What should a school website include?

A school website should let a parent answer five questions within a minute: what kind of school is this, can my child get in, what does it cost, is it safe, and how do I reach someone. Everything else supports those five. A clear admissions route and honest information matter more than animation.

What do parents look for first?

Parents usually arrive from a Google search, a recommendation or a WhatsApp link, and they check the site on a phone. They look for the school's board and classes, location, a sense of the approach to teaching, and how to get an answer. Make these visible without a login or a download.

A short introduction that states the board (CBSE, ICSE, IB, state board), the grades offered, the medium of instruction and the location works better than a long mission statement. Put it on the homepage.

Which pages does every school site need?

A solid structure is simple.

• Home: who you are, the grades, a clear enquiry button and the next admission date.
• About: history, leadership, values, and the principal's message in plain language.
• Admissions: process, eligibility, dates, documents needed, and how to apply.
• Fees: structure and payment methods. If you do not publish amounts, say how parents can get them.
• Academics: curriculum, subjects, assessment, activities.
• Campus and facilities: real photographs of classrooms, labs, library, sports and transport.
• Safety and welfare: security, CCTV policy where relevant, child protection policy, transport safety, medical support.
• Staff: leadership and department heads, with qualifications where appropriate.
• News and calendar: events, circulars, holidays.
• Contact: map, phone, WhatsApp, email and office hours.

Add a downloads section for prospectus, forms and policies, kept current.

How should the admissions page work?

This is where most enquiries are won or lost. List the steps in order: enquiry, campus visit, application, assessment if any, offer, fee payment, enrolment. Give dates. Explain what documents are needed. State what happens after the form is submitted and when parents will hear back.

Use a short form: parent name, phone, email, child's name and grade. Long forms lose people. Confirm receipt by email or WhatsApp and have a person follow up within a stated time. For setting up automated confirmations, see WhatsApp Business API.

What about fees and payment?

Be upfront about how fees work, even if you do not print every figure. Parents distrust hidden costs. If you offer online payment, make it work on mobile with UPI and cards, send a receipt immediately, and let accounts staff reconcile it easily. Treat this as its own feature with its own testing, as it connects to your accounting system. Our note on payment gateway choices explains the trade-offs for businesses that also take foreign payments.

How do you handle children's photos and data?

This is the area schools most often get wrong. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 treats children's personal data with extra care and requires verifiable consent of a parent or guardian before processing it. Do not publish a child's name, photo or achievement without written consent that is specific and recorded. Avoid listing full names alongside photographs, and never publish contact details.

Tell your counsel what you plan to publish. We implement the technical side, such as consent capture and storage, and counsel advises on legal interpretation. For a quick first view of where your site stands, a DPDP Readiness Scan is available.

Does it need to be accessible and fast?

Yes on both. Many parents browse on mid-range phones with patchy connections, so heavy photo galleries and autoplay videos hurt. Compress images, reserve space for them, and aim for Google's Core Web Vitals thresholds (see our guide).

For accessibility, follow WCAG 2.2 AA as a target: enough colour contrast, text that can be resized, full keyboard use, alternative text for images, captions for videos, and clear form labels. This helps parents with disabilities and everyone using a phone in sunlight.

What features go beyond the basics?

Once the foundation is in place, consider a virtual tour, an events calendar with reminders, a parent portal for results and attendance, an alumni page, and multilingual pages. Each one adds ongoing work, so add only what your staff can keep current. A portal is an application project in itself, not a page.

Which photos and videos work best?

Real ones. Photographs of your own classrooms, teachers and activities, taken in good light, build more trust than stock images, and parents can tell the difference. Keep videos short and host them where they do not slow the page. Add captions, and put the most important video, usually a campus tour, near the admissions page. Remember the consent point above for any child who appears.

How do you keep it accurate?

Name one person who owns the site's content, and agree a rhythm: admissions dates updated each year, circulars posted within a day, staff pages checked each term. Put the editing in a simple CMS that office staff can use. A care plan covers the technical side: updates, backups, security and uptime.

A short checklist for your own site

• Board, grades and location are on the homepage.
• Admission steps and dates are current.
• Fee information is clear.
• Safety and welfare policies are findable.
• Contact options include WhatsApp and a map.
• The site loads quickly on a mid-range phone.
• Children's photos and names have recorded consent.
• Someone owns updates.

You can read about our approach in Web Design & Development. To see where your current site stands, start with a Digital Health Check. This is the kind of work we do for schools and colleges. To talk through yours, Let's Talk.