In today’s digital age, having a current and user-friendly website is a must for any school. A well-designed website is crucial for effective communication with students, parents, and the community, providing vital information and resources at their fingertips. But let’s face it, creating or revamping a website can be a tough job, especially with limited time and resources. The process involves not only technical skills but also a clear understanding of the school’s needs and goals.
Luckily, there are new ways to make this process easier, from website builders with user-friendly templates to professional services that specialise in educational websites. These tools and services can help schools to launch new websites quickly, ensuring they are modern, accessible, and efficient without stressing out their staff. By leveraging these resources, schools can focus more on delivering quality education and less on technical challenges.
Table of Contents
- The Challenge: Limited Time and Resources
- A Streamlined Solution: 6 Weeks from Start to Launch
- Step 1: Initial Meeting
- Step 2: Design Presentation
- Step 3: Website Development
- Step 4: Content Transfer
- Step 5: Handover and Go Live
- Case Study: Carr Hill Primary School
- Key Benefits
The Challenge: Limited Time and Resources
Schools often face significant challenges when it comes to website development:
- Limited time: Staff members are usually overburdened with their primary responsibilities, leaving little room for web development tasks.
- Resource constraints: Many schools lack in-house expertise for website design and development.
- Maintaining consistency: Ensuring the new website aligns with the school’s branding and existing content can be challenging.
A Streamlined Solution: 6 Weeks from Start to Launch
At realsmart, we’ve developed a streamlined and efficient method to tackle these common pain points, making it easy and hassle-free for schools to create effective, user-friendly websites without a huge time commitment or technical expertise. Here’s how our process handles common issues:
By focusing on user experience and simplicity, we ensure that schools can quickly set up and manage their online presence, allowing educators and administrators to devote more time to their core responsibilities. Our intuitive platform offers customisable templates, seamless integration with existing systems, and dedicated support to address any challenges that arise.
Step 1: Initial Meeting
Problem Solved: Clarifying Vision and Goals
Solution: First, we’ll have a meeting to get a clear picture of the school’s vision for the new website. This helps us nail down both the look and the functionality you’re aiming for. Next, we’ll put together a detailed design document and branding guide, complete with proposed designs, colour palettes, and fonts.
Step 2: Design Presentation
Problem Solved: Incorporating Feedback Efficiently
Solution: During the design presentation, we work closely with the school, tweaking the design based on feedback until it matches the school’s vision. This back-and-forth process makes sure the final design perfectly aligns with what the school wants.
Step 3: Website Development
Problem Solved: Transparent Progress Tracking
Solution: Once the design gets the green light, we jump into development. Schools get access to the development site, so they can see the progress and suggest changes in real time. This way, everyone stays in the loop, and we can make adjustments quickly to keep the project on track.
Step 4: Content Transfer
Problem Solved: Seamless Content Migration
Solution: Content migration can be a real headache for schools, but realsmart makes it a breeze. We move all your old site’s content and give it a fresh, new look. Need new content? No problem! We help with that too, ensuring your new website is complete and polished.
Step 5: Handover and Go Live
Problem Solved: Smooth Transition and Onboarding
Solution: The final step is the handover, where we do a training session on how to update the website. This makes sure the school staff can easily manage and update the site from here on out. Once the training is done, we launch the website so it’s accessible to everyone.
Case Study: Carr Hill Primary School
Carr Hill Primary School in Gateshead gave their website a fantastic makeover using this method. In just six weeks, they transformed their online presence, going from the first meeting to a live, fully functional website. The process was both efficient and effective.
The best part? It only took 120 minutes of the school’s time! This included a 45-minute initial meeting where the school discussed their vision and goals, a 30-minute design chat to finalise the website’s look and feel, and a 45-minute training session to ensure staff could manage the site independently.
The result was a user-friendly, attractive website that better serves the needs of students, parents, and staff.
Key Benefits
To summarise, here’s the key benefits as described by team at Carr Hill Primary:
- Time Efficiency: We broke down the process into easy steps and gave ongoing access to the development site so they could get their websites up and running quickly.
- Expert Guidance: We gave professional design and development help without the school having to invest a lot in in-house skills.
- Easy Maintenance: After launch, we trained the school staff to manage and update their websites on their own.
Creating a new school website doesn’t have to be a headache. By working together and following a clear plan, schools can tackle challenges and get a new site up and running smoothly. This approach saves time and delivers a great result, making it easier for schools to keep a strong online presence.