School website is very important for making a good first impression as it often is the first contact that people have with the school. Therefore, the school website affects the overall image and reputation of your school which can lead to increased admissions. Having good school web design is also very important for delivering a good user experience for its regular users, including teachers, students and parents.

Here are some of the most important features of why having a good school website matters.

The features of a good school website

Appearance

The overall look of the website is the first thing that users notice when they visit the website. This includes the layout, colours, images and fonts you use to build the website. Make sure that all these factors are considered when building the website as they contribute towards creating an overall impression of the school.

Make sure you check our infographic on how to design an awesome school website here.

Quality content

A good school website is expected to include a range of quality content. Remember to add basic information like contact details, welcoming messages, school value and images to the homepage followed by learning resources, curriculum information, news, events calendar and other school information.

Navigation

The website design and good content are very important, however, if visitors cannot easily find the information they are looking for, they will become frustrated and it will negatively affect the overall user experience.

This is especially important when talking about parents researching the schools for their children because if they find the website impossible to navigate, they might just leave the website and search for another school.

The right message

Make sure your website sends the right message to its visitors and it actually represents the values and promotes the strengths of your school. Your website is very important when it comes to creating the best image of your school.

Mobile version

This is another very important feature that should not be ignored in the modern days. Most users, including teachers, parents and students will visit the school website on their mobile devices. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the website remains clear on all devices.

Check out our new mobile apps for schools here.

It is engaging

Finally, make it engaging!

Having a school website is very important, but making it a good website is what creates a good image of your school and leads to the positive user experience.

Website Design For Schools In The UK

This is a tricky issue for non-experienced website designers. While wanting to save on costs by doing their school web design themselves, schools should make sure they meet the Ofsted requirements when it comes to website content and structure.

One of the problems many school website designers encounter is that they use too many colors making their content very difficult to read. What follows are some tips to help create a beautiful website design for schools in the UK.

Defining Your School’s Brand and Content Strategy

 

Knowing your school’s brand and what you stand for will help you write the content for your school’s website. You need to understand the school’s core values as well as what your school stands for.

 

Then you need to understand what your school does well and what problems it can solve for its students. There are other key questions you can ask yourself before you start creating a content strategy.

 

That strategy will revolve around the answers to all of those key questions. Plus, understanding the purpose of your school will help you create a unique website look that stands out from the crowd.

 

What also is involved in defining your school’s brand will be the following elements:

 

• Develop your school’s promise to potential parents and students
• Add a tagline that reflects the purpose of the school
• Create your school’s identity- this includes creating a logo, finding your voice, the imagery you want to use, and the colours you want to use.

 

Defining your school’s brand is a wide range of elements that help potential and current students know who you are. That makes your website more attractive than using a number of bright or other colours.

 

Building A Solid User-Friendly Experience On The School Website

In the world of web design, there are a lot of options you can use to build complexity to your school’s website design. However, the old sayings ‘keep it simple’ and ‘less is more’ are key guides you should use when creating a primary school website design.

Yes, having fun things like pop-ups, interactive polls, and lots of videos can help but often those elements and other ones turn the user experience into something far more time-consuming than parents want to go through.

The key to building a good user experience on your school’s website is to follow these key tips:

1. Keep The Website Focused On Current School Parents

Make sure the relevant information is easy to access and find. Those important issues of tuition costs, teacher contact opportunities, and school events all should be very easy for the current school parent to find.

2. Focus On Enrollment

Make your enrollment process a priority. Part of the school’s website design is to attract new students to your school. This can partly be achieved through your About Us web page.

3. Help Busy Parents

This is done by having a clear school calendar on your website. Then make it easy to access for those busy parents who do not have the time to waste doing complicated searches or bypassing pop-ups, etc.

4. Miscellaneous Pages

These include contact information, a news and media web page, and more. You want to keep your school web design interesting without making it hard for parents to navigate through all the pages to get the information they want.

Add Interactive Features and Compelling Content for engaging the audience

Once you have understood your school’s identity and purpose, and then fleshed out a content strategy, now is the time to add some more interesting elements to your school website design.

Look for key features that can incorporate interactive activities. These will help engage both parents and students. Then make sure to have someone write excellent content that will be of interest to those school parents.

Content is still king and will help boost your school’s website in the search engine rankings. Bad content is one way to drive prospective students and parents away from your school.

Some Additional Words

Since 2003, School Jotter has been working with thousands of schools across the UK and worldwide to develop the best school website and e-learning software. We always make sure our school web design reflects the ethos of each school.

Contact us today to see how we can help make your school website design more attractive and user-friendly. Our experts will be glad to spend time working with you to enhance your public face.

Now, I’ll admit, this one is a little bit cheeky – Schoolanywhere is one of our own websites, dedicated to promoting the Moodle VLE. Earlier this year, faced with an outdated, non-responsive theme and the potential changes from Google’s “Mobilegeddon”, the decision was made to redesign Schoolanywhere on the School Jotter platform, utilising our new uber themes.
We did this for a number of reasons, the most prominent being that companies should “eat their own dog food” – if a product isn’t good enough for us to use ourselves, why would we expect customers to pay us for access? This would therefore be the perfect opportunity to put School Jotter through its paces as a business CMS, to see if it could replace the old WordPress-based theme.

Continue reading →

Webanywhere provide school web design in the North East of England, throughout the UK and beyond. Here, we’ll be looking at some examples of great school websites in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham, all made with School Jotter – the site builder and suite of apps for education providers.

Coxhoe Primary School, Durham

Coxhoe Primary in Durham have one of the most-visited school websites in the UK, due to the useful teaching and learning resources section that they have built up over the years. Their school web design incorporates an easy to use drop down menu to signpost pages for each class, essential documents, policies and reports in their ‘Virtual Office’, and much more. Their Curriculum Links’ section organises teaching resources by subject.
Explore the site at: https://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/

Albany Village Primary School in Washington, Tyne & Wear

A fun, cartoon-style school web design accompanies a warm welcome from the staff and governors. Integration of a calendar and Google Maps helps families to stay aware of upcoming events and find the location.
Ofsted reports and school brochures and policies are well signposted, and there are specific hubs for different age groups.
Browse the site at: https://www.albanyvillageprimary.org.uk/

Berwick Middle School, Northumberland

The Berwick website reflects the existing school branding, with a blue and white colour scheme. Its menus that make it easy to navigate to school policies, clubs, reports and more.
The homepage includes an events calendar, latest news, and a slideshow of photos.
View the Berwick Middle School in Northumberland: https://www.berwickmiddleschool.org.uk/

Can We Help You?

Are you looking for school web design in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear or County Durham, elsewhere in the North East of England, the UK or even further afield? Since 2003, we’ve helped thousands of clients worldwide to create fantastic-looking school websites, packed with useful apps and features, and which are easy for their teachers and support staff to maintain. We provide full training in using School Jotter and of course we’re always here if you need support.

Browse the site for more on school websites and our range of education products and services. You can learn more about our school website builder at www.schooljotter.com or why not contact us for a no-obligations discussion of your needs?

Webanywhere provide school web design in London, throughout the UK and beyond. In a series of blog posts we’ll be looking at some great examples of websites from most regions nationwide, all made with School Jotter – the site builder and suite of apps for education providers.
Below are just a few of the best school websites in London, created for our clients using Jotter.
Gordon Primary School in Eltham, London

This design uses a fun, cartoon-style illustration of their school, incorporating a mini slideshow of pupil photos. The ticker tape banner on the homepage draws attention to the latest news and announcements.
The sites blends fun with usefulness, signposting visitors quickly to important information, such as opening times, policies and a private staff area that requires logging in.
Browse the site at: https://www.gordonprimary.co.uk/

Adamsrill Primary School South East London

Adamsrill use their website well to promote their school motto:
“Learning and Working Together as a Community for a Brighter Future”
Using School Jotter, they integrate Google Maps, have a slideshow of pupil photos, include a school calendar, and make newsletters readily available from the homepage.
Their website reflects the existing school branding, with a blue and yellow colour scheme.
View their site at: https://www.adamsrill.lewisham.sch.uk/

Harlesdon Primary School, North West London

This primary school in Brent also chose to work with us to create a fun, cartoon design that represents their local surroundings. Each year group has its own web page linked from one of the buses on the homepage, and there are dedicated sections for parents and staff.
There’s multimedia integration, including a welcome video made with the help of the pupils.
Explore the site at: https://www.harlesdenschool.com/

Can We Help You?

Are you looking for school web design in London, elsewhere in the UK, or even further afield? Since 2003, we’ve helped thousands of clients worldwide to create fantastic looking school websites, packed with useful apps and features, and which are easy for their teachers and support staff to maintain. We provide full training in using School Jotter and of course we’re always here if you need support.
Browse the site for more on school websites and our range of education products and services. You can learn more about our school website builder at www.schooljotter.com or why not contact us for a no-obligations discussion of your needs?