It Is Your First Impression
That is the first guiding principle of using your school’s website to build relationships with parents. How the parents see your presentation will influence how they think and feel about the school.
Creating a top website design breaks down negative barriers and replaces them with positive feelings. A good first impression provides a strong foundation for any parent/school relationship.
When you make a good first impression, it becomes easier to work with parents as they are more willing to be involved in your educational goals. Besides, you want your website to provide an accurate reflection of your school. A bad web design does not accomplish that goal.
What Is The Importance Of A Welcoming And User-Friendly School Website Design?
One of the most important aspects of having a welcoming and user-friendly website is that it builds trust. When parents feel welcomed and have a great user experience, then they are more open to participating in school events or just supporting the school.
Another important factor is that it is convenient for the parents to use. Their schedule is quite full these days and both the mom and dad cannot break away from their employment to talk to teachers or address child behavior issues.
A user-friendly website helps the parents communicate with teachers addressing concerns, etc., from wherever they may be. This ease of communication can resolve many conflicts or other orders of business.
Another important aspect is that a great-looking and easy-to-use website shows the parents that the school cares about education, communication, and their students. This type of website sends the right message to the parents, especially those who have potential students at younger ages.
It is a great way to let the parents feel comfortable about the school, its environment, and its culture as well as see that the school is serious about educating their students.
The Role Of The Website As A Digital Front Door To Your School
The school’s website is a digital front door to the school and its main duty is to provide a seamless, integrated experience that helps users get to the web page and information they need.
Without that characteristic, the school presents a very bad image of their ethics and attitudes toward education and parents. There are 4 things the school website should be doing:
- It Needs To Be Organized– An organized website enhances the user experience making it a better time for parents and other website users.
- Attract New Parents– Every school wants to bolster its attendance and one way to do that is to create and implement a user-friendly website that broadcasts a positive message to its readers.
- To Engage And Inform– Another vital role for the school website. It needs to keep parents informed of all school activities and news.
- Be Compatible With Devices And Schedules– Parents do not always use the same devices as students do thus the school website needs to meet parents on several platforms.
Then the access should be 24/7 without location restrictions. Parents are not always free to communicate during school hours and making that communication easier to access is a vital role the website has to fill.
What Is The Importance Of Having A Dedicated Portal For Parent-Teacher Communication?
One of the first reasons your school needs this dedicated portal is that it provides flexibility. Parents are not always available from 9 to 5 anymore. With both parents working, being able to communicate during school hours is almost impossible.
The ability to communicate with the teacher outside of school hours enhances the parent-teacher relationship as well as ensures that parents are made aware of how their child is progressing and behaving in school.
Plus, this portal offers privacy for the parents and they can honestly address issues without fear or rejection. They get to communicate their thoughts and keep those thoughts very clear.
It also provides a communication link for teachers to inform parents of their children’s behaviour and other important teacher concerns. With the knowledge of where the student is not performing up to expectations, the parent can address those issues at the appropriate time.
Finally, it is a chance for teachers to gain support from parents. This support is needed if the teacher is going to do their job well.
What Are The Benefits Of Surveys, Comment Sections, Or Contact Forms For Gathering Input From Parents And The Community
Feedback is always important. While not an accurate barometer for how the school is doing, feedback provides the teacher and the school insight into what parents are thinking about their students and the school.
Surveys allow for a school to re-evaluate some of its activities. Without this information, certain students and parents could be isolated from the school community and excluded from some events or special days.
The comment section provides instant feedback without holding back parental emotions. While this can be rough on teachers and schools, the communication does allow them to see where parents stand on certain practices the school employs.
The contact forms will do the same thing as the first two options in this section. It may be the fastest communication format as it instantly places the parental notice in front of someone’s eyes.
The school’s website needs a variety of feedback formats to ensure it is getting well-rounded information on key events, curriculum, and so on.
Some Final Words
When you want to make a great first impression, contact our company. We have years of school website design experience. Our knowledge and experience help us design the perfect first impression for your school.
You can use your phone, email, or our handy contact form to send us a message. We will be glad to get back to you as soon as we can. The best way to take advantage of our knowledge and experience is to contact us today with your concerns and questions.