Website Design

Websites that work for schools

We design websites that look brilliant and are easy to use across a variety of devices.

They are built to be updated easily and designed to deliver a positive experience.

How do we do it?

Our websites are set up to do the job that school websites should do.

Is yours?

  • It is important that your website is specifically designed to serve BOTH its primary audiences – prospective parents and existing parents.

  • A prospective parent should come to a school website and immediately find the things you want them to find so their impression is a positive one.

  • Your website is your prospectus, whether you like it or not. It is doing that job today and every day. If you see it as your prospectus, then it might do it well. If you don't, then it will probably do it badly.

Why this is important...

Is your website working?

Almost all school websites serve existing parents and stakeholders. They don’t engage with prospective parents.

A prospective parent should come to a school website and immediately find or be signposted to all the information and content they need when choosing a school for their child.

It is crucial that schools talk to this audience because pupils mean funding, and funding means that schools are able to continue delivering a great education and providing employment for great staff.

It's a prospectus

We've said this, but.... your website is ALWAYS a prospectus.

Your site is where prospective parents will go to get information and get a feel for the school. Even if you don’t want them to. Even if you thrust a shiny brochure through their door and spend half an hour talking to them at an open evening. And they will keep coming back to that site, especially if they are undecided about their choice of school.

It's a hiring tool

Your website showcases your school to prospective staff. But is it saying the right things to attract the top talent to your school?

Schools are ultimately about people rather than place. You can have a great school in grotty buildings. You can't have a great school with grotty people.

A fantastic website is a recruiting tool that allows you to ensure you have those great people.

Take a look at some of our work...

Image of a school website

A Pop-up Online Prospectus (POP)

When is a website not a website? When it is a pop-up online prospectus (POP).  A POP is a micro website that is active for the duration of an admissions season.

It is for schools that have fundamental problems with their existing website that they might not have the time or the money to fix (basically, why spend money on a social media campaign that takes people to a website that lets the school down?).

We don’t envisage all schools needing a POP. But, for some, it could make all the difference.

Facebook – why should a school be using it?

When it comes to social media, we often say to school leaders: “You may be firmly in the anti-Facebook camp in your personal life, but …

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The falling birth rate in England and Wales – how it will affect schools

Stark fact No 1: The birth rate in England and Wales is now lower than it has been since records began. In 2019, some 640,370 …

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Using Facebook to promote your MAT

When it comes to Facebook we often say to our clients ‘you don’t have to like it, or use it in your personal life, but …

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Supporting growth of multi-academy trusts – why effective communication is key

At the time of writing, there are 775 multi-academy trusts with 2 to 5 schools and a further 1502 single academy trusts. However several articles …

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Essentials for your MAT website 

As a trust leader, you will be familiar with Ofsted or the Government’s requirements for your MAT website. These include things like having the name …

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New requirements for MAT websites

Earlier this summer, the Department for Education published its Academies Financial Handbook 2020. The handbook contains some significant changes to the guidelines around finance. These …

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Case study:

Take a look at a live example of our work
Click Here

The Bottom Line...

Here’s an analogy…

Your local Ford motor dealership sells cars. It also services and repairs the cars it sells.

If its website only provided information on servicing and repairs, then it would be engaging with people who have already bought one of the dealership’s cars and ignoring people who might want to buy one.

A website like that would be doing little to ensure the continued viability of that motor dealership.

This is exactly how virtually all school websites currently work. They concentrate on talking to people who have already sent their child to the school. They don’t talk to people who might, given encouragement, send their child there.

What our clients think

Worth their weight in gold…

Comms For Schools ran our staff recruitment drive. Their innovative campaign meant we were almost overwhelmed by outstanding candidates. They are worth their weight in gold

Headteacher, secondary school in Oxfordshire