Education websites: how to be top of the class

When it comes down to it, school and college websites are our thing.

Since we first opened our doors, Happy Giraffe has built a bit of a reputation within the education sector. We’ve successfully designed and created many bespoke websites for state schools, multi-academy trusts, further education and independents.

We’ve learned a lot along the way, and our clients will agree we’ve graduated with honours. Client satisfaction is at the forefront of everything we do, so it’s really important to us that schools, trusts and colleges keep coming back to us for our digital expertise.

Shireland Tech

Artwork for Shireland Primary Academy

We tick the boxes:

  • Working with the education sector since 2002
  • Bespoke design for every website- nothing off the shelf
  • All our websites are Ofsted-compliant

We work with

State Schools

Academies

Further Education

Independents

THINK

It’s important for your school to tell a story. So it’s essential that we  discover and reveal your history and unique qualities.

  • We conduct workshops to develop an in-depth understanding of your background, your objectives, your stakeholders, your school, its ethos and how you want users to interact with your site.
  • We carry out desk research to understand your competitors and audience, and help elevate your school.
Think with Happy Giraffe
Create with Happy Giraffe

CREATE

We translate your brand and marketing messages online with strong creative and digital techniques, making sure you’re one of a kind.

  • We don’t use templates. We create bespoke WordPress themes which ensure your website stands out from the crowd. We know that no two schools are the same, so why would their websites be?
  • We can include tailored features, such as school event calendars, online application forms connected to payment gateways and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, for example.
  • Strong, distinctive photography is an integral part of a successful website. We source photographers, create briefs and manage photo shoots whilst ensuring you are GDPR compliant.
Create with Happy Giraffe

DELIVER

Last but not least, we build your website and ensure that everything runs smoothly before and after launch.

  • We work with you to guarantee you’re Ofsted-compliant. We carry out an audit and complete a checklist, crossing the i’s and dotting the t’s to be doubly sure that all requirements are met.
  • We provide expert training to ensure that you are confident in managing our easy-to-use WordPress content management (CMS) system, and provide bespoke CMS manuals.
  • We deal with all the technicalities, so you don’t need to worry about stuff like hosting, DNS settings, domain purchase and security certificates.
  • We offer ongoing support and maintenance contracts, looking after technical upgrades, content upload and management, so you can rest easy.
Deliver with Happy Giraffe

Our education project partners

Spotlight on one of our Education projects

Fairfax Multi-Academy Trust

Fairfax Multi-Academy Trust in Birmingham is a family of schools aiming to develop articulate, resilient and ambitious students, regardless of background, and equip them with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to excel in modern Britain.

With over 3000 students across four different communities, the Trust needed six new websites to reflect its aims and values, retaining the individual identities of the schools and reflecting the interactive and informative environments provided by each academy.

Using each school’s own colour palette as a key differentiator, we created graphical elements using shapes from their logos, and brought each website to life by adding animation and parallax scroll. All sites were fully optimised and scalable, as well as informative and engaging for parents, staff, kids and the community.

We used WordPress for the content management system (CMS), with a bespoke and responsive theme. All templates in the back-end were designed so that the client is able to add as much or little content as needed at any stage.

At Fairfax, as with all our education clients, we aim to provide a future-proofed solution. We are on hand to help at any point after the launch of a project, but we also enjoy seeing how easily a client can take control and develop their site themselves.

Read more

What the Trust said:

“Following recommendations and research, in June 2017 Fairfax Multi-Academy Trust selected Happy Giraffe to design and launch six new websites for the Trust.

“The Happy Giraffe team worked tirelessly over a four-month period to ensure that our needs were met, offering guidance and suggestions where requested or necessary. Sian Williams, our main point of contact, was always professional and friendly; response times were efficient and queries always answered.

“Following the launch of the sites, the numerous queries that were raised from various individuals throughout our Trust were responded to and addressed in user-friendly training sessions on site.

“From my personal experience, I would not hesitate in recommending Happy Giraffe’s services.”

Simone Gannon - PA to the CEO & Communications Lead

Fairfax Multi-Academy Trust

More of our work

Education | Website National College for High Speed Rail
Branding | Education | Website Dudley College Worldwide
Branding | Education | Website King Edward’s School, Birmingham