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Most school websites are written for governors. Parents decide in seconds.

School websites often make sense to the people who work in the school. Parents experience them differently.

I build school websites from the parent's side of the desk.

I also build focused microsites for a department, a programme or a part of school life that needs its own space online.

For a whole site the audit comes first and a rebuild follows only if it needs one.

Book an admissions audit What the audit covers See the school sites

found not found

  1. Is this the right place?

    0:02 Yes. It is the first result for its own name, and its reviews are recent and warm.

  2. What is it, and who is it for?

    0:05 Not on the first screen. The words wait for a video that does not play on an iPhone.

  3. Is this a place to learn or a shop?

    0:08 An empty shopping cart sits in the header of every page.

  4. What will it cost?

    0:14 No figures. Flexible pricing and a range of payment options.

  5. Can we come and look round?

    0:19 Book a Tour opens a general form. No phone number, no child's age, no day.

Rebuilt from one of my audits. The organisation is not named. Read the audit notes
Portrait of Amy Garside, smiling outdoors

I’m someone from inside education who learned to design and build websites.

I understand what schools want to communicate and, more importantly, what parents actually need to see.

  • Twenty three years working inside UK and international schools.
  • I have sat in the conversations about what makes a school attractive to families.
  • Amy Garside Media is one person. I build the websites myself.

School sites you can open and look around.

A whole school website and three programme microsites, each one live so you can click through it the way a parent would. The DofE site is a real project for a school I am not able to name.

  • Aldergate College homepage: pupils walking through the grounds under the headline A school that takes curiosity seriously

    Whole school website

    Aldergate College

    Admissions, academic, school life and the arts, built around a parent picturing one ordinary day.

    View the site
  • The music microsite: a white page with the headline Every child leaves with an instrument in their hands

    Microsite

    Music

    Lessons, ensembles, concerts and fees on one page a family can hear as well as read.

    View the microsite
  • The DofE microsite: a purple contour map with a yellow route drawn to a summit and the headline The person at the top is not the one who starts

    Microsite

    DofE

    A dedicated site that makes the DofE programme clear for prospective parents and something pupils want to explore.

    View the microsite
  • The theatre microsite: a cast taking a bow on a lit stage seen from the back of the auditorium

    Microsite

    Arts and theatre

    A school theatre's season, auditions and tickets as one experience rather than a list of past productions.

    View the microsite

The others are representative sites made for the school sector.

The Admissions Website Audit.

Five working days. I'll look at your website as if I were a parent considering your school and show you where it helps and where it gets in the way.

How I do it

  1. Search for the school on my phone.
  2. Follow the result a parent would follow.
  3. Look at the homepage.
  4. Try to find something specific, such as exam results.
  5. Look at a co curricular page.
  6. Compare the whole experience with competing schools.

The first pass takes about four minutes. Then I go back and look properly.

What you get

  • A recorded walkthrough of the website, talking through what I notice as I use it.
  • Where I get confused and what I'm looking for but can't find.
  • What makes the school feel distinctive and what gets in the way of an enquiry.
  • A written list of fixes in priority order, with the changes that cost nothing clearly identified.
  • A comparison against three schools you compete with locally.
  • What I'd do next, at three sizes: changes your own team can make for free, a microsite for one part of the school or a rebuild.

USD 1,000GBP 750 or AED 3,675

Five working days. Half up front and half on delivery.

If you go ahead with a rebuild, the full audit fee comes off the price. If you go ahead with a microsite, half of it does.

Book an admissions audit

Rebuild the whole website or give one programme room to breathe.

A school may not need a complete rebuild. The audit identifies what is actually wrong and what can be fixed without spending anything.

Full school websites

For schools that need a complete rebuild or redesign. Bespoke, fast to load, easy for staff to update and designed around the enquiry rather than the brochure. Available after the audit or on its own.

Quoted per schoolThe audit fee comes off the price.

Ask about a rebuild

Specialist microsites

For schools that already have a website but have a programme, such as DofE, theatre, music, sport, sixth form or boarding, that deserves a presence of its own.

From USD 1,600GBP 1,200 or AED 5,875, including the first three months of Website Care

See the microsites

Want to know what your website looks like from the other side?

Start with the audit.

Book an admissions audit

If you would rather just ask a question first, email me.