How Often Should Schools Refresh Websites to Align with Academic Cycles

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Maintaining a compelling, up-to-date school website is no longer optional. It’s a vital tool for communication, engagement, and reputation management in both the independent and state sectors. Yet one question remains consistent across education clients: how often should a school website be refreshed?

At Datum, we work closely with primary schools, secondary academies, multi-academy trusts, and independent schools. We understand the cyclical nature of academic life, and how a school’s digital presence needs to keep pace. In this blog, we’ll explore why regular website updates matter, when to refresh key content, and how a retained partnership can make it seamless.

Why School Website Updates Matter

Your school website serves many purposes: it informs prospective parents, supports current families, celebrates achievements, and meets statutory obligations. If it’s static or outdated, it quickly becomes a liability rather than an asset.

Fresh content:

  • Shows that your school is active, vibrant, and well-run
  • Improves SEO, making your site more discoverable
  • Ensures compliance with DfE and Ofsted expectations
  • Supports admissions by presenting the school in its best light
  • Helps reduce admin by making important information easy to find
Aligning with the Academic Year

The school calendar offers a natural rhythm for refreshing digital content. Aligning website activity with termly or seasonal milestones helps schools stay ahead.

Autumn Term (Sept–Dec)

  • Update staff lists and governor profiles
  • Refresh uniform details and policy documents
  • Promote open days and admissions deadlines
  • Share new prospectus or term plans

Spring Term (Jan–March)

  • Post key dates for SATs, mocks, and exams
  • Highlight extracurricular successes from Autumn
  • Share newsletters, photo galleries, or student blogs

Summer Term (April–July)

  • Celebrate leavers and end-of-year achievements
  • Promote holiday clubs or summer activities
  • Start preparing content for the next academic year

By breaking the website workload into manageable cycles, schools avoid falling into the trap of doing everything at once – or worse, letting it slide entirely.

How Often Should the Design Be Refreshed?

While content updates are frequent, a visual and functional design refresh is typically needed every 3-5 years. This ensures your site remains modern, accessible, mobile-friendly, and reflective of your school’s evolving brand.

If your school website:

  • Looks outdated on mobile
  • Loads slowly or breaks on certain browsers
  • Is hard to navigate for SEN users
  • No longer reflects your ethos or values

…then it’s time to consider a full design and structure update. It’s not just about aesthetics — it’s about creating a better experience for users and showcasing your school in the best light.

The Benefits of a Retained Partnership

At Datum, we often work with schools on a retained basis — providing monthly support that covers content updates, design tweaks, blog writing, policy uploads, and termly planning.

This approach offers several advantages:

  • Predictable costs across the year
  • Guaranteed turnaround times
  • Proactive planning aligned to your calendar
  • Reduced admin burden on staff
  • Regular strategic reviews to improve performance

Rather than reactive fixes, schools benefit from a steady stream of professional support. Our education team becomes an extension of yours — keeping your school website fresh, compliant, and compelling.

What Makes a Successful School Website?

From our experience across hundreds of education clients, successful school websites:

  • Prioritise clear navigation and accessibility
  • Blend statutory compliance with personality
  • Include strong photography and video
  • Feature regularly updated content (news, blogs, events)
  • Make contact details and calls-to-action prominent

We also recommend integrating social media feeds, calendar tools, and simple CMS training so schools can manage key updates in-house, with backup from Datum as needed.

Ready to Refresh?

If your school website hasn’t been updated in the past year — in content or structure — it may be time for a review. Datum offers free website health checks for schools, assessing compliance, usability, and design.

Contact us today to book a review or discuss a retained website support plan tailored to your school’s needs.

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