Your School Website Is Your Greatest Marketing Asset
Have a question about our school websites?
Too many education websites are cluttered and outdated. Prospective parents expect clarity and professionalism. Your website is your admissions tool first—the critical touchpoint where families decide whether to visit.
When parents search for schools online, your website is often the deciding factor. In the first 15 seconds, they’re assessing:
- Does your school look professional and trustworthy?
- Can they find what they need (admissions, fees, prospectus)?
- Does the site reflect your school’s values and culture?
- Is it easy to navigate on mobile?
A well-designed school website doesn’t just attract families. It reduces admin burden by:
- Automating enquiry capture
- Providing self-service parent information
- Integrating with your MIS system
- Reducing repetitive emails to admissions staff
What Makes School Website Design Different
School websites aren’t like other businesses. You’re balancing:
Multiple audiences with conflicting needs
- Parents researching admissions want different information than current parents or students
- Prospective families need inspiration and values alignment
- Current families need practical info (dates, letters, updates)
- Students want to see extracurricular activities and results
- Staff need internal communications and resources
Safeguarding and compliance requirements
- Photo and video usage must follow GDPR and child protection policies
- Access control for parent portals and staff areas
- Emergency communication systems
- Data protection when collecting forms and enquiries
Complex information architecture
- Admissions pathway
- Calendar of events
- Class/year group pages
- Department or subject pages
- Policies and documentation
- News and updates
- Staff directory (with privacy in mind)
Integration with existing systems
- Your MIS (management information system)
- Parent payment systems
- Email and communication platforms
- Timetabling software
- Document storage
Accessibility requirements
- SEND support information must be clear
- Accessible to parents with visual or hearing impairments
- Mobile-first design (parents browse on phones)
- Plain English, not jargon
Standard web design doesn’t cut it. You need an agency that understands the unique demands of the education sector.
Our process
Our School Website Design Service
We design websites that simplify school life for everyone.
Clear admissions pathway
We design a logical flow for prospective parents: Why choose us → See what we offer → Meet the team → Book a visit → Make an enquiry. No dead ends, no buried information.
AI Website Assistant
School websites includes our AI Website Assistant—a smart, always-on tool that answers parent questions in real-time. Prospective parents can ask about admissions, fees, curriculum, uniform policy, and get instant answers without emailing your office. Reduces admin burden and improves parent experience.
Self-service parent portal
Current parents find what they need without emailing the office: term dates, lunch menus, uniform lists, school letters, payment links. You reduce email volume and parents get instant answers.
Student-facing areas
Year groups, clubs and societies, sports teams, achievement boards. Makes the website genuinely useful for students, not just an information repository for adults.
Beautiful visual identity
We design websites that reflect your school’s ethos. Whether you’re traditional, progressive, nurturing, or academically rigorous, your website communicates your values from the first click.
Mobile-first design
Most parents browse on phones. We design for mobile first, then scale up. Fast loading, thumb-friendly navigation, readable text.
Safeguarding-built-in
Staff directories that don’t expose personal information. Forms that collect data securely. Built-in security practices that protect your school’s data and comply with child protection requirements.
News and updates that stay current
Built for regular posts: class news, achievement highlights, event coverage. Staff can update easily without technical knowledge.
Our approach
How We Design Your School Website
Understand Your School
We begin by understanding your school’s character, your strategic priorities, and the challenges your team faces. We speak with key project stakeholders and meet with people across your school throughout the project. We’re not here to impose a template; we’re here to solve your specific problems.
Plan Content & Assets
We help you plan what content each section needs and who owns updating it. Crucially, we build a knowledge base that feeds your AI Website Assistant. As you add content about admissions, fees, curriculum, uniform policy, and FAQs—the assistant learns and can answer parent questions automatically. A website that’s designed but doesn’t get updated is worse than no website. A knowledge base keeps your AI assistant sharp and helpful.
Map Your Audience Journey
We identify who visits your site and what they’re trying to do. A prospective parent’s journey is completely different from a current parent’s. We design different pathways for different audiences so everyone gets what they need.
Define Your Information Architecture
We map out how information should be organised so it’s intuitive. This prevents the mess of most school websites: everything buried in a hundred menu items.
Design Mobile-First
We design for how people actually use your site: on their phones, between other tasks. Then we enhance the experience for desktop.
Build for Integration
We integrate with your existing systems—not bolt on top of them. Parent portal connects to your MIS. Enquiry forms feed directly into your admissions workflow.
Launch and Train
We don’t hand over a website and disappear. We train your team on how to update content, manage news posts, and handle enquiries.
Latest projects
A collection of school and education projects – designed, developed and delivered by Dolia
Project phases
From discovery to launch, we work in defined phases so you know what’s happening and when.
Phase 1: Discovery (2 weeks)
Phase 2: Strategy & Planning (1-2 weeks)
Phase 3: Design (3-4 weeks)
Phase 4: Build (3-4 weeks)
Phase 5: Testing & Training (1-2 weeks)
Phase 6: Launch
Client feedback
“Always demonstrated proactivity and flexibility”
We have worked with Matt and his team for the development of an e-commerce and our group website, which went through a complete transformation. During the whole experience, they have been capable to lead us through each phase of our projects and have always demonstrated proactivity and flexibility when required.
Read the full reviewRoger Viney
Chief Commercial Officer, ICE Pharma
“The experience has been excellent from start to finish”
We recently partnered with Dolia for the development of our new website and marketing support, and the experience has been excellent from start to finish. The team designed and built a brand-new website that integrates seamlessly with our new CRM system, allowing us to streamline our processes and improve overall efficiency.
Read the full reviewNathan Brown
IT & Marketing Supervisor, COTS Training
“Very professional and easy to work with”
We recently commissioned Dolia to redesign our website and give our online offering a new look and feel. As ATP operate in a niche area of the Oil & Gas market it was good to find a company that understood our business from the beginning of the project.
Read the full reviewMatthew O’Reilly
Marketing Manager, ATP
“Take the time to truly understand our solutions”
We partner with Dolia because they offer great value for their cost model, are always responsive and thorough, and take the time to truly understand our solutions, even when they’re complex. Their flexibility and proactive approach, along with their willingness to accommodate additional requests, make them a trusted partner.
Read the full reviewJohn McMeeking
Sales Director, Falcona
“By far the most professional and competent company”
Matt O'Byrne and the team at Dolia are by far the most professional and competent company I have used in 20 years. Highly recommended.
Allan Smith
Director, ATS Group
“We would highly recommend Dolia”
From the first contact to the handover training, Dolia were very professional and easy to work with. The quote was clear and competitive with no hidden costs.
Read the full reviewManisha Kulkarni
Director of Science & Technology, Bulb Interiors
“Consistently exceed our expectations”
Red Penguin has partnered with Dolia Design for over a year, and they consistently exceed our expectations. The team is always available, responsive, patient and approachable.
Read the full reviewMatthew Bowden
Director of Operations, Red Penguin Marine
“If you’re after personal, professional, and creative website and branding services, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.”
As a marketing and PR agency, how we position ourselves matters — so we only work with partners who reflect that. We’ve worked with Dolia for many years on branding and web projects and always found them professional, responsive, and thoughtful.
Read the full reviewJennie Marwick-Evans
Managing Director, Manor Marketing
“Extraordinarily user-friendly and attractive site”
Dolia is a professional and serious organisation that has created an extraordinarily user friendly and attractive website for GaiaCode. The whole Dolia team was a delight to work with, I am very thankful.
Cansun Guralp
Director, Gaiacode
“Collaborative, professional, and well organised”
Our experience of working with the Dolia team on the design of our new school website and rebranding was extremely positive from start to finish. The team took the time to really understand our nursery, our ethos, and the community we serve, ensuring that the final design truly reflects who we are.
Read the full reviewAimee McElwee
Head Teacher, Baylis Court Nursery School
“A proactive and positive approach”
We have worked in partnership with Matt and the team for 5 years and throughout this time, they have always demonstrated a proactive and positive approach in delivering high levels of customer service. More recently, the team have designed and implemented a new website with SEO and associated marketing, and we are delighted with the results.
Tony Dempsey
Director, Fullers Fulfilment
“Dolia has consistently proven to be a reliable partner”
We partner with Dolia because they offer a reliable balance of cost and benefits. Their expertise in branding, website development, and SEO has been invaluable.
Read the full reviewConcetto Andrea Rizza
Marketing & Communications Manager, ICE Pharma
“Created a superb, yet personalised website”
By being incredibly proactive, meticulous and patiently attentive in understanding our business they have created a superb, yet personalised website which portrays Telebank's relationship with Third Sector Organisations. We have every confidence in them maintaining the same level of service, commitment and professionalism to assist in any business venture they undertake in the future.
Tannis-Madison Carty
General Manager, Telebank
“The team provides excellent support”
We continue to partner with Dolia because of their approachable MD and engaging customer service. It’s rare to find a business leader so hands-on and personable, even as a business grows.
Read the full reviewDavid Keen
Director, CTMS
“Exactly what we wanted”
As a fast-moving company, what matters to us most is responsiveness and turning tasks around quickly, as well as the ability to follow our brief without needing us to be hand-held. Also being kept in the loop is really important for us.
Read the full reviewCarol Sarreti
Marketing Manager, Commmitted Giving
“Working with Dolia has been a pleasure”
Not only are Dolia a joy to work with, they stick to budget and understand the need to adhere to timescales and deadlines but they also give incredible after-care. This ensures we can keep those gorgeous new websites up-to-date on a regular basis.
Read the full reviewKara Myhill
Account Director, Manor Marketing
“Thanks to all your team for their hard work and patience”
We are thrilled with the new sites and really feel they represent both business areas of GBR fantastically. Thanks to all your team for their hard work and patience and for reminding me to clear my cache on many occasions!
Read the full reviewSimone Dixon
Marketing Manager, GBR Technology
“Dolia excels at promoting our science”
We partner with Dolia because they’re a local company with a team that truly knows their stuff. After working with several marketing agencies over the years, Dolia is the first to handle our unique requirements with ease.
Read the full reviewLiz Lynn
Head of Scientific and Educational Development, DSRU
“A complete transformation”
Dolia have given our website a complete transformation. We have already received great feedback from our customers on how easy the website is to navigate.
Read the full reviewIain Cumner
Director, Patol
Why Schools Choose Us
From discovery to launch, we work in defined phases so you know what’s happening and when.
We understand education.
We keep things simple.
We think about mobile.
We integrate, not replace.
We use AI to enhance your website.
We build for change.
School Website Design Investment
The investment in a school website depends entirely on your specific needs, complexity, and scope. Because every school is unique, we don’t quote off a menu or make assumptions.
Would you like to find out more?
Instead, we start with a Project Discovery meeting where we fully understand:
- Your school’s current challenges and goals
- Who your key audiences are (parents, students, staff)
- What integrations you need (MIS systems, parent payment, etc.)
- Whether you have content ready or need help creating it
- Your timeline and priorities
Once we’ve understood your brief thoroughly, we’ll develop a detailed project proposal that outlines:
- What we’ll design and build
- How long it will take
- What investment it represents
- What you’ll get at the end
This way, you’re never making a decision based on incomplete information. You see exactly what you’re getting and why it costs what it does.
Let’s Talk About Your School Website
If your school website is outdated, difficult to navigate, or not delivering results, let’s have a conversation about what’s possible.
We’ll listen to your challenges, ask about your goals, and suggest a direction–we can visit your school, arrange a meeting at our office, or set up a call on Teams.
Book a Discovery Call Book a Discovery Call Book a Discovery Call
FAQs
Common Questions About School Website Design
01
How long does a school website take to design and build?
Typically 12-16 weeks from discovery to launch, depending on complexity and content readiness. We work in defined phases so you can see progress.
02
Can you integrate our new website with our MIS system?
Yes. We’ve integrated with many education systems such as OpenApply. We’ll assess your current setup and recommend the best approach.
03
Will our staff be able to update the website?
Absolutely. We build content management systems that non-technical staff can use to post news, update term dates, manage events, and handle other regular updates. We provide training.
04
What about parent login areas?
We can build secure parent portal areas where current parents can access information, view updates, and submit forms. Access controls ensure safeguarding.
05
Do you handle GDPR and safeguarding considerations?
Yes. We design with child protection and data protection in mind, with all website data stored and collected securely.
06
Can you migrate content from our old website?
In most cases, yes. We’ll audit your existing site, identify what’s worth keeping, and migrate it. Anything outdated gets reviewed and refreshed for the new website.
07
What about ongoing support and maintenance?
After launch, we offer plans for ongoing support, updates, and optimisation, and we can also train your team so that you can maintain your website in-house if prefered.
