Website design for schools that parents can actually use

Four audiences, one home page

A prospective parent is comparing three schools and wants to feel the culture, see fees and book a visit. A current parent wants the term calendar and the late-bus notice. A teacher wants the staff portal. An inspector or regulator wants your published policies. Most school sites try to serve all four on the front page and serve none well.

We split the home page by intent. The top section speaks to prospective families with a short statement of what the school is for, a photo of real pupils in class (with consent) and two buttons: book a visit and request a prospectus. Below that, quick links lead current families and staff to the pages they use daily.

Pages a school website needs

Rules about what a school must publish online differ by country, state and school type. In England, for example, schools have statutory information to publish. Check the current list with your regulator or the education department, not with us.

Accessibility and child safety online

School sites are used by older relatives, parents with limited English and families on slow phone connections. We build to the WCAG guidelines where practical: strong contrast, text alternatives for images, keyboard navigation and plain language. Public bodies in several countries have legal accessibility duties, and the rules differ for private and public schools, so ask your lawyer or governing body what applies to you.

Photos of pupils need consent. We build photo galleries so that images can be pulled quickly if a parent withdraws consent, and we avoid publishing full names next to pupil photos. Contact forms for children are limited to parents and guardians.

Integrations with school software

Most schools already run a management information system and a parent portal, for example ParentPay, Arbor, SIMS or Blackbaud, depending on country. We do not replace them. We link to them clearly from the home page, with one button called Parent portal, and we pass enquiry form data to your admissions inbox or CRM.

Newsletters often go through tools such as Mailchimp. We can embed a sign-up form and match the look of the emails to the site.

How the project runs

1. Stakeholder callWe speak with the head or marketing lead and the office manager who will maintain the site.
2. Content auditWe list every page and policy, remove what is outdated and decide what must stay.
3. Design and buildHome page, admissions path and calendar first, then policy and staff pages.
4. TrainingA recorded session for office staff on news, dates and documents.
5. Launch outside term-timeWe prefer a quiet week so redirects and forms can be tested without disruption.

We work remotely from Pune, with offices in Coventry and New York, and book calls in your working hours, usually after the school day.

What it costs

Projects start at $1,500 and our rate is $30 an hour. A small school with a clear page list sits near the start. A large site with many staff profiles, department pages, a portal login or a long document archive needs more hours. We give a fixed quote within one working day. See the website design service, the website cost guide and our WCAG checklist.