A School Website That Wins Applications - And That Your Office Can Run
Your website is your open day for the parents you haven't met yet. We build WordPress sites that look the part, meet every requirement, and quietly do the most important job: getting families to visit.
Your website is your open day for the parents you haven't met yet. We build WordPress sites that look the part, meet every requirement, and quietly do the most important job: getting families to visit.
Every site still with us
Not one school has left. None of them is tied in either.
Live in as little as four weeks
From go-ahead to launch, with us doing the migration.
No contract, no lock-in
You own your domain. Hosting in your name. Standard WordPress.
A school website has two jobs.
Most schools only do one of them.
The one your families use every week
This is the workhorse, and it's most of the work.
Several hundred families use that every week, and when it doesn't work your office answers the phone. It has to be quick, findable, and possible for your own staff to keep up to date without ringing a developer.
We do that job properly. It isn't glamorous, and it's the reason schools stay with us.
The one that fills your classes
Then there's the parent who has never met you, looking at your website at half past nine at night.
They want completely different things — and on most school websites those things either don't exist or can't be found.
That's the job most school websites forget. It's also the one that decides whether your Reception class fills.
Compliant, without the scramble
School websites carry statutory publishing requirements, they differ between maintained schools and academies, and they change.
We build to the current DfE requirements for your school type and — more usefully — structure the site so keeping it right is straightforward. The date-bound items catch people out: the pupil premium statement each December, the PE and sport premium each July in primaries. Ten minutes, not a panicked afternoon before an inspection.
Your office can run it
We build on WordPress on purpose. It's proven, it doesn't lock you in, and — the part that matters day to day — your office staff can learn it.
Every build includes training for your team. Adding a tour date, posting a newsletter, updating a policy or changing a page takes minutes and doesn't need a developer.
And when you do need us, you get us. Not a ticket number.
Moving from your current site is our job, not yours
This is the bit that stops most schools, and it shouldn't.
We do the migration. All of it.
Your content comes across — pages, policies, documents, news, the lot. Nobody in your office spends an evening copying and pasting.
And we tell you exactly what we need
Where there's something new to write — the Reception page, the wraparound information, the admissions section — we walk you through it. Nobody hands a head teacher a blank content template and wishes them luck.
What it costs, plainly
Nobody has ever left
Every school website we have built is still with us. That's worth saying right after the paragraph above, because none of them has to be — no contract keeping anyone, no platform they can't get out of, no domain we're holding.
One of our heads has been with us six years and describes the site as “100% reliable”. A dull compliment, and the best one there is.
What's included
Schools we've built for
"We discovered SMW after the work they did building the Teach Lambeth website. We had already developed a look with our school prospectus which they reflected throughout the website they designed for us. We’ve been with them 6 years now, and the site’s 100% reliable."
Andrew Chaplin, Headteacher, Walnut Tree Walk Primary School, Lambeth
"Our websites have completely transformed how prospective parents view our schools. The design is beautiful, but more importantly, booking a school tour has never been simpler."
Jayne Mitchell, Executive Headteacher, St Andrew's CE Primary School & Christ Church Primary SW9
"Since we transformed the website to the new design our year on year numbers improved, and we’re constantly getting compliments on the website’s feel and design. The 3D tour of the school gives the parents a sneak a peek look at the inside of our school before they come for a tour."
Danielle Gayle, Headteacher, St Anthony's Catholic Primary School, Bromley
Questions we get asked
How much does a school website cost?
Builds start at £2,000 and most come in under £5,000. Support afterwards is optional and starts at £500 a year, with most schools choosing £750.
How long does it take?
From go-ahead to live in as little as four weeks.
Who moves our existing content?
We do. All of it. You'll need to give us a steer on anything new we're writing, and we'll tell you exactly what we need.
Are we tied in?
No. No long contract and no exit fee. You own your domain, your hosting is in your name, and it's a standard WordPress site — you could take it elsewhere or run it yourselves.
Who hosts it?
You do, in your own account. We set it up. It's cheaper than renting space from an agency and it means nobody has your site hostage.
Can our office staff update it themselves?
Yes, and we train them. Adding a tour date or a newsletter takes minutes.
Will it meet the DfE requirements?
We build to the current requirements for your school type and structure the site so keeping it right is simple rather than a scramble.
Let's look at your website together.
Send us your current site and we'll tell you honestly what's working, what's missing, and what a rebuild would cost.
020 8830 7831 [email protected]