Sources & Trust
InStep is designed to make education information easier to understand without hiding where it came from.
How InStep knows what it knows
InStep keeps four kinds of context distinct:
- National guidance — curated education context from official sources.
- Your school — information a parent or caregiver adds from school communications or guidance.
- Assessment, scheme or qualification providers — context used when the provider, scheme or qualification is known and relevant.
- Your child — their school year, school context and current Journey stage.
Your child’s stage and profile shape which information is relevant. Not every layer is available for every answer.
Shared trusted education knowledge is curated and read-only. School information you add stays separate from that knowledge and does not become shared trusted information.
AI helps organise and explain that information. AI is not treated as the source of truth.
We don’t scrape the web for every answer
The SheBuilds prototype uses a small curated knowledge library rather than relying on live web scraping each time you ask a question. Source details such as publisher, link, relevant education stage and checked dates are shown where they are known. A checked date records a review, not a guarantee that guidance has stayed unchanged.
For some specific questions, InStep may check a supported official source, such as a university’s published course page. That information is used for the answer you asked for, is shown with the source and the date it was checked, and does not become part of InStep’s curated knowledge.
When context is missing
School processes, reading schemes, assessment providers and course requirements can vary. If InStep does not have the context needed to answer reliably, it should say what is missing rather than guess.
The knowledge library in this prototype
- Education stages
Official guidance · Department for Education / GOV.UK · England · Checked Oct 2026
- School context
Official guidance · Department for Education / GOV.UK · England · Checked Oct 2026
- Year 1 phonics
Official guidance · Standards and Testing Agency / DfE · England · Checked Oct 2026
- Year 4 mathematics
Official guidance · Department for Education · England · Checked Oct 2026
- Years 3-4 reading
Official guidance · Department for Education · England · Checked Oct 2026
- KS2 assessment
Official guidance · Department for Education · England · Checked Oct 2026
- GCSE context
Official guidance · Department for Education · England · Checked Oct 2026
- GCSE grading
Official guidance · Ofqual · England · Checked Oct 2026
- A levels
Official/public careers guidance · Skills for Careers / Department for Education · England · Checked Oct 2026
- Phonics phases (original Letters and Sounds framework)
Official guidance · Department for Education · England · Checked Oct 2026
- Standard Age Scores
Provider guidance · GL Assessment · Provider-specific · Checked Oct 2026
Independence
InStep is an independent prototype. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Department for Education, Ofqual, individual schools, exam boards, assessment providers or other organisations named as sources unless explicitly stated.
Important decisions
InStep helps explain information, but official and school-specific guidance can change. For important dates, requirements or decisions, check the original source shown in the answer.