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School websites have evolved from being a simple platform to display contact information to now serve a myriad of purposes. From statutory Ofsted information that must be published in order to ensure your website is compliant, to a key information directory for all your stakeholders. School websites are living and breathing and as such, can never truly be labelled as “complete”. Let’s explore the anatomy of a school website to see what makes them tick.

In this article we will discuss the common elements we tend to see in a great school website and how they best serve their stakeholders. 

Some of the key topics we cover include:

  • The homepage
  • Statutory information
  • Parent/Carer information
  • Alerts and announcements
  • Attracting prospective families
  • Adding some polish to your website

We will break each of these areas up into their own sub sections with useful links and guidance to help you understand all of the key functions surrounding your schools website.

The Homepage

Our research suggests the homepage is the landing page for over 90% of your visitors so it is key that it achieves a number of key components:

  • Clear navigation
  • Successful implementation of the school brand
  • Celebrates your successes and value
  • Is mobile responsive (works well on handheld devices)

If your school website achieves all of these, even if they are not perfect, you will have a strong base on which to build a successful school site.

Heartlands High School Homepage
Heartlands High School Homepage

Clear navigation

Some clear signposting to different areas across your website is vital to happy user experience. If your visitors cannot easily find the information they desire they will become frustrated and potentially give up their search. Your website caters for a number of stakeholders from parents/carers, staff, students, prospective families, the local community and Ofsted to name a few. Due to the large number of stakeholders it is always good practice to think about how you will structure your navigation to serve their needs. Will there be an area for each stakeholder? Or, will you hand pick some specific areas to have obvious signposting?The menu is a very important element that often becomes overcrowded when school priorities change so it’s worth checking it every year to see if what was a key element last year is still important now. 

Familiar Labels

An example of a common trend we see is an area labelled “Key Information” in the main menu, this area will include the majority of information that is required by Ofsted to ensure your website is compliant. This area will include pieces of information such as policies, financial information and pupil premium documents. With a realsmart website you can set reminders to update pages, this will send you an email reminder for example next year to update or check a policy. 

If we take the concept of anatomy and apply it to a school website, then navigation would be the skeleton, and we all know that without a skeleton a body simply couldn’t function. Our top tip for a school website with effective navigation is to ensure there are not too many top level links to your menu, stick to around five or six. An example that we love here at realsmart is the Trinity Catholic College website, this website makes navigating it a pleasure with no bloat to the menu.

Trinity Catholic College Menu
Trinity Catholic College Menu

School Branding

It may sound obvious but if your branding is not obvious then your visitors may have to use precious time checking that they are on the correct website. With over thirty two thousand schools in the UK It’s quite likely that you are not the only school of your name in the country. Therefore it needs to be obvious to your visitors that they are on the correct site when they land on the homepage. The easiest way to achieve this is to make sure that your logo is visible on the homepage, it’s common to have this appear in what we call the header of the site. The header is an area of the website that will host some common information that will be present on all pages of the website, this includes a logo, school name and navigation.

Your branding does not stop at the school logo, your website should reflect the colour scheme of the school this will help to identify the website to visitors who are familiar with the colour of items such as uniform, stationary and signage. It is important that your logo is strong, we see some logos that really don’t represent the school, sing to their values or community. Branding is so important, does your website match the branded materials you have in your building? Do the papers on the wall of the Head Teacher all have the same heading? Do the signs in the corridors match the logo on the website? If the answer to any of these questions is no, what can you do to fix it?

When we hand over a new design to a school we always ask if they would like their stationary updated to match the site, we do this free of charge. It doesn’t take long to produce but we know the power of branding. Even students feel safe on resources that are clearly being produced by the school. 

Examples of good photography appearing on the homepage is another way to set some branding, it could be an image of the school or an image of students in uniform, both of these would help identify the site as belonging to the school for visitors who are familiar.

Search Education trust website
Branding is ever present on the search education trust website

Setting the tone

What do we mean by this? Well if your homepage has some excellent photography on it, then the rest of the site should also reflect this for consistency. If you word the written content in a certain way, then continue this throughout the rest of the site.

There will be elements that appear on the homepage that will also appear throughout the site, for example the header with navigation, logo etc and the footer with contact details and menu items. Keep these consistent and you have the platform for successful user experience.

Is it mobile responsive?

A website is now, more than ever, likely to be visited by a user using a mobile device. This has to be taken into account in the design process and also when you add new content to your website. Luckily we have built a platform that supports responsiveness across the wide range of devices and screen sizes.

We design our websites with mobile responsiveness very much at the forefront of the process. The website must be as easy to use and as attractive on mobile devices as they are on large screen devices, otherwise what is the point? Care and consideration must be taken into account on some of the finer details of a mobile responsive website, where an animation, effect or graphic may look great on a larger device, it may not be necessary or beneficial on mobile.

Statutory Information, a compliant website

One of the most important and nerve wracking aspects of managing your school website is ensuring all the data is up to date and in place to ensure it is compliant with the DfE requirements. Our recent blog post goes into detail about how you can ensure that your school website is compliant and we also have a detailed checklist that you can make a copy of and use to get your website up to date. 

We touch upon the following topics in our in depth blog post that looks at keeping your website compliant:

  • Navigating Ofsted Compliance: A User-Friendly Guide for Schools
  • Empowerment Through Knowledge, using a guide to help keep your site compliant
  • Ongoing Collaboration, working as a team to keep your content updated
  • Key Features of an Ofsted-Compliant Website, the most important elements to help your site work
  • Staying Current: Automated Compliance Reminders, using our reminder tool for yearly/termly emails to update content

Parent/Carer Information

Parents will use your website to gather a variety of information and this information will be visited hundreds of times, these pages will be some of the most popular on your website. 

Parents will use the website to find information such as:

  • Term dates, this is a biggie, parents will want to know when term dates are to plan holidays/childcare as those dates may not be consistent across the local authority such as teacher training days.
  • Contact details, parents will need to know how they can contact a member of staff or report their child absent, this information will need to be easy to reach.
  • Uniform details, what is the uniform policy and where can the uniform be purchased, key information especially for new starters.
  • School Meals, information on not only the schools weekly menu but also the cost of school meals if applicable.

There will be much more information that parents need to access but due to the importance of this stakeholder, we tend to advise a parents option in the main menu of a school website where all of this information can sit. Carr Hill Primary have an excellent example of a parents/carers section on their website.

Alerts and announcements

Sometimes there is the piece of information that you just need to get out to anyone visiting the site, for example Osted are in today, there is an open evening coming up or even to book tickets for a school performance. Each piece of information has a differing level of importance and alternative ways of being presented. This is why we have carefully picked a number of elements that can be used on our school websites to present this information, from Smart Alerts to Upcoming Events Feeds and Popups. Here is a bit of detail about each one and the ideal use case.

What are Smart Alerts?

Smart Alerts are a simple way to get text based information out onto your website in a way that visitors cannot miss. With the option to choose between an alert bar across the top of your site or a fixed popup box you can quickly present some information to anyone who visits your site. Colour customisation means that you can set the tone of the alert to be branded and match your school colours or you can pick from some pre-set themes that range from tones of importance from warning to positive news. We’ve seen our clients use Smart Alerts for ofsted visits, school closures, travel information along with many more examples.

Event Feeds

A common practice across school websites is the ability to show some upcoming events and important dates on the website. Early in the academic year when open evenings are aplenty this is a useful method to show not only one but a range of upcoming events on your website. Wigmore Primary is just one example of a website we have built where they make full use of this functionality.

Pop Ups

Sometimes a piece of information needs to be presented to your visitors in a way that they just cannot miss, step in the popup. Fully customizable to display anything from some simple text to an image to even an embedded video. Pop Ups can be configured to appear on certain pages, on certain dates and much more. One of the more common use cases we see is when a flyer for an upcoming event needs to be prominently displayed on a website. 

Attracting prospective families

Attracting interest from families is only the first step. Without a clear call to action, that interest can quickly dissipate, leaving potential connections unfulfilled.

Here are our top tips for attracting prospective families:

  • Capture Attention Instantly with Customisable Alerts
  • Reach More Families with an SEO-Optimised Website Structure
  • Ensure No Event Goes Unnoticed with Seamless Calendar Integration
  • Convert Interest into Action with Register Interest Forms
  • Keep Families Engaged with Tailored Subscription Options

Families may visit your website and like what they see, but without a way to express their interest, they could move on without ever making contact. This results in lost opportunities to nurture relationships and grow your school community.

realsmart’s register interest forms offer a simple yet effective way to convert interest into action. By allowing parents to express their interest and sign up for updates, you create a direct line of communication with prospective families. This engagement tool not only captures leads but also fosters ongoing interaction, helping to turn interest into enrollment.

https://realsmart.co.uk/our-blog/attract-families-with-your-website/

Adding some polish

Once you are happy that your content is all in place and you are happy with the look and feel of your website there are always a few extra steps you can take to add a little polish to your schools website. This is the step that can make you stand out from the rest and it’s something our design team can help you with. 

Images

One of the biggest impacts you can make on your website is the quality of your photography. A photo tells a story and sets the tone of your website, it shows current and prospective parents how happy the students are to be there as well as prospective staff what the school looks and feels like. They say a picture tells a thousand words so imagine the impact you can have with some carefully selected images to really sell the story of your school and show why you are the best around. We’ve found that Braunstone Frith really set out their stall by using some excellent photography on their homepage.

Braunstone Frith landing image
The impact of strong images

Video

Video is a great way to demonstrate what life in your school is really like. It makes it easy to show your best bits, what sets you apart from other schools in the area, you can give examples of different curriculum spaces, extra curricular activities and so much more. You don’t need to get Christopher Nolan in to create it, it only needs to be around 20 seconds of footage for your homepage and a modern

Animations

No, we don’t mean cartoons! A fine balance between making an impact and overdoing it needs to be taken seriously when introducing animations into your website. A few subtle effects here and there can really add a bit of shine to your school website and give it that professional feel. Take this example from Search Education Trust, it’s not overpowering but the website really does feel complete when you see the carefully selected elements appearing on your screen. We liked them so much we introduced them onto our own website!

Conclusion

In conclusion, having a well-designed school website is a vital tool for modern educational institutions. It serves as a hub for information, communication, and engagement with students, parents, staff, and the wider community. By following the guidelines outlined in this article, schools can create websites that are visually appealing, user-friendly, and effective in achieving their goals.

Remember, a school website is not a static entity; it should be regularly updated and maintained to reflect the school’s evolving needs and priorities.