Liverpool Education Hub · User guide
Where things are kept, the quickest way to find them, and how to be told when something new appears. Written for anyone in a school who uses the Education Hub.
Everything on the hub sits in the same shape. Once you can picture these four levels, finding something is a matter of working down them — and knowing which level you are on tells you what you are looking at.
Level 1
Education, Finance, Support Functions and the rest. The row of links across the top.
Level 2
A subject area within a department, such as a resource library for one team.
Level 3
A single update, guidance page or announcement. This is what you read.
Level 4
The files attached to an item — forms, templates, policies — listed underneath it.
Files live underneath items, not in a separate filing cabinet. If you are hunting for a template, you are really hunting for the item it belongs to.
That last point catches people out more than anything else. There is no single folder of every document on the hub. Each document is kept with the guidance it belongs to, under Resources at the bottom of the item.
Whatever page you are on, the same bar sits at the top, and it has two rows. The top row is the same everywhere. The second row is the list of departments.
| Top row | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Briefings | Short written briefings from Liverpool City Council teams. |
| Vacancies | Jobs advertised across Liverpool schools and services. |
| Ofsted | Inspection information for Liverpool schools. |
| Forms | Forms your school has been asked to complete. An orange number means some are outstanding. |
| Contact Us | Ask a question, when you are not already on the page it relates to. |
| Search box | Searches everything you have access to. See the search section below. |
| Sign out | Ends your session. Worth using on a shared or office computer. |
Some people also see extra buttons here, depending on what they do:
Worth knowing
You only see the departments your school has been given, so your row may be shorter than the one a colleague in another school sees. That is normal and it is not a fault.
If a department name ever looks faded, it means nothing has been published in it that you can see. In practice you will only meet this if you publish content on the hub yourself.
The home page is a summary of everything you have access to, newest first. Nothing on it is unique to the home page — it is a shortcut to things that live elsewhere.
Everything published recently in every section you can see, newest first, with anything you have not opened yet at the top. Items the publishing team wants kept at the top are marked Pinned. If an item has been changed since it was first posted, the card says Updated as well as when it was posted.
The hub keeps track of what you have opened. Unread shows only what is new to you, and the orange number next to it is how many that is. This is the fastest way to catch up after a few days away, and it is personal to you — a colleague opening the same page sees their own count.
The row of buttons after the divider is one per section you have access to. Clicking one narrows the list to that section only. All Feeds puts everything back. If you only have access to one section, these buttons are hidden, because there would be nothing to switch between.
Most Popular is what everyone on the hub opens most, with a view count. It is a good place to start if you are new, because it surfaces the things schools need again and again. Recently Viewed is your own history, and is the quickest way back to something you had open yesterday.
If a form is waiting
An orange strip appears across the top of the home page when your school has forms to complete, and the Forms link carries an orange count. Both disappear once they are done.
There is no single right way. Which one is quickest depends on what you already know.
| If you… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Know whose job it is | The department link at the top, then the section. This is the most reliable route, because it walks down the same four levels the content was filed under. |
| Know roughly what it is called | The search box. Read the next section first — search has some habits worth knowing. |
| Just want to see what is new | Unread on the home page, then the feed filter for the section you care about. |
| Had it open recently | Recently Viewed on the right of the home page. |
| Are looking for a document | Find the item the document belongs to, then look under Resources at the bottom of it. |
| Are new and do not know where to start | Most Popular on the right of the home page. |
The search box in the top right searches hub items and briefings, and only ever returns things you already have access to. It shows the twenty best matches. It is quick and it is usually right — but it has four habits that produce a puzzling empty result if you do not know about them.
Numbers and punctuation are ignored
Only letters and spaces are searched. Year 6 is treated as year, and 2026-27 budget is treated as budget. Search for the words, not the numbers.
A single short word finds nothing
The hub only looks for words and phrases of five letters or more. SEND on its own is four letters, so it returns nothing at all. SEND funding works, because the pair is long enough.
You only ever see your own results
Search never shows you something you do not have access to, and it does not tell you it is holding anything back. An empty result can mean it does not exist, or that it has not been given to you.
It searches titles and content, not file names
Documents attached under Resources are not searched by name. Search for the guidance, then look at what is attached to it.
The short version
Use two or three ordinary words, spell them out in full, and leave the numbers off. If that finds nothing, browse down from the department instead.
You do not have to keep checking. Any section that offers alerts has a bell button at the top of it, and you choose per section — so you can follow the two that matter to your job and ignore the rest.
Open the section you want to follow
Go to the department, then the section. Look at the buttons under its name.
Click the bell
It says Get alerts when you are not following it, and changes to Alerts on or In your digest once you are.
Choose Instant, Digest, or both
Instant sends one email each time something is published. Digest saves them up and sends one email covering everything since your last one. Not every section offers both.
Set when your digest arrives
Pick a time for each day of the week you want one, anywhere from 06:00 to 18:00, or leave a day set to Off. One digest covers every section you have set to digest, so you get one email, not one per section.
Save my alerts
Nothing is stored until you press the button at the bottom.
You can change all of this at any time, and the same page lists every section that offers alerts, so it is worth opening once to see what is available.
There are two routes, and the difference matters because one of them saves you explaining where you were.
| Use | When |
|---|---|
| Contact the team | You are already looking at the section or item your question is about. The button appears at the top of it, and sends your question to the team that owns that content, already pointed at the right place. |
| Contact Us | Your question is not about a particular page, or you cannot find the page at all. It is in the top row of every screen. |
This is the most common question schools ask, and it almost always has the same answer. Access reaches you in two steps, and both have to have happened.
Step 1 · The council
Liverpool City Council gives the school access to that part of the hub.
Step 2 · Your school
Someone at your school ticks it for you on the Users page.
Result
On the next page you open. There is nothing to refresh or activate.
Your school can only pass on what it holds, and you only see what has been passed to you.
Step 2 is the one to check first, because it is the one your own school controls and can fix in a minute. The person to ask is whoever holds User Administrator for your school — often the headteacher, a business manager or an office manager. They will see a Users button in the top row that other staff do not have.
A trap worth knowing
If you follow a link to something you do not have access to, the hub does not show an error. It quietly takes you to the home page. So a link that seems to go to the wrong place is usually an access question, not a broken link.
If your school genuinely does not hold something and you think it should, that is a conversation with the council team that owns it — use Contact Us.
The hub works on a phone. The department links collapse behind the menu button in the top right corner, and the two panels on the right of the home page move to the bottom. Everything else is the same, including search and alerts.
"I know we were sent a template but I cannot find it."
UsuallyYou are looking for the file. Files are not listed on their own.
What to doFind the guidance item it came with, and look under Resources at the bottom of it.
"Search gives me nothing, but I know it is there."
UsuallyThe term is too short, or it is mostly numbers.
What to doUse two or three full words with no numbers. If it still finds nothing, browse down from the department.
"A colleague has a department across the top that I do not."
UsuallyIt has not been passed to you, or they are at a school that holds something yours does not.
What to doAsk your user administrator first, since that is the step your own school controls. If your school does not hold it at all, use Contact Us.
"A colleague sent me a link and it took me to the home page."
UsuallyYou do not have access to that section. The hub sends you home rather than showing an error.
What to doAsk whoever holds User Administrator at your school to tick it for you.
"I am getting too many emails from the hub."
UsuallySeveral sections are set to Instant.
What to doOpen any section, click the bell, and switch the ones you do not need urgently from Instant to Digest. One digest covers them all.
"I have a new member of staff who needs access."
UsuallyThey need an account, and then the right things ticked.
What to doYour user administrator does both on the Users page. There is a separate short guide covering that.
"Someone has left. What do we do?"
UsuallyTheir account is still active and still receiving alerts.
What to doYour user administrator removes them on the Users page. Please do this promptly — some hub content is not for general circulation.
"Nobody at our school has the Users button."
UsuallyThe person who had it has left, and it was not passed on.
What to doUse Contact Us and ask for a user administrator to be set up. It is worth having two.