When thinking about designing or updating your school website, there are some dos and don’ts you should consider in order to make it the best possible experience for your staff members and your families.
Our school web design team have learned a lot in their years of working with schools, and they have compiled a list of how to incorporate their favourite website components that help schools keep their website easy-to-use whilst also achieving their goals.
Integration with school app and payments
❌ DON’T forget any links that guide your parents and guardians to your communications and payments apps.
✅ DO add a section dedicated to your school app for parents to catch up with your latest announcements and to complete essential payments.
Our school Gaskell Community Primary School have found this feature particularly useful:
“We can easily direct the parents and staff to the website for school payments including dinner money, school clubs, trips, staff school dinners, extra-curricular activities, and school residentials. Our school newsletters and important information and dates can all be accessed via the school app. Important messages and reminders for parents and staff can be sent via the school app.”
Personalised touches
❌ DON’T forget to customise your website with your key visual elements, like your signature colours, your logo, and your values.
✅ DO take every possible measure to showcase your identity on your school website.
Our website design team are passionate about including unique details that match the school’s branding and overall image. Our school Maghull High wanted to focus on their school motto ‘aspire, achieve, enjoy,’ so our team made sure that was emblazoned across the homepage banner and everything tied together with their brand colours of dark blue, light blue and grey.
Small finishing touches can also make a big difference. Auckland College wanted an extra touch, so we highlighted keywords which both conveyed their message and featured the school’s initials such as “active”, “accomplish” etc.
Social media integration
❌ DON’T forget to add the links to your social media channels for easy reach.
✅ DO opt for a dedicated section to your social media channels, which allows for easy access for parents and guardians to get a first-hand feel of your day-to-day school life.
The icons should link directly to your preferred channels. Rising Stars Nursery says: “We wanted our Facebook to be integrated along with our Day Nurseries reviews, as they are really helpful. They automatically come up on our website and parents can leave reviews there too.”
Accessibility
❌ DON’T make your designs get in the way of the chance to clearly read your text and find the correct information.
✅ DO make your website intuitive for your parents and guardians, by ensuring they can get to the pages they’re looking for just with a quick glance, and they are able to read your text clearly.
To achieve easy navigation, St John Vianney requested a vertical navigation bar, which was optimised for the use of parents looking to find information. The school wanted the website to be in the colours of green, white, and yellow to tie in with their branding.
Design templates
❌ DON’T be afraid to come up with creative ideas for your dream website.
✅ DO research and decide on some requirements to help you choose a design.
By looking through the templates we offer, you can get a feel of what your website will look like before it’s even designed. Our team will let you browse through our options and help you find one that best matches your requirements and brings your vision to life.
Boroughbridge Primary School says: “We looked at a number of other websites and discussed what we liked or did not like about each. We had also done our own research and pointed out websites and features that we liked.”
Ready for your new design?
This website guidance should give you an idea of what would make your website effective for your staff and community. Our Template solution is cost-effective, extremely easy to use, and allows for quick turnaround. If you need more customisation, we’ll be more than happy to help you explore that too.
If you think it’s time to refresh your current school website design, we’re here to help. Simply book a free consultation with our web design experts to discuss your priorities and what you’re looking for.