Your elementary school website is more than a mere online presence — it’s a communication tool, reflection of your ethos, and more often than not, prospective families’ first impressions.
Since you don’t get a second chance to make said impression, you can implement these seven must-have features to get it right from the get-go.
1. Mobile-First, Accessible Design
Almost 75% of prospective students and 67% of parents interact with school websites on mobile devices. Therefore, your site needs to be responsive, ensuring it performs perfectly on all screen sizes, from phones to desktops.
But automatic, device-dependent resizing is only the beginning. The best elementary school websites are fast-loading and feature tap-friendly navigation to help mobile users.
These days, Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing, so if your design isn’t mobile-friendly, your ranks (and thus, your visibility) will suffer. Not to mention that poor smartphone experiences can disengage donors and deter applicants — two things your establishment certainly doesn’t want.
Beyond the mobile-first requirements, you must ensure accessibility. For example, students with visual impairments may struggle if the text doesn’t contrast with the background. You’ll also need to add alt text for all images, so screen readers can capture relevant information. Since you are legally required to meet certain equal access standards, you should audit your site for accessibility annually.
2. Intuitive Navigation and Clear Structure
Most people will leave a website if they can’t find what they’re searching for within just three clicks. While there are tons of creative ways to display information, the majority of parents and students will expect the menu to sit at the top of the screen. After all, too many clicks spoil the digital broth.
Minimise friction wherever possible, helping users access the desired information with ease. Consider grouping content by audience, such as parents, faculty, and prospective students, and keep high-priority pages (i.e., Apply Now) no more than a click or two away.
If you have a lot of primary navigation links, create a mega menu. They’re more expansive than traditional dropdown menus, providing plenty of real estate to add pages without cluttering your main navigation bar.
Intuitive navigation often brings clear structure with it, but if you’re looking to increase your conversion rate, make sure you have clear CTAs, like “Apply Now,” “Subscribe to Newsletter,” or “Schedule a Visit.” Websites taking advantage of CTAs experience a whopping 121% conversion boost.
3. Engaging Visuals and School Branding
It’s easy to get bogged down in all the policies and written information you want/need to relay. However, it’s important to remember that your website should also showcase your establishment’s personality and culture. So, include vibrant images and engaging videos to help prospective families get a real feel for your school environment.
As for branding, make sure it’s consistent and eye-catching. Your logo, prospectus, school colours, and the fonts you choose should match across all publications and parts of your site to show cohesiveness, build trust, and foster a sense of community.
4. Up-to-Date Content and Calendar Integration
Regularly updating your blog or news section with fresh content allows you to celebrate student achievements, keep parents in the loop, and ensure everybody feels like they belong to a connected community. Couple that with the fact it helps your SEO efforts, making it easier for new parents and pupils to find you, and it’s a no-brainer!
In the spirit of ensuring everybody stays up to date, integrating a calendar into your homepage will ensure both parents and students never miss an important educational date again. From term dates to sports fixtures to exams to open days and more, a well-designed school calendar collates all poignant dates and stops parents missing information in their never-ending email streams.
5. Compliance and Transparency (ADA, FERPA, Contact Info)
As briefly mentioned, accessibility isn’t just best practice, it’s a legal requirement. In fact, 71% of ADA lawsuits in 2025 involved inaccessible websites, so ensuring everybody can access the information they need is essential to comply with such laws.
The same goes for FERPA, a law protecting the privacy of student and education records, and GDPR. Implement rigorous security measures (e.g., encryption and access controls), be transparent about how you collect and store data, and regularly train staff on IT responsibilities to avoid missing the mark.
With transparency in mind, only display accurate contact information on your website. Any discrepancies across the web won’t just hurt your SEO efforts, but they will also harm your relationships between current and prospective families.
6. Parent Communication Tools
The best school websites boast a secure parent and student portal. It offers a private, centralised space for communication between the school and surrounding community.
For parents, the portal can include grade viewings, fee payment histories, important documents, school policies, and attendance records. Student portals, on the other hand can show assignment submissions, links to learning resources, and timetables.
7. SEO and Analytics-Ready Framework
Ultimately, the greatest website is one people can find — and that’s exactly what SEO is for. Search engine optimisation ensures your site ranks highly on search engine results pages (SERPs), ensuring it’s easy for families and students to discover you.
While it involves many elements, the easiest ways to improve SEO is to use relevant keywords in meta descriptions, page titles, and content, ensuring pages load quickly, and create a mobile-first design. Add some local SEO and you’re onto a winner!
Once you’re optimised, you’ll be ready to track your website’s performance over time with Google Analytics, helping you tweak things that aren’t performing as well as you’d like.
7 Elementary School Website Tips
With these seven features, your school website will not only bring parents, students, and faculty together, but you’ll skyrocket up the search rankings this year and beyond.
