School Website Must-Haves: What Parents and Admissions Need

A school website has two very different audiences. Prospective parents visit while deciding where to apply, often comparing several schools in one evening. Current parents come back for circulars, holiday lists, results and fee dates.

There is a third group too: boards, inspectors and job applicants who look for official details and documents. A good site serves all three without making anyone hunt for what they need.

During admission season, the admissions page is the most important page on your site. Parents want facts in one place, not scattered across PDFs and social posts.

• Admission process step by step, from enquiry to final confirmation.
• Eligibility and age criteria for each class, with the cut-off date you follow.
• Key dates: forms open, last date, interaction or test dates and result dates.
• Documents required, such as birth certificate, photos, address proof and transfer certificate.
• Fee structure, or at least a clear way to request it.
• Seats and classes open for admission this year.

Online admission enquiry form

Keep the first form short: parent name, phone, email, child's name, class applying for and current school. Many parents fill it on a phone. Once they show interest, your office can send the full application with document upload and a registration fee payment if you charge one.

Every enquiry should land in an admin panel where staff can update its status and export the list, instead of sitting in an email inbox.

Paper circulars get lost in school bags, and WhatsApp group messages get buried. A notice board on your website gives parents one place to check, with an archive they can search.

• Circulars with date, class and a downloadable PDF where needed.
• Holiday list and exam timetables for the academic year.
• An events calendar for parent-teacher meetings, sports day and annual day.
• WhatsApp, SMS or email alerts that link back to the full notice on the website.

Office staff should be able to post a notice from a phone in a couple of minutes. If every update needs a developer, the notice board goes stale within a term.

Parents want to see the school before they visit. Recent photos of classrooms, labs, the library, playgrounds and transport do more than any slogan.

Photo and video gallery

Organise galleries by event and year, and compress photos so pages load on mobile data. Take parents' consent before publishing photos of children, and avoid captions with students' full names.

Faculty and leadership

A principal's message, the management and a faculty list with qualifications help parents judge the school. Keep it updated when staff change.

A results page where students enter a roll number and date of birth saves crowds at the notice board on result day. You can also feature board results and achievements for prospective parents.

For fees, a payment link through a gateway in the school's name lets parents pay by UPI, card or net banking and get a receipt for every payment. The website only needs to link to it clearly.

If you want fee ledgers, attendance and report cards behind one parent login, that is the job of a school ERP. Your website can connect to one, such as our School Management System, rather than trying to do it all itself.

CBSE-affiliated schools are required to publish certain information and documents on their website, usually through a clearly labelled Mandatory Public Disclosure link. The exact list and format are set by CBSE and updated from time to time, so check the latest CBSE circular before you build or update the page.

In recent formats, the disclosure has covered areas such as:

• General details: school name, affiliation number, address, principal and contact details.
• Documents: affiliation letter, trust or society registration, recognition certificate, NOC and building, fire and safety certificates.
• Academics: fee structure, academic calendar, school management committee and parent-teacher association details, and recent board results.
• Staff: number of teachers and details of the principal and staff.
• Infrastructure: campus area, classrooms, labs, internet facility and toilets.

• Mobile first: most parents will open your site on a phone.
• Fast pages: compressed images and light design for slow connections.
• Regional language pages for key information if many parents prefer it.
• Contact page with a map, bus routes, office hours and phone numbers.
• Google Business Profile with your address, photos and a link to admissions.

We build school and college websites with online admission forms, notices, events, galleries, results, fee payment links and a CBSE disclosure page, run from an admin panel your office can use.

Cost depends on whether admissions and fees go online, how many campuses the site covers and whether it connects to an ERP. Tell us about your school in the form below and we'll send a fixed quote before work starts.