School Website Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why would a school need a new website?

A. A school website is often the first impression parents, prospective families, staff and inspectors have of your school. A modern school website should look professional, work well on mobile devices, be easy for staff to update, and help you stay on top of key information and compliance requirements.

If your current website is difficult to update, looks dated, performs poorly on phones, or makes compliance hard to manage, it may be time to replace it.

• Does our website present the school in a professional and engaging way?
• Is it easy for parents to find key information quickly?
• Does it work well on smartphones and tablets?
• Is the CMS easy for staff to use?
• Does it help us manage statutory website content?
• Do we receive responsive, UK-based support?
• Are we getting good value for money?

Q. How much does a school website cost?

A. We publish our school website prices online, which is still unusual in this sector. That means you can compare options clearly without needing to request a quote just to understand the starting costs.

We offer different packages, including Pre-designed, Bespoke and Premium school websites, so the right option depends on your budget, design requirements and the level of content population or extra features you need.

Our pricing page shows the setup fee and annual fee for each package, along with what is included. The annual fee covers hosting, software licence, SSL certificate, training and support.

You can view our current school website prices and package comparison here: School website prices comparison.

Q. Can you transfer content from our existing school website?

A. Yes. In most cases we can move text, documents, images and other key content from your existing website into your new Greenhouse website. That makes the transition smoother and reduces workload for school staff.

Q. How quickly can you launch a new school website?

A. Most schools go live with a new website within around 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the design, content and speed of feedback. We always try to work to your preferred deadline wherever possible.

Q. We need a school website urgently - can you help?

A. Yes. If you need a new website quickly, we can provide an emergency school website fast, giving you a professional online presence and access to our CMS without waiting for a full bespoke design process.

We can then work on a more tailored design in the background if needed.

Q. Do we have to sign a long-term contract?

A. No. Our standard contracts are 12 months. We want schools to stay with us because they are happy with the service, not because they are tied into an unnecessarily long agreement.

Q. Do we have to pay before the website goes live?

A. No. We do not ask schools to pay upfront before launch. We want the process to feel straightforward, fair and low risk.

Q. Can you visit our school or meet remotely?

A. We usually work with schools by phone, email and online meetings, which helps us keep costs down and provide excellent value. This works very well for schools across the UK.

You are also very welcome to visit us in Greenwich if you would like to meet in person.

Q. Do you provide websites for MATs and school trusts?

A. Yes. We work with multi-academy trusts and school groups as well as individual schools. We can provide trust websites, individual school websites, or both, helping trusts present a joined-up identity while still giving each school the flexibility it needs.

Q. Do you offer discounted family website designs for trusts?

A. Yes. For trusts with multiple schools, we can offer discounted family website designs where schools share a consistent design approach but still retain their own branding, imagery and personality. This can be a very cost-effective way to create a professional and unified family of school websites.

Q. Do you offer a MAT dashboard for managing multiple school websites?

A. Yes. Our trust-level tools are designed to help MATs manage multiple websites more efficiently from one place. This can include trust-wide visibility of website activity, easier administration, and tools that reduce duplication across schools.

Q. Can trust staff manage users across all school websites?

A. Yes. Trust-wide user management makes it easier to oversee access across multiple school websites, helping MAT leaders and central teams manage permissions more efficiently and consistently.

Q. Can trust documents or policies be published to multiple school websites at once?

A. Yes. Trusts can publish selected documents, such as policies, from the MAT website to school websites automatically. This helps save time, improves consistency, and reduces the risk of different versions appearing across the trust.

Q. Do you offer single sign-on across trust and school websites?

A. Yes. We offer single sign-on across trust and school websites, making it quicker and easier for trust staff to move between websites without managing separate logins for each one.

Q. Do you provide trust-wide traffic reporting?

A. Yes. Our MAT tools can provide trust-wide traffic reporting, giving central teams a clearer view of website usage across their schools and helping identify patterns, strengths and areas that may need attention.

Q. What CMS do you use for your school websites?

A. We use our own specialist school website CMS, designed specifically for schools and developed over many years using feedback from school staff. It is built to make day-to-day editing quick and straightforward.

Because it is made for schools, it supports common needs such as news, events, classes, forms, policies, galleries and user permissions.

Q. Do we need special software to update the school website?

A. No. Your website can be updated from any computer with internet access and a normal web browser. There is no special software to install.

Q. What training and support do you provide?

A. We provide flexible, ongoing support designed for busy school staff. Our CMS training is available as self-serve video guides in two formats: a full step-by-step version and a shorter highlights version for quick learning.

We also run weekly webinars to help users build confidence and get more from the system.

Schools also benefit from unlimited support by phone, email and live chat within the CMS. We are proud of the speed and quality of our support, and many schools tell us it is one of the things they value most about working with Greenhouse.

Q. Can multiple staff edit the school website?

A. Yes. Multiple users can log in and edit the website, making it easier for different members of staff to manage different areas.

Q. Can we restrict editors so they only manage certain areas?

A. Yes. Users can be assigned different roles and permission levels, so you can control who can edit, approve or publish content in different parts of the website.

Q. Are there limits on pages, documents or photos?

A. No. You can add unlimited pages, documents and photos to your school website.

Q. Can we create password-protected areas for governors or parents?

A. Yes. You can protect individual pages or create restricted sections that require users to log in before viewing content. This can be useful for governors, staff or private parent resources.

Q. How do your websites help with school website compliance?

A. Our websites are built for schools, so they are designed to support the way schools organise and manage important statutory information online. We aim to make it easier for staff to keep key content current, clearly structured and easy to find.

We also offer additional tools and services to help schools monitor website compliance more effectively, such as our Reports Hub.

Q. Do you offer Ofsted early warning alerts?

A. Yes. Greenhouse offers accurate Ofsted early warning alerts to alert schools when Ofsted are visiting the website. This can give schools useful extra awareness and help them respond more quickly when inspection activity may be taking place.

Q. How can we make our school website more accessible?

A. Our websites are built with accessibility in mind and include accessibility-friendly features such as responsive layouts, keyboard accessibility, clear labelling, consistent navigation and support for text resizing and reflow.

All our websites come with an Accessibility Statement, and are compatible with the industry-standard UserWay accessibility widget.

Accessibility also depends on the content added by users. For example, uploaded PDFs may not always be accessible, and images should include suitable alt text. We can advise schools on good practice.

Q. Is website accessibility and compliance a legal requirement?

A. Accessibility is an important legal and practical consideration for school websites. Schools are partially exempt from the accessibility regulations: "except for the content people need in order to use their services, for example a form that lets you outline school meal preferences"

Q. Do you provide school website hosting and domain name registration?

A. Yes. We provide website hosting and, if needed, domain name registration as part of our service, helping keep everything simple and in one place.

Q. Our school already has a domain name - can we keep it?

A. Yes, in most cases you can keep your existing domain name. Many schools already have a domain through their local authority or current provider, and we can usually work with that.

Q. How can we make our school website easier for parents to use?

A. A good school website should help parents find important information quickly and easily. That means clear menus, sensible page structure, mobile-friendly layouts, fast loading times and consistent design throughout the site.

Our websites are designed to make key information easy to access and easy to manage.