Every now and then, school websites need a bit of a freshen up. Sometimes it is to make information a bit more accessible to parents, students, and staff. Other times it is because the school needs to meet various statutory regulations. If your school website hasn’t been updated recently, then it might be time for a sprucing up. That spruce up will help showcase your school in the best possible light, and may even make it easier to keep things updated going forward.
Why Your School Website Matters More Than Ever
Chances are the vast majority of people are discovering your school via your website. Give them the wrong impression? They’ll jump right off it. No admission application. Nothing. You’ve lost a potential student.
Current students? They’ll probably go to your website for useful information. If it isn’t there, they’ll get frustrated. Might even need to contact the school, taking up valuable administrative resources. In fact, in this day and age, it is essential that all important information should be on your website, and it should be easy to find. This is because it will be the first port of call for everybody.
Signs Your School Website is Outdated
If your school website hasn’t been updated in a while, it will often be immediately obvious it needs to be freshened up. In other cases, there will be a few key ‘red flags’ that indicate that it might just be time. Let’s look at them.
It’s Not Mobile-Friendly
Most of your site visitors will be visiting on their mobile device. If the site doesn’t look great on mobile devices, they’ll bounce off. Not to mention the fact that search engines like Google are highly reluctant to rank websites that aren’t mobile friendly anywhere near the top of their searches, meaning you’ll get fewer visitors overall.
The Design Looks Dated
Your website should look sleek and modern. Not like those older school websites that have weird images, colours, and a design that looks like it has been cobbled together on a limited budget.
Navigation is Confusing
People should easily be able to find what they want on a website in no more than a couple of clicks. If navigating around your school website is a hassle, then it needs updating.
It’s Difficult for Staff to Update
Most older school websites don’t get updated simply because it is too hard to do so. Many older websites require some serious technical knowledge to add pages, or even update a page. If it isn’t easy to add new content to your website, it needs updating.
Compliance Warning Signs
Some school websites need updating because they are missing key information that makes them compliant with the law.
Missing Statutory Information
Ofsted, and other government departments, require certain information to be included on a school website. If this information is missing, then the school would be seen as non-compliant and would be marked down on any reports. It could lead to potential sanctions.
Accessibility Issues (WCAG 2.1)
A school website should be accessible to everybody. WCAG 2.1 is a standard put in place (not a legal standard, but should be implemented anyway) that helps to ensure a website is more accessible to those who may suffer from disabilities. This ensures making content is simple to understand, navigate through, and images have alternative text so people can understand what is being displayed. The key is to ensure that your website is as accessible as possible.
Outdated Policies or Documents
School policies should be updated regularly. This especially includes admissions information, privacy policies, etc. If it isn’t, then the website needs to be updated quickly. Any outdated information on a website is putting your school in a bad light.
Performance & Technical Red Flags
It isn’t just the website’s content that could indicate your site needs to be updated. There are a few performance and technical red flags that could indicate things need to be smoothed out a bit.
Slow Loading Speeds
You’ll be surprised at how little people will hang around for a website to load up. If things take more than a couple of seconds, they are hitting the back button in their web browser. Your site needs to load quickly.
Security Concerns
Website not behind a secure server? Unsecured pages where passwords, etc. need to be updated? Getting a lot of spam through submission forms on your website? Security needs to be tightened up. Get your website updated.
Hosting or Downtime Issues
Website going down more often than you want? Throwing up regular hours? It may be time to not only move your website somewhere better, but upgrade it at the same time.
Communication & Engagement Issues
Finally, your site should be a communication point for people. Not just those currently associated with the school, but those considering it. Any warning signs here could indicate problems.
Low Parent Engagement
Parents should want to use your website to seek out information. If they aren’t engaging in the way you want, then you’ve got a problem. You might notice them calling the school more often, or being reluctant to send information through your site.
Poor Admissions Enquiries
Admission enquiries gone down? While this may not always be a problem with your website, there may be issues there. It is worth having an audit carried out on your website to see what could be changed to boost admissions.
Inconsistent MAT Branding
If your school is part of a MAT, then there should be consistent branding across the schools (and little document duplication).
When a Refresh is Enough vs When a Full Redesign is Needed
A refresh will often be enough if your website has just a couple of minor issues that can be quickly ironed out. However, if your website hasn’t been updated in a few years and has more than a few of the major red flags that we mentioned on this page, it is essential that you get your site fully redesigned to help future-proof it.
How Often Should Schools Redesign Their Website
At least once a year, minor changes should be made to the website to ensure it stays compliant. However, if it has been more than 3-5 years since a full site redesign, then it might be time to shake things up a little bit. It may also be worth getting your site updated if you have a looming Ofsted inspection.
Choosing the Right School Website Provider
School website design is a very specialist area of web design, since so many things need to be included. Not only from a legal point of view, but in a way that encourages more admission enquiries, parent support, etc. So, always use a specialist school website provider. School Jotter is one of the leading providers in the United Kingdom.
Don’t Wait for an Ofsted Trigger
Don’t wait for Ofsted to tell you your website needs updating. Get it updated now. A well-designed website will boost school admissions, increase parent confidence in the school, and make running the administrative side of things a whole lot easier. Reach out to School Jotter today to see how they can help re-design your school site today.
