School websites

School website design for South African schools

A school website serves prospective parents, current families, staff and alumni at once. We design WordPress sites for South African schools that make admissions clear, keep parents informed and treat pupil information with the care POPIA requires.

Start a project Book an intro call

Currency: South African rand (ZAR)
Payments: Payfast, Ozow, Peach Payments
Data protection: Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA)
Time zone: UTC+2, 1 hour ahead of Lagos

Overview

School Websites for organisations in South Africa.

Parents judge a school partly by its website, often before they ever visit. They want to find the admissions process, term dates, fees and contact details quickly on a phone. Current families want news, calendars and forms in one place rather than scattered across messaging groups.

We design and build school websites on WordPress so office staff can keep them current without calling a developer. Our team has built a virtual learning environment for Alvina Schools and an online school for BFI Insights, so we understand how school sites are used day to day.

In detail

School Websites in South Africa, in detail.

Admissions that answer parents' questions

Admissions pages carry most of the weight on a school site. We structure them around the questions parents actually ask: which grades have places, what the application steps are, which documents are needed and when decisions are made. An online application form can replace paper, with uploads stored securely and notifications sent to the admissions office. Where your school charges an application or registration fee, we can connect a local gateway such as Payfast or Paystack so parents pay in rand.

Children's information under POPIA

POPIA treats children's personal information as a special case. Sections 34 and 35 prohibit processing information about anyone under 18 unless an exception applies, most commonly the prior consent of a competent person such as a parent or guardian. On a school site that affects application forms, photo galleries, sports results and newsletters. We design consent into enrolment forms, keep pupil names out of public image file names and give staff a simple way to remove content when a parent asks.

News, calendars and parent communication

Schools publish constantly: sports fixtures, exam timetables, concerts, closures. We set up a news section and a calendar that staff update from the WordPress dashboard, with categories so parents can follow only what concerns their child's phase. Newsletter sign-ups use separate, unticked consent, in line with the Information Regulator's guidance on direct marketing. Important notices can be pinned to the home page so they are not lost among weekly news.

Fees, uniform shops and event tickets

Many schools collect money online for more than fees: uniform orders, camp deposits, fundraising events and matric dances. WooCommerce can handle these in rand through Payfast, Ozow, Peach Payments or Paystack, with Instant EFT for parents who prefer paying from their bank. Each payment creates a record your bursar can reconcile. For ticketed events, the QR check-in approach we built for Technext Events, which scanned more than 10,000 tickets, translates well to a school hall.

Built for busy school offices

School websites fail when only one teacher knows how to update them. We keep the editing experience simple, train the office and marketing staff together, and write short guides for common tasks such as posting news or changing term dates. Hosting, updates and backups can sit with us under Managed Services, from $2,000 per year, so the site stays secure through holidays when nobody is on campus.

What a school website project includes

What a school website project includes.

Strategy & Design from $1,500 · Development from $5,000 · Managed Services from $2,000 per year. See pricing

Admissions section with an online application form and secure uploads
Consent wording for parents covering children's information under POPIA
News, calendar and term dates managed by school staff
Rand payments for fees, uniform or events through a local gateway
Photo galleries that avoid exposing pupil names
Separate opt-in for parent newsletters
Mobile-first design tested on parents' phones
Staff training and short editing guides

How we approach school websitesThe full detail on our approach, process and what is included.

Our work

Platforms we have built.

Our work for Alvina Schools, a virtual learning environment used by pupils and staff, and BFI School, an online school with certificates and payments, shows how we build for families, learners and school offices.

Alvina SchoolsVirtual learning environmentRead the case study

BFI SchoolOnline school with payments in four currenciesRead the case study

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Can parents apply and pay online through the website?

Yes. We build application forms with document uploads that go straight to the admissions office, and we can connect a South African gateway such as Payfast or Paystack for application or registration fees in rand. Parents receive a confirmation email, and staff see each application and payment in one place.

How do you protect pupil information on the site?

We collect only what admissions needs, store uploads outside public folders, restrict access by staff role and use secure hosting with backups. Because POPIA generally requires a parent or guardian's prior consent before a child's information is processed, we build that consent into forms. Your school's Information Officer should approve the final wording.

Can we publish photos of pupils?

Many schools do, with parental consent. We design galleries so photos are not named after pupils, add a simple process for removing an image on request, and can restrict some albums to logged-in parents. Your school's photo policy should guide what is public.

Can staff update the website themselves?

Yes, that is a core aim. We set up straightforward editing for news, events, term dates and documents, train your staff and leave written guides. More complex changes, such as a new admissions flow, can be handled by us under a Managed Services plan.

Do you have South African school clients?

Not yet. Our school and learning work so far includes Alvina Schools in Nigeria and BFI School in the USA. We show those projects honestly and explain how we would adapt them for a South African school, including rand payments and POPIA's rules on children's information.

How much does a school website cost?

A school website focused on information, news and admissions sits in Strategy and Design, starting from $1,500 per project. Adding online payments, parent portals or learning features makes it development work, from $5,000. We scope every project in writing after a discovery call.

Start a project

Tell us what you need WordPress to do.

A new website, a redesign, a client portal, a booking system, or a move from another platform. Tell us what you need and we will tell you how WordPress can carry it.