01
Discovery with staff and parents
Short workshops with the office, leadership and a few parents, so the site is built around the questions families actually ask.
FIG 01 · School Website Design
School website design parents can use and staff can update
Websites for primary, secondary, independent and academy schools that parents can use on a phone, staff can update in minutes and inspectors can check against the DfE list, built to WCAG 2.2 AA from the first template.
See how it works
FIG 02 · Quick answer
What is school website design?
School website design is building a website that serves parents, pupils, staff and inspectors. Elgrith maps the sitemap to the DfE publishing lists for UK schools or to ADA Title II duties for US public schools, builds every template to WCAG 2.2 AA, drafts the accessibility statement and sets up a CMS staff can update.
- The WCAG level we build every template to
- 2.2 AA
- Projects delivered since 2015
- 1,000+
- Clients across the USA, UK and India
- 250+
- Your domain, content and code
- 100%
FIG 03 · Why it matters
The rules are published. Most school sites still miss them.
From the Department for Education, the US Department of Justice and GOV.UK, checked 24 Oct 2026. General guidance, not legal advice.
01
20
Headings in the DfE list for maintained schools
From admissions to test results, the DfE lists what maintained schools must publish online (updated 24 Oct 2024). Some apply only to certain schools; four, such as opening hours, are recommendations.
Source: GOV.UK, What maintained schools must publish online (updated 24 Oct 2024)(opens in a new tab)02
26 Apr 2027
First ADA Title II web deadline for US public schools
The DOJ’s Title II rule sets WCAG 2.1 AA for public entities, including public schools: 26 Apr 2027 for populations of 50,000+, 26 Apr 2028 for smaller ones, after the 20 Apr 2026 interim final rule.
Source: ADA.gov, Title II web rule fact sheet (read 24 Oct 2026)(opens in a new tab)03
3
Branded uniform items allowed from September 2026
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act became law on 29 Apr 2026. From September 2026, schools must cap branded uniform items at three, excluding ties, so many uniform pages need updating.
Source: GOV.UK news, Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act (30 Apr 2026)(opens in a new tab)
FIG 04 · DfE lists
What a UK school website must publish
The DfE publishes two lists: what maintained schools must publish online, and what academies, free schools and colleges should publish (both updated 24 Oct 2024). We map your sitemap to the headings that apply to your school, so governors and inspectors can find each one. Checked 24 Oct 2026.
| Sitemap section | DfE headings it covers | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Admissions | Admission arrangements | Dates, criteria and how to apply, for each entry point |
| Policies | Behaviour policy, charging and remissions, complaints policy | One searchable library, in HTML first, with review dates |
| Learning | Curriculum, careers programme information, remote education | Some headings apply only to certain phases; remote education is a recommendation |
| Results and inspection | Ofsted reports, test, exam and assessment results | Your latest Ofsted report and results, kept current |
| Funding | Pupil premium, PE and sport premium, financial information, pay gap reporting | Academies also publish annual reports and accounts and executive pay |
| About and governance | Governance information, ethos and values, public sector equality duty | Governor and trustee details kept current by staff |
| SEND | Special educational needs and disabilities | Your SEND information report, kept current |
| Practical information | Contact details, school opening hours, school uniform | Uniform page updated for the three-item branded cap from Sep 2026 |
Sources: GOV.UK, What maintained schools must publish online, and What academies, free schools and colleges should publish online, both updated 24 Oct 2024. Some headings apply only to certain school types or phases; we check the list for yours. We map to the DfE lists; we never call a site “DfE approved”.
Redesigning an old school site? Read our redesign SEO checklistFIG 05 · What you get
What our school website design includes
Everything from the first staff workshop to the day the office manager publishes the newsletter without asking anyone.
02
Sitemap mapped to the DfE lists
Every statutory heading for your school type given a clear home, plus the pages parents use every week.
03
Design and templates
Your crest, colours and photos of your buildings and learning spaces, in templates that stay on brand whoever edits them.
04
A CMS staff can use
Roles and permissions, newsletters, calendars, term dates and a policies library, with training for each editor.
05
Content migration
Pages, policies and news moved from your current platform, with redirects so old links and search results keep working.
06
Accessibility and the statement
Templates built and tested to WCAG 2.2 AA, PDFs reviewed, and your accessibility statement drafted for you to approve.
07
Hosting set-up
Hosting, SSL, backups and the domain set up in your school’s or trust’s name, not ours.
08
Support
Help in term time and before inspections, plus updates and checks, on terms agreed in your written scope.
Deliverables
11
deliverables, in writing
Included in every build, written into your fixed quote before work starts.
FIG 06 · Parents on phones
The journeys parents make, on a phone, at 7:45 am
Most visits are a parent looking for one thing in a hurry. We design those journeys first, with clear navigation, fast pages and translations where families need them.
- Parents and carers
- Prospective families
- Governors and inspectors
Your school website
- Calendar and term dates
- Policies library
- Enquiry and admissions forms
Term dates and events
- Path
- Home → calendar → add to phone calendar
- Goal
- No more “when is the INSET day?” calls to the office
Find a policy
- Path
- Search or policies library → HTML page with a PDF if needed
- Goal
- Any policy in two taps, with its review date
Newsletters and news
- Path
- Email link → newsletter page that reads well on a phone
- Goal
- Parents who read it, and staff who publish it in minutes
Admissions and open days
- Path
- Admissions page → open-day booking or enquiry form
- Goal
- Families who know the dates, criteria and next step
Translations
- Path
- Language switcher on key pages
- Goal
- Families who don’t read English well still find term dates and contacts
Everyday services
- Path
- Meals, clubs, uniform and payments pages
- Goal
- Forms that work for everyone: essential content must be accessible
FIG 07 · Accessibility
Accessibility statements and WCAG 2.2 AA
GOV.UK says primary and secondary schools and nurseries are partially exempt from the public sector accessibility regulations, except for the content people need in order to use their services, and that partially exempt bodies still need to publish an accessibility statement (guidance updated 30 Sep 2024, checked 24 Oct 2026). General guidance from public sources, not legal advice; your counsel confirms what applies to you.
05principles
An accessibility statement
We draft it in the standard structure: what is accessible, what is not yet, how to ask for another format and how to complain. You approve and publish it.
Essential content first
Forms and pages families need to use your services, such as meal choices or absence reporting, built and tested to WCAG 2.2 AA.
WCAG 2.2 AA templates
Every template tested with automated tools, keyboards and screen readers before staff add a single page.
PDFs and old documents
Key policies turned into HTML pages, and the PDFs you keep checked or listed in the statement.
Audit and remediation
An audit of your current site and a fix list, with a written report of what we tested. No one can honestly promise a site is lawsuit-proof.
Website accessibility
FIG 08 · US public schools
US public schools: ADA Title II deadlines
The Department of Justice’s Title II web rule covers state and local governments, and ADA.gov lists public schools, community colleges and public universities among them. Dates as of 24 Oct 2026. General guidance from public sources, not legal advice; your counsel confirms what applies to you.
05principles
26 Apr 2027
Compliance date for public entities with a total population of 50,000 or more, as extended by the interim final rule published 20 Apr 2026.
26 Apr 2028
Compliance date for public entities with a population under 50,000 and for special district governments. School districts follow the rule’s population test.
WCAG 2.1 AA is the standard
The rule names WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content and mobile apps. We build to WCAG 2.2 AA, which includes every 2.1 AA criterion except one removed as obsolete.
Documents and third-party tools
PDFs, calendars and linked enrollment or payment tools can be part of what families need. We audit what the district links to, not just the pages we build.
Check your own site first
Our 2026 checklist walks through what to test before you call anyone.
ADA website checklist
FIG 09 · Children’s data
Children’s data: COPPA, FERPA and the UK Children’s code
School sites collect enquiries, newsletters and sometimes pupil information. Which privacy rules apply depends on who runs the site and what it collects. General guidance from the FTC, the US Department of Education and the ICO, checked 24 Oct 2026; general guidance from public sources, not legal advice; your counsel confirms what applies to you.
05principles
COPPA (US, under 13)
COPPA covers operators of commercial websites and online services directed to children under 13. Since the FTC’s January 2025 amendments, with compliance from April 2026, disclosing a child’s data to third parties needs separate parental consent.
Schools and edtech vendors
The FTC says a school may consent for parents only within the educational context, for tools used for the school’s benefit, not for a vendor’s own commercial use. We keep ad trackers off pages for pupils.
FERPA (US education records)
FERPA applies to schools that receive funds under US Department of Education programs. Disclosing personal information from education records generally needs signed, dated written consent; directory information has its own notice and opt-out rules.
UK Children’s code
The ICO’s age appropriate design code sets 15 standards for online services likely to be accessed by under-18s, including educational sites. A public authority’s non-commercial service may fall outside it; we apply high-privacy defaults either way.
Pupil photos and names
Galleries and news templates with a consent check for staff before publishing, and no pupil names beside photos unless your policy allows it.
FIG 10 · Independent schools
Private and independent school websites
Private school website design is enrolment marketing as much as information. Families compare several schools, so the journey from first visit to open day has to be clear and quick.
05principles
Admissions journeys
Entry points, dates, criteria and the next step for each year group, written for parents rather than for the admissions office.
Open-day bookings
Book a tour or open morning in a few taps, with reminders and the details landing in your admissions system.
Virtual tours
Video or photo tours of your buildings and grounds, captioned and fast to load, for families who live far away.
Fees pages
Your own fees, bursaries and scholarships, set out plainly and kept current by your bursar.
Enquiry forms into your CRM
Enquiries tracked from first visit to enrolment, with consent recorded and data kept to what you need.
CRM development
FIG 11 · CMS
A CMS staff can actually use
The best school website is the one that is still accurate in March. We build on the platform your office and teachers can run, and train every editor.
05principles
Roles and permissions
Class pages for teachers, policies for the office, governance for the clerk: each editor sees only what they need.
Calendars and term dates
One calendar that feeds the homepage, class pages and parents’ phones.
Newsletters
Write once, publish to the site and send by email, with templates that keep the layout tidy.
Hosting in your name
Hosting, SSL and backups set up in your school’s or trust’s accounts, with the domain kept in your name.
Cloud deploymentBuilt by the team behind our flagship
Kenerate AI, our flagship build, designed and engineered by Elgrith. It is an AI image and video studio, not a school site.
See Kenerate AI
FIG 12 · Measurement
What we measure after launch
A school site succeeds when parents find answers without ringing the office and staff keep it current.
| How we measure it | What we won’t do | |
|---|---|---|
| Parent journeys | Searches, top tasks and time to find term dates or policies | Report page views as engagement |
| Statutory content | Each DfE heading for your school type present and dated | Call the site “DfE approved” |
| Accessibility | Issues found and fixed per release, with a test log | Claim a site is “compliant” |
| Admissions (independent schools) | Open-day bookings and enquiries by source | Promise enrolment numbers |
| Staff editing | Pages updated by staff each term | Lock content behind support tickets |
We agree the measures and reporting rhythm in your written scope.
FIG 13 · Process · 6 steps
Parents and staff first, then the design
Discovery, sitemap, design, build: a fixed written quote after a free call, the DfE or ADA checks built in, and a launch planned around your term dates.
- Step 01
Free call
Tell us what the site has to do, who updates it and what is not working today. We ask about your audience, content, systems and deadlines first.
- Step 02
Discovery
We review your current site, analytics and content, check it against the DfE list or ADA duties that apply, and talk to the office, leadership and parents.
- Step 03
Fixed written quote
A written scope and a fixed quote, with the timeline planned around your term dates and agreed before any work starts.
- Step 04
Sprints with weekly demos
Sitemap and design first, then templates, CMS roles and content migration, each shown working in a weekly demo before it goes live.
- Step 05
Launch
Accessibility tests, a statutory-content check, redirects from old URLs and editor training, timed for a holiday or a quiet week in term.
- Step 06
Support
Support in term time and before inspections, plus care plans, as agreed in your written scope.
FIG 14 · What you get
Everything included
Written into your fixed quote, so you know exactly what you are paying for before work starts.
11items
- Written scope and fixed quote
- Sitemap mapped to the DfE lists or ADA Title II duties
- Page templates built and tested to WCAG 2.2 AA
- Accessibility statement drafted for your approval
- CMS with staff roles, calendars, newsletters and a policies library
- Content migration with redirects from your old platform
- Admissions, open-day and enquiry forms
- Translation set-up on key pages
- Hosting, SSL and backups in your school’s name
- Editor training and a written guide
- Your domain, content, code and accounts stay yours
FIG 15 · Tech & tools
The tools behind the work
Proven, well-supported tools, chosen for your project and set up in accounts your business owns.
- WordPress
- Headless CMS
- Next.js
- Google Workspace
- Microsoft 365
- Google Translate
- Mailchimp
- GA4
- Search Console
- axe DevTools
- Figma
FIG 16 · Who it’s for
School website design in the UK and US.
UK schools work with our London client-partnership centre, with delivery from our New Delhi HQ. Same method for every phase: parents first, statutory content in its place, accessible by design.
6 audiences
Primary
Primary school website design.
Clear term dates, class pages, clubs and the policies parents ask about, with an editor simple enough for a busy office.
- Class pages teachers can update
- Term dates on parents’ phones
- Statutory pages for your school type
- Newsletters in minutes
Secondary
Secondary schools and sixth forms.
Options, careers programme information, results, sixth-form admissions and a site that works for pupils as well as parents.
- Careers programme pages
- Sixth-form admissions
- Results and Ofsted reports
- Subject and curriculum pages
Trusts
Trusts and multi-academy trusts (MATs).
A trust site plus a site for each school, sharing templates and governance while each school keeps its own identity.
- Shared templates across schools
- Trust-level governance and accounts
- Executive pay and annual reports
- Central and school-level editors
Independent
Independent and private schools.
Admissions journeys, open-day bookings, virtual tours and fees pages that help families choose, with enquiries tracked to enrolment.
- Open-day booking
- Virtual tours
- Fees, bursaries and scholarships
- Enquiry tracking
US schools
US private schools and districts.
District sites planned around the ADA Title II dates and WCAG 2.1 AA, and private school sites built for enrollment, with COPPA and FERPA in mind. US English throughout.
- Title II deadline plan
- WCAG 2.2 AA templates
- Enrollment and tour booking
- Fixed written quote in USD
Colleges
Colleges and universities.
For colleges and smaller universities: course finders, open days and clear statutory pages. Large university website design programmes are scoped separately.
- Course and programme finders
- Open-day and event bookings
- FE publishing headings
- Departmental editors
FIG 17 · Working with us from the USA and UK
Built in New Delhi. Run on your hours.
Every project gets a point of contact in New York or London and an engineering team in New Delhi. Here is how today’s working days line up, live.
New York
North America
--:--ET
New Delhi team Your working day- Shared working time
- ≈ 3 hours today
- New Delhi is
- 10.5 h ahead
- Live calls, your time
- 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET
London
UK & Europe
--:--UK
New Delhi team Your working day- Shared working time
- ≈ 4.5 hours today
- New Delhi is
- 5.5 h ahead
- Live calls, your time
- 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. UK
Three ways to work together
- 01
Fixed-scope project
A written scope, one fixed price and a dated plan. Suits websites, apps and MVPs.
- 02
Dedicated team
Designers and engineers on your roadmap every month, billed monthly.
- 03
White label
For US and UK agencies: our work, your brand, unbranded deliverables.
Every engagement
- Fixed quote in USD, GBP or INR after a free 30-minute call
- NDA before discovery. You own all code, designs and content
- A working demo every sprint, not status slides
- Reply within one business day, calls inside your hours
Book a call
Calls on ET or UK hours
FIG 18 · Rules and dates
School website rules: what changed and when (checked 24 Oct 2026)
What changed for school websites, and when. Each date is from the source named, checked 24 Oct 2026. General guidance from public sources, not legal advice; your counsel confirms what applies to you.
| Date | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Sep 2024 | UK public sector accessibility guidance updated: WCAG 2.2 AA; schools partially exempt but publish a statement | GOV.UK accessibility requirements |
| 24 Oct 2024 | DfE lists of what maintained schools, academies, free schools and colleges publish online last updated | GOV.UK, DfE |
| 16 Jan 2025 | FTC finalises COPPA changes: separate parental consent for third-party disclosures, compliance from April 2026 | FTC press release |
| 20 Apr 2026 | DOJ interim final rule moves ADA Title II web deadlines | ADA.gov fact sheet |
| 29 Apr 2026 | Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act becomes law; branded uniform cap of three items from September 2026 | GOV.UK news, 30 Apr 2026 |
| 26 Apr 2027 | ADA Title II deadline, public entities of 50,000+ (WCAG 2.1 AA) | ADA.gov fact sheet |
| 26 Apr 2028 | ADA Title II deadline, smaller entities and special districts | ADA.gov fact sheet |
We recheck these dates in January 2027 and before every launch.
FIG 19 · How to choose
How to choose a school website company
Five questions to ask any school website company, including us. The answers matter more than the portfolio.
| Ask | A good answer | A red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the domain and content? | Your school or trust, from day one | Content locked into their platform |
| How do you handle the DfE list? | A sitemap mapped to the headings for our school type | “Our sites are DfE approved” |
| How do you test accessibility? | WCAG 2.2 AA with automated, keyboard and screen-reader tests, plus a draft statement | “Our overlay makes you compliant” |
| Can staff update it? | Roles, training and a written guide | Every change is a support ticket |
| Can we leave later? | Yes, with an export and redirects | Exit fees or no export |
FIG 20 · Compare
School website platform vs WordPress vs headless
| WordPress | School website platform (template) | Headless | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Most schools and trusts | Schools that want a ready-made template | Trusts and colleges with many sites or apps |
| Design | Custom to your school | Limited to the template | Fully custom |
| Who edits | Office and teachers, after training | Office, in the vendor’s editor | Staff, in the content system you choose |
| Leaving later | Your site, easy to move | Check the export and contract terms | Your content via API |
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about School Website Design with Elgrith.
The DfE lists the headings, last updated 24 Oct 2024: for maintained schools, 20 headings including admission arrangements, behaviour, charging and complaints policies, curriculum, governance, Ofsted reports, pupil premium, PE and sport premium, SEND and results. Academies, free schools and colleges have their own list that adds annual reports and executive pay. Some headings apply only to certain schools; check the list for yours.
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Free 30-minute call
Tell us about your school. We’ll build the site parents actually use.
Share your current site and what the office gets asked every day. After a free call you get a written scope and a fixed quote, with the DfE or ADA checks built in.
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