10 Things Every School Website Should Include

Your school website is crucial for making a great first impression as it is often the first point of contact that prospective parents may have with your school. An engaging school website can boost the brand and reputation of your school which can lead to increased admissions. An effective school website should also deliver a first class user experience for its regular users, including teachers, pupils and parents. You should be making it easy for existing parents to find term dates, news, events calendar and key information quickly and easily.

Above all your school website should empower pupils, parents, teachers, administrators, and prospective families to use it as a key resource to find and share information about your school and wider community.

We have been designing school websites for over 15 years, so we know a thing or two about what makes a good one! Check out our ’10 Things Every School Website Should Include’:

• Design – Your school website should have a design that echoes your vision and values and resonates with your target audience. Pay attention to making the user experience as effortless as possible, ensuring your visitors can get what they want quickly and easily. Pay particular attention to your photography. Investing in a professional photographer can turn an average site into a spectacular one.
• Updates – No parent is going to be a regular visitor if your last news article was posted in 2015! Keeping your school website regularly updated with new information will keep your existing users engaged as well as looking like a vibrant hub to potential new parents or teachers. Pay particular attention to your news and events calendar as these are usually the first pages to suffer from a lack of updates.
• Contact Details – One of the main reasons for visits to your school website will be a parent after your phone number or address. Your phone number should almost always be in the header of your site. Address details, phone number and social media links should be placed in the footer so they can be easily found on each and every page. On mobile add a ‘click to call’ button making it even easier for parents to contact you.
• Staff List – A current staff list with email addresses is a great tool for communication between parents and teachers.
• Calendar – Upcoming key school events, sports days trips, parents evening and term dates are just a few things you should be putting in your school calendar. Make it easy for parents to import these events into their own calendar with a ‘save to calendar’ button.
• Year Group Pages – An essential resource for parents to view what their child is currently learning. Pupils work should be regularly showcased to build self-esteem and foster a culture of excellence. Showing news relating to whatever year group page you are on is also a great way to keep visitors engaged.
• Policies – All of your policy documents in pdf format should be placed in an organised manner on this page. Make sure that your pdf files open in a new tab or window for best user experience.
• News/Blog – One of the most important areas on your site. Keep it regularly updated and make sure to categorise all articles by year group to make it easier for parents to filter out news that they may not be interested in.
• Vision & Values – A short statement of your school vision & values helps prospective parents to understand the mission of your school. Your curriculum information and after-school clubs, school awards and achievements also help visitors learn more about the school.
• Social Media/Useful Links – External links to useful sites and social media are a great way to extend your reach beyond your school website. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are now becoming the norm for most UK Schools. It’s a great way of celebrating what’s going on in your school and creating a sense of community.

Let Us Help You…

Brothers Creative works in partnership with schools of all sizes to create some of the best WordPress websites in the U.K. We are a School Website Design Company you can rely on.

If you are searching for an experienced School Web Designer then please do get in contact with us – we would love to be involved in your next project!