following issues fail WCAG criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A):

  • On iPad, completed items in the lesson creation menu lose their accessible name and are announced only as "menu item";
  • On iOS, footer social media icons are announced as a single image, so the individual links cannot be interacted with properly. This is because the links lack accessible names;
  • On the share lesson page, information ("i") buttons are announced generically and are not programmatically associated with the content they reveal;
  • In lesson history, icon-only delete buttons have no accessible name and are not programmatically associated with the lesson they delete;
  • Section expand/collapse toggles in the lesson creation journey announce no name and no expanded or collapsed state;
  • Every AI chat response has an unlabelled button that, when activated, exposes debug information that is not directly relevant to the user;
  • The hamburger menu button and its close button have no meaningful accessible name, and the menu's expanded state is not exposed;
  • Footer social media links have empty alt attributes and no accessible name, so the destination platform is not conveyed.

Remaining individual issues found:

  • On mobile and tablet, the send message button is announced only as "chevron-right button", describing the icon rather than the action. This fails WCAG success criterion: 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A);
  • Some videos on the home page and elsewhere lack captions and/or transcripts. This fails WCAG success criteria: 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) (A), 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) (A), and 1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded) (A);
  • On the account locked page, links are distinguished from body text by colour alone or not at all. This fails WCAG success criteria: 1.4.1 Use of Colour (A), and 3.2.4 Consistent Identification (AA);
  • Side panel navigation links on the FAQs and Help pages use anchors without an href attribute, so they are skipped in the keyboard tab order. This fails WCAG success criterion: 2.1.1 Keyboard (A);
  • On iOS with VoiceOver, the user account flyout menu traps focus on its trigger button and cannot be entered or dismissed. This fails WCAG success criterion: 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap (A);
  • No page provides a "Skip to main content" link. This fails WCAG success criterion: 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (A);
  • Almost every page uses the same browser title ("Oak AI Experiments") - so pages cannot be distinguished from each other. This fails WCAG success criterion: 2.4.2 Page Titled (A);
  • Dropdowns and modals do not trap focus, letting keyboard users tab to obscured background content. This fails WCAG success criterion: 2.4.12 Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced) (AAA).
  • On the Create a lesson with AI page, the accordion caret does not change direction when expanded, unlike the same component elsewhere. This fails WCAG success criterion: 3.2.4 Consistent Identification (AA);
  • Dynamic content updates across the service - such as countdown timers, chat panel updates, enabled and disabled states - are not programmatically announced. This fails WCAG success criterion: 4.1.3 Status Messages (AA).

Disproportionate burden

We have assessed the cost of fixing the issues listed below with navigation and accessing information, and with interactive tools and transactions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

Navigation and accessing information

It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.

Interactive tools and transactions

Some of our embedded or popup content is built and hosted using third-party software, such as Gleap and HubSpot, and has some accessibility limitations.

We use HubSpot to host a support knowledge base at support.thenational.academy. Some pages on this subdomain fail some automated accessibility checks.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

As highlighted above, we have known areas of non-compliance that we plan to resolve (except where we have identified a disproportionate burden).

The website currently undergoes daily automated quality assurance testing during our deployment process. We also carry out daily manual quality checks with GOV.UK’s published list of modern browsers.

We regularly commission an independent accessibility audit on a sample of pages to highlight areas requiring improvement.

We perform regular browser testing for all the latest versions of major desktop and mobile browsers. We test using devices, screen readers and browsers that are recommended to us by accessibility experts, including those set out in the relevant GOV.UK service manuals.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 31 July 2026. It was last reviewed on 31 July 2026.

Our website was last tested in March 2026 by UserVision, who performed an expert evaluation of selected pages against all level A and AA success criteria of WCAG 2.2. The URLs were selected to ensure that a representative selection of pages, templates, components and key content were tested.