We all like a bit of spring cleaning so now is the perfect time for a school website clean up! Due to the busy nature of school life your school website may be feeling a little neglected. Here are my three top tips that will help you give your school website design the spring clean that it needs.

School Website Clean up Tip #1 - Images

New banners are a great way to make your website look up to date and fresh. We recommend having 4 or 5 photos in your scrolling banner at one time. This means you only need to capture a small handful of beautiful images to give your site an appearance overhaul. If you are a Schudio School Website Software user, the dashboard area of your site is responsive so you can easily upload new banners. You can capture images using classroom equipment, such as iPads, and upload them instantly.

During the year you may have a special or seasonal event that you wish to highlight. A really effective way to communicate this would be by creating a custom banner. A free tool we like is Canva. You can insert your banner dimensions and design your site an eye catching new banner.

Your school website spring clean is the perfect opportunity to replace the old images on your site. Perhaps it has been a while since you updated your photos and the stars of your school website have now left school. Would now be a great time to take a look at the Schudio photography package? You will receive hundreds of images which, once added to your site, will instantly lift and refresh the appearance of your site.

School Website Clean up Tip #2 - Update your content

Out of date content will cause problems with your parents and with Ofsted! It's really important to make sure your content is up to date and compliant. Perhaps take a bit of time during your school website clean up to audit your site content using the School Website Requirements Checker. This will help you ensure the mandatory information on your site is relevant and compliant. If you are not yet using the School Website Requirements Checker then you can sign up here.

Its not just about Ofsted. Check through all of your content to make sure important information for parents is up to date. You don't have to update the site overnight but the first step is knowing what needs to be done. A small team and a “power hour” to get the site up to date can work wonders!

This is a worthwhile time investment. It may take a little bit of time to get everything up to date but you will hopefully see a reduced number of queries from parents. Not to mention its one less thing to worry about if an inspector calls.

School Website Clean up Tip #3 - Time to restructure

When was the last time you reviewed your website structure? Was it the day your site was set up? Its worth taking another look at your school website structure to ensure that the relevant information is easy to access and the menu structure is logical and clear. We have recently released two blogs all about site structure. If you are not sure where to start with reviewing your structure then I would suggest reading those blogs.

Clear out any broken links and redundant pages. This will result in an up to date, engaging and concise site. By making your content clear and relevant your school website will be the first place people look for information about the school.

Hopefully these tips will help you to give your school website a summer lift. We would love to hear how you get on with your school website clean up via email, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram (go and follow us if you are not already). If you are ready to develop new skills, or need a training refresh, take a look at our School Website Training page to see the different online and in person courses that are available.

If you're not a Schudio client why don't you drop us a line? We'd love to have a look at your website and make some recommendations.

If you are using Schudio for your school website, I'd love to invite you to visit us at Schudio HQ for a 1-2-1 Website Training Session. We'll go through your website with a fine tooth comb, make suggestions specific to your school website and show you how to make some improvements to your structure and content. You can find out more right here:

Expert Led Training