INDUSTRIES — EDUCATION
School and College Websites in South Sudan
Most parents decide whether to enquire about a school before they ever visit it. They search the name, look for fees, term dates, and a phone number, and if they find an empty Facebook page they move on. A simple site fixes that.
A school website has an unusual job. It has to serve prospective parents, current parents, students, staff, and sometimes an education authority — often with one part-time person maintaining it. That means the design has to be simple, the content has to be current, and publishing has to be quick.
What parents actually look for
- Fees, clearly stated. Per term or per year, by class or level, with what is included and what is extra. Hiding fees generates phone calls, not enquiries.
- Term dates and calendar. Opening and closing dates, exam periods, and holidays, kept current.
- Admissions process. Requirements, deadlines, forms, and who to contact. A downloadable application form is often more useful than an online form.
- Location and contact. An address people can find, a working phone number, and office hours.
- Proof of quality. Results, university placements, accreditation, facilities, and staff qualifications — with dates, so it is clear what is recent.
- What the school actually looks like. Real photos of classrooms, grounds, and activities. Parents are trying to picture their child there.
Pages a school site needs
- Home. What the school is, where it is, and the three things a parent needs first: admissions, fees, contact.
- About. History, mission, accreditation, and leadership.
- Admissions. Requirements, process, deadlines, and a downloadable form.
- Fees. A clear schedule, payment methods, and what is included.
- Academics. Levels offered, subjects, exam boards, and results.
- Term dates. A dated calendar that is easy to update.
- Staff. Names, roles, and qualifications — at least for leadership and heads of department.
- News and notices. A CMS section for announcements.
- Gallery. Compressed photos of facilities and activities.
- Contact. Address, map link, phone, email, and office hours.
The maintenance problem
School sites go stale faster than any other kind. Term dates change, fees change, staff leave, and the person who used to update the site leaves with the login. Six months later the homepage still advertises last year's intake.
I design around that reality:
- Fewer editable fields, better structured. A term dates page with three fields is easier to keep current than a free text editor.
- Expiring notices. Announcements can carry an end date and disappear automatically instead of lingering.
- Shared admin access. Named accounts for the office rather than one person's personal login.
- A written handover guide. Screenshots and steps for the tasks staff actually do, not a generic CMS manual.
- Optional maintenance. A small monthly retainer if nobody at the school wants to touch it.
Cost and scope
A first school site — six to eight pages, admissions, fees, term dates, gallery, and contact — usually falls between $350 and $900. Adding a CMS for news, results, and documents, plus staff training, moves it into $900 to $2,500.
Hosting is typically $10 to $40 per month, and a domain is $12 to $25 per year. See hosting for what that covers.
The packages page has the full breakdown, and the cost guide explains the trade-offs.
Related pages
QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
- Do you have school clients?
- Not yet in South Sudan, and I am not going to invent one. The structure below is based on what parents, students, and education authorities actually look for, and it is the same structure I would use for a first school build.
- Can parents pay fees through the site?
- They can be shown exactly how to pay, with account details and a reference format, and the school can record confirmations. Direct online fee collection depends on the school's bank or mobile money merchant arrangement, which is a finance decision before it is a website one.
- Can we publish results and term dates ourselves?
- Yes. A CMS lets office staff publish term dates, results, and notices without calling a developer. I include training and a written guide, and I keep the admin forms simple enough to use on a phone.
- How much does a school website cost?
- A five to eight page school site is usually $350 to $900. Adding a CMS for news, results, and a document archive moves it into the $900 to $2,500 band. There is no education discount, but I keep the scope tight so the first version stays affordable.
- Can it work when the school has no reliable internet?
- Yes. The public site is hosted on an edge network and loads quickly on mobile data. The admin area is light enough to use on a weak connection, and content can be prepared offline and uploaded in batches.
- Do you build Arabic versions?
- Yes, with proper right-to-left layout rather than a flipped template. For most schools English is the primary site and Arabic is a second locale, but the structure supports either order.
Let's talk about your project
Tell me what you are building. I usually reply within one business day.