Published: 02 February 2010

The Excellence Gateway search facility has been completely revamped to better your search experience on the Excellence Gateway. We've introduced a new ‘Google custom search', which harnesses the power of Google to create a customised search experience on the Excellence Gateway.

So how does it work?

Excellence Gateway Google custom search facility
  1. Enter a keyword or phrase in the ‘Search' box and click the ‘Go' button. Our search engine will then start searching the Excellence Gateway – and other websites relevant to the further education and skills sector in England identified by us – for content that contains the keyword/phrase you entered.
  2. The ‘search results' page, which looks very similar to the Google search results page, lists all the relevant content available for you to choose from.
  3. You'll notice a ‘Narrow your search' box on the left of the search results page. If you're looking for content that's specifically on the Excellence Gateway then you can narrow your search results by selecting one of the following options in this box:
    • Forums – select this option to search the Excellence Gateway discussion forums only
    • Events calendar – this option to search the Excellence Gateway events calendar only
    • Ofsted Good Practice Database – select this option to search the Ofsted Good Practice Database only
    • Skills for Life – select this option to search the Skills for Life pages on the Excellence Gateway only
    • User profiles – select this option to search the personal profile pages of Excellence Gateway users only
    • Improvement Services Directory – select this option to search the directory of improvement services for the FE and skills sector only
    • User-generated content – select this option to search content that's been uploaded by Excellence Gateway users only