School website design is the development of a corporate website that explains a private educational institution’s teaching approach, staff, campus, and enrollment steps to parents in one place. A well-prepared private school website does more than transfer a printed brochure to a screen; it collects introductory appointment requests, publishes announcements regularly, and follows the Ministry of National Education’s promotional rules for private educational institutions from the outset.
This page is for private educational institutions: private schools, private preschools and nurseries, language and exam preparation courses, and centers offering supervised study programs. Websites for state schools affiliated with the Ministry are published at meb.k12.tr addresses created with institution codes through MEB’s central system and updated by school administrators through that system; those websites are outside the scope of this service. Onur Freelance carries out its work from Maltepe, Istanbul; meetings with institutions in Istanbul take place in person or online, and meetings with institutions outside the city take place remotely.
Let’s take the first step toward a website ready for enrollment season
A short message including the institution type, the number of educational stages or programs, and the current website address, if available, is enough. Following a free preliminary assessment, the proposal is sent the same day.
What does the school website design service include?
The service combines the page plan, design, preliminary enrollment and introduction form, announcement infrastructure, search engine settings, and dashboard training in a single project. Whatever the institution’s size, the information parents seek when making their decision is largely similar. The standard scope consists of the following areas:
- Page architecture: Homepage, about the institution, educational program, staff, campus, announcements, preliminary enrollment, and contact pages.
- Preliminary enrollment flow: An introduction form with educational stage or program selection, an appointment request, and a WhatsApp button connecting to the admissions office.
- Announcement infrastructure: Dashboard-managed areas for the academic calendar, event news, meal menus, and school transportation information.
- Mobile-first design: Because parents mostly open the website on their phones, the menu, form, and call button are designed for one-handed use.
- Trust and compliance layer: An SSL-encrypted connection, a personal data privacy notice, a cookie banner, the institution’s QR code, and the institution name as stated on its license.
- Handover: The domain and hosting are registered in the institution’s name, and dashboard training is provided.
The website is built on WordPress; frequently changing content such as announcements, events, and calendars can be added by the institution’s team without technical knowledge. The general corporate website approach is also explained on the corporate web design page.
Website structure by institution type: private school, preschool, and course provider
In school website design, the emphasis of the pages changes according to institution type: educational stages and programs take priority for schools, daily routines and trust for preschools, and program content and schedules for courses. Applying the same template to all three delays access to the information each institution’s parents or students seek most. The following table is a starting point; the final structure is determined during the initial meeting.
| Institution type | The decision-maker’s primary question | Prominent sections |
|---|---|---|
| Private school with multiple educational stages | What kind of education is provided at each stage | Educational stage pages, foreign language program, clubs, campus |
| Private preschool and nursery | Where, with whom, and how the child spends the day | Daily routine, age groups, meal menu, safety, introductory visit |
| Language and exam preparation course | The program’s content, duration, and group structure | Program pages, term schedule, placement assessment, enrollment form |
| Study and student activity center | Whether the hours fit the school timetable | Weekly program, school transportation information, parent communication |
| Multiple campuses | Which educational stages are offered at the nearest campus | Campus selector, campus-specific contact information and map |
A course website differs clearly from a school website in one respect: the decision-maker is often the student, and the program page takes on the role performed by the school’s campus page. For this reason, each course program receives a separate, detailed page.
Which pages are decisive in a parent’s decision-making process?
When choosing a school, parents generally examine the teaching approach, teaching staff, physical environment, and enrollment conditions; the website should make these four subjects easy to find on the first visit. The decision is not made in a single visit: the website is shared between spouses, reopened before and after the introductory meeting, and compared alongside other institutions.
Staff page
The staff page briefly and accurately describes teachers’ subjects, fields of graduation, and roles at the institution. Each employee’s approval is obtained before photographs and biographies are published; information about teachers who leave is not left on the website. Instead of long lists of titles, two or three sentences explaining what a teacher does in class and how tell parents more.
Educational program page
The program page is prepared by educational stage or age group: the weekly routine, foreign language hours, clubs, and assessment approach are explained under separate headings. Only programs actually implemented and approved by the Ministry are described; unmeasurable promises such as a “success guarantee” are not used.
Campus page
The campus page shows classrooms, the garden, cafeteria, laboratories or workshops, and entrance security. This page is particularly important for a preschool website; the sleeping room, play area, and hygiene arrangements are described in writing as well as photographs. Campus photographs are taken without students; the relevant rule is explained separately below.
How is the preliminary enrollment and introduction form structured?
The preliminary enrollment form is not enrollment itself, but a brief request that initiates the first meeting between the institution and the parent, and it asks only for the information needed to respond. Long forms cause parents to abandon them, while collecting unnecessary data also creates a burden in terms of personal data protection. The recommended fields are:
- Parent’s name and phone number
- The child’s age group or grade level
- The educational stage, program, or campus of interest
- Preferred day and time range for an introductory meeting
- An open notes field
Information about the child in the form is provided by the parent, and the institution is the data controller for this information. Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (KVKK, Turkey’s Personal Data Protection Law), in Article 10, requires information to be provided when collecting data about the identity of the data controller, the purpose of processing, transfer, and the method of collection; Article 6 classifies health data as special-category personal data. Information such as allergies, medication use, or development reports is not collected through the web form, but obtained at enrollment through the institution’s own process.
The privacy notice appears as a link beside the form; processing that requires explicit consent, such as sending campaign announcements, is requested through a separate unchecked consent box. Article 3 of the law defines explicit consent as consent relating to a specific subject, based on information and expressed freely; approval made a condition of submitting the form does not meet this definition.
Announcement, event, and parent information areas
The announcement and event area is the section that keeps the website current after enrollment season; the institution’s team adds the academic calendar, holiday and parent meeting announcements, meal menus, and school transportation information through the dashboard. Current announcements show prospective parents that the institution is active and runs regularly; a website whose latest news is two years old suggests the opposite.
The blog section is established as infrastructure for articles explaining the educational approach. How to create the publication calendar and topic plan is a matter of content strategy; website design prepares the section’s category structure, author information, and sharing layout.
The WhatsApp button opens a conversation with the admissions office or the number designated by the institution, and a greeting message is suggested for messages received outside business hours. If the institution uses a parent information platform or school management software, a login link is added to the website; the fees for these systems are paid to the provider and are outside the website design price.
Can student photographs be used in the gallery?
Student photographs and names should not be used in promotional areas. The Ministry of National Education Regulation on Private Educational Institutions stipulates in Additional Article 4 that student pictures, names, and information about student achievement cannot be used in institutions’ advertisements and announcements. The website homepage, enrollment campaign page, and images shared on social media are treated as promotional material in this respect.
Stock imagery is not a solution either. The advertising and announcements notice from the Kayapınar District Directorate of National Education, based on the Directorate General’s Circular No. 2017/13, states that modeled images depicting student-age individuals cannot be used either. A practical approach for the gallery is as follows:
- Photographs of spaces such as classrooms, the garden, workshops, and library without students
- Images showing teachers, materials, and preparations for activities
- Craftwork and activity products that do not identify individuals
- Sharing moments from activities with parents through the institution’s own information channel
If there is uncertainty about whether an image constitutes an advertisement or announcement, the opinion of the provincial or district directorate of national education to which the institution is affiliated is taken as the basis.
Let’s define the page plan and form flow together
When the number of educational stages and campuses, the parent information system in use, and the types of announcements to be published are shared, the project scope is put in writing. Images and forms on the existing website are also reviewed during the same meeting.
Promotional rules private educational institutions must follow on their websites
Private educational institutions may publish only promotional advertisements and announcements appropriate to their purpose. Law No. 5580 on Private Educational Institutions prohibits institutions, in Article 11, from making false statements in their advertisements and announcements and from advertising on television. Other rules considered in school website design come from the Regulation on Private Educational Institutions:
- Institution name (Art. 7/4): Only the name and/or abbreviation stated on the institution opening permit and workplace opening and operating license is used on signs, advertisements, and announcements; schools are permitted to use the term “kolej” (college).
- QR code (Additional Art. 4/2): Advertisements, announcements, and all promotional activities include the QR code containing information introducing the institution; the footer or contact page is suitable for this area on the website.
- Fee announcement (Art. 54): Fees are determined annually in Turkish lira; for most schools and courses, the announcement is made from January through the end of May. The MEBBİS printout is displayed at the institution and also published on its website, if one exists. Fees above the announced amount cannot be requested.
- Course programs (Art. 13/5-ç): Examples of programs approved by the Directorate General must remain continuously available on private educational course providers’ websites.
- Scholarship examination (Art. 62/6): Advertising and announcements for the examination are made with the governor’s office’s permission and within the framework of Additional Article 4.
Article 7 of the law lists misleading advertising and the use of student pictures or information in advertisements and announcements among acts requiring an administrative fine; the penalty increases upon repetition, and a third occurrence results in cancellation of the institution opening permit and license. Nurseries and day care centers with opening permission from the Ministry of Family and Social Services are subject to a separate regulation; promotional rules for these institutions are checked separately under their own legislation. The institution is responsible for the accuracy of the texts; during design, its license, current fee announcement printout, and QR code are requested.
This section provides general information and is not a legal opinion.
Google Business Profile and nearby searches
Parents often search by location when looking for preschools, nurseries, and courses; Google Business Profile is the listing shown on the map for these searches and should match the website information exactly. The institution name matches the licensed name, and the address and phone number match the website’s contact page. For institutions with multiple campuses, a separate profile is created for each address and each profile links to its own campus page.
Because photographs added to the profile are also promotional, the restriction on student photographs that applies to the gallery applies here too. Reviews are not encouraged in exchange for discounts or gifts, and incoming reviews receive measured replies on behalf of the institution that contain no personal information. Profile setup is addressed in the Google Business Profile optimization guide, while visibility in area searches is addressed under local SEO services as work separate from the website.
How does a school website project progress step by step?
A school website design project begins by learning the institution’s enrollment calendar and reviewing its existing content; the website is not launched before the forms and announcement area are tested. The steps are as follows:
- Initial meeting: The institution type, number of educational stages and campuses, parent profile, and systems in use are discussed; after a free preliminary assessment, the proposal is sent the same day.
- Content collection: Program texts, staff information and approvals, campus photographs, the licensed institution name, QR code, current fee announcement printout, and privacy notice are requested in a single list.
- Page plan and design: The page list is approved, and the design is prepared for a phone screen first.
- Setup: WordPress is installed, and the preliminary enrollment form, WhatsApp button, and announcement area are connected.
- Search infrastructure: Page titles, descriptions, the sitemap, and the Search Console connection are completed.
- Testing, launch, and training: Forms are tested on different phones, the website is launched, and dashboard training including adding announcements is provided.
A school, preschool, or course website with a single campus and content ready is completed within the standard corporate website timeframe of an average of 5-7 business days. If the schedule is planned with the January–May period specified in the regulation for fee announcements in mind, the area to be published is ready when the announcement is made. During preparation, the website brief form can be completed.
How much does a school website cost? Items that determine the price
School website design prices start from 15,000 TL as part of the corporate website package for a private school, preschool, or course provider with a single campus. A single-page promotional website for a newly opened course starts from 12,000 TL, while structures involving payments, such as online sales of course packages, start from 24,000 TL with e-commerce infrastructure. For projects with multiple campuses, multiple languages, or integrations, the proposal is finalized after reviewing the scope. The main items determining the proposal are:
- The number of campuses and educational stages and the depth of pages prepared for each
- The number of program pages for course providers
- Language versions to be created for international programs or foreign parents
- Additional integrations such as an appointment calendar or parent platform link
- Whether content and addresses need to be migrated from the existing website
Fees for third-party services such as a parent platform, school management software, or appointment tool are paid to that service. Post-launch updates, backups, and security checks continue through optional monthly maintenance; the maintenance fee ranges from 500 – 2,000 TL, and its scope is explained on the annual WordPress maintenance and updates page. For package comparison, the web design prices page can be used, and for a rough preliminary calculation, the website price calculator tool is available.
Common mistakes on school websites and the correct approach
The most common mistake in the education sector is replacing a ready-made school theme’s demo content with the institution’s information and publishing it as it stands. When the theme’s assumptions do not fit the institution, educational stage pages remain empty, the form turns into a generic contact box, and smiling child images left over from the demo conflict with promotional rules. The following table compares common practices with the correct approach:
| Common practice | Correct approach |
|---|---|
| Student photographs in the homepage slideshow | Images without students, focused on spaces, teachers, and materials |
| Achievement lists containing examination rankings and student names | Descriptions of the program, method, and teaching staff |
| Fee information from the previous year | Information matching the current MEBBİS announcement printout |
| A long preliminary enrollment form that also asks for health information | A short form requesting the information needed to respond, alongside a privacy notice |
| An institution name or abbreviation different from the license | Using the licensed name on the website, profile, and signage |
Onur Freelance keeps its working principles for school website design projects simple: a written scope, a domain and hosting registered in the institution’s name, dashboard training at handover, and clear communication without promises about enrollment numbers or rankings. Work completed in different industries can be reviewed on the references page.
Let’s plan the institution’s new website around its enrollment calendar
Questions from institutions seeking information are answered, existing websites and images are reviewed for institutions at the decision stage, and institutions ready to start receive the proposal the same day. The first subject of the meeting is the preliminary enrollment form and announcement arrangement.
How website structures change in other industries is explained together on the industry-specific website design page.
Enrollment season posts, parent communication, and rules on student imagery are also addressed on the school social media management page.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a school website cost?
A private school, preschool, or course website with a single campus starts from 15,000 TL as part of the corporate package. A single-page promotional website for a newly opened course starts from 12,000 TL; for projects with multiple campuses, multiple languages, or integrations, the price is finalized after reviewing the scope.
Do you build websites for state schools?
No, this service is for private educational institutions. Websites for state schools affiliated with the Ministry are published at meb.k12.tr addresses created with institution codes through MEB’s central system, and are updated by school administrators through that system.
Can student photographs be used on a school website?
They should not be used in promotional areas; Additional Article 4 of the Regulation on Private Educational Institutions prohibits student pictures, names, and achievement information in advertisements and announcements. The gallery favors images without students that focus on spaces, teachers, and activity products; in cases of uncertainty, the opinion of the provincial or district directorate of national education is obtained.
Should private school fees be published on the website?
Under Article 54 of the regulation, institutions enter fee announcements into MEBBİS, display the resulting printout where parents can see it at the institution, and also publish it on their website if one exists. The fee information on the website must match the current announcement printout.
Which pages should a preschool website include?
The basic pages are about the institution, age groups and daily routine, educational program, staff, campus and safety, meal menus and announcements, preliminary enrollment, and contact. The campus page describes the sleeping room, play area, and hygiene arrangements through photographs without students and in writing.
What information should the preliminary enrollment form request?
The parent’s name and phone number, the child’s age group or grade level, the educational stage or program of interest, and a suitable meeting time are enough. Because health information is special-category personal data, it is not collected through the web form; a privacy notice and, where necessary, a separate explicit consent box appear beside the form.
How does a course website differ from a school website?
For courses, the decision-maker is often the student, and each program’s content, duration, and schedule are explained on a separate page. The regulation also requires private educational course providers to keep examples of programs approved by the Directorate General continuously available on the institution’s website.
How long does it take to prepare a school website?
A school, preschool, or course website with a single campus and content ready is launched in an average of 5-7 business days. For projects with multiple campuses, multiple languages, or integrations, the schedule is determined together once the scope is clear.
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