Non-accessible content
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
1. Insufficient colour contrast
Several brand colours used across the site fail minimum contrast requirements:
- White text (#ffffff) on a green background (#74c043) achieves a contrast ratio of 2.24:1, well below the required 4.5:1. This colour combination is used on prominent interactive elements including navigation and calls to action.
- Dark teal text (#30546b) on a yellow background (#fcaf17) achieves a contrast ratio of 4.32:1, just below the required 4.5:1 threshold.
These issues affect a significant number of pages across the site.
These fail WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
2. Links without discernible text
A number of links across the site — including links to virtual building tours, careers pages, and course guides — use only an SVG icon as their visible content. Where the icon has aria-hidden="true" and no aria-label, aria-labelledby, title, or screen-reader-only text is provided, these links have no accessible name. Screen reader users cannot determine the destination or purpose of these links.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) and WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
3. Buttons without discernible text
Pagination controls on course search and other listing pages contain icon-only buttons that have no visible label, aria-label, aria-labelledby, or title attribute. Screen reader users cannot determine the purpose of these buttons.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
4. Select element without an accessible name
A sort-order dropdown on search and listing pages has no associated label, aria-label, or aria-labelledby attribute. Screen reader users cannot determine the purpose of this control.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
5. Touch target size below minimum
A number of interactive elements across the site — including links and buttons — have a clickable/touch target area smaller than the 24×24 CSS pixel minimum required by WCAG 2.2. This can make navigation difficult for users with motor impairments on touch devices.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) (Level AA).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
6. Frames without titles
A small number of <iframe> elements on the site do not have a title attribute. This makes it impossible for screen reader users to identify the purpose of the embedded content before navigating into it.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
7. Navigation menus not keyboard accessible
Several areas of the site cannot be reached or used with keyboard navigation alone. The Tab key skips past all navigation dropdown sections on the Home Page and About page, and pressing Enter or Space does not open these menus. On the About page, links to Term Dates, Our Board, and Governors sections lead to dropdown content that can only be operated using a mouse. On the Course Search / Apply Now page, the arrows used to navigate paginated results cannot be operated via keyboard.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
8. Hover-triggered navigation content cannot be dismissed
The Term Dates, Our Board, and Governors dropdown sections on the About page cannot be selected, navigated, or closed using the keyboard. When accessed via mouse, these dropdowns cannot be dismissed with the Escape key.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus (Level AA).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
9. Keyboard focus indicators insufficient or absent
When navigating the site using a keyboard, the visible focus indicator is difficult or impossible to distinguish on several element types: a black outline against dark navy radio button controls is not sufficiently distinct; red and blue borders around arrow-style links are barely visible; and green arrow buttons on the About page have unclear focus indicators. The carousel navigation arrows for the Principalship Team section on the About page have no visible focus indicator at all. At higher zoom levels, the focus indicator on the cookie preferences panel also overlaps surrounding content.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA) and WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.4.11 Focus Appearance (Level AA).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
10. Page content overflows and is obscured at high zoom
At 200% zoom on the home page, some text is overlapped or omitted due to content overflow. This prevents users with low vision who rely on browser zoom from accessing all content on the page.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.4.10 Reflow (Level AA).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
11. Images without meaningful alternative text
A number of images across the site do not have an alt attribute where one is needed, or have alt text that is present but not meaningful — for example, images labelled with generic values such as "IMG 4715". These descriptions do not convey the content or purpose of the image to screen reader users.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
12. Search field relies on placeholder text only
The search field on the home page and course search field on the Course Search / Apply Now page uses placeholder text as its only visible label. Placeholder text disappears when the user begins typing, leaving no persistent visible indication of the field's purpose.
This fails WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) and WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A).
We plan to fix this in a future scheduled website release.
