The Educator Magazine U.K. Jan-April 2025 issue - Magazine - Page 56
How to create a MAT website that
unites every school in your trust
For Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), a website isn’t just a
collection of individual school pages; it’s an opportunity
to showcase the collective strength of all the schools under
your trust and present a unified vision to the public. A
cohesive, well-designed website plays an important role
in uniting your schools, aligning them with your MAT’s
values, and creating a consistent experience for parents,
students, staff, and each of your school communities.
With years of experience and proven methods, Juniper
Education has mastered the art of giving each school its own
unique voice and identity while bringing everything together
on a unified trust website.
Here’s our 6 top tips to help MAT leaders create a cohesive
main website that makes a great first impression and showcases your trust and all the schools within it in its best light.
1. Create a dedicated page for your schools
Each school within your trust should be featured on the same
page on your trust website, for example, on an ‘Our Schools’
page or via a ‘Family of Schools’ bar within the top navigation
of the website.
While each school has its own unique identity, showcasing
them together on one page and incorporating the same logo
or colour scheme can highlight that they all belong to the
same trust, creating a sense of unity and connection.
2. Create a centralised ‘MAT Hub’
Your trust website should act as a central hub, offering
visitors an overview of the trust and its mission.
Include:
• A summary of the trust’s vision, values, and goals.
• Information about leadership, governance, and key
initiatives.
• A directory of all schools in the trust, with links to their
individual pages and also links to their actual websites.
• Updates on trust-wide events, programs, and news.
A centralised hub ensures visitors to any school’s page can
easily access information about the broader trust.
3. Design for easy navigation between schools
Make it simple for users to move between individual school
trust.
• Dropdown menus or quick links: Add intuitive links to
navigate between schools within the trust.
• Interactive maps or directories: Include tools that allow
visitors to search for schools by location or other criteria.
This easy navigation helps show how each school works in
synergy with the trust.
4. Promote collaboration and communication
Use your website to highlight how your schools work
together as one unified trust:
• Shared professional development: Promote trust-wide
training opportunities for staff.
• Trust-wide events and achievements: Feature activities like
charity events, sports days, or art exhibitions to celebrate
collective success.
• Leadership and governance initiatives: Highlight shared
resources, policies, and mentoring programs that
strengthen collaboration across the trust.
• Share news from the school websites directly onto the trust
website to celebrate achievements and events.
These efforts reinforce the idea that every school is part of a
larger, unified organisation.
5. Prioritise usability and accessibility
A cohesive website isn’t just about design—it must also be
functional and user-friendly.
• Mobile optimisation: Ensure your website is responsive and
looks great on all devices.
• Clear navigation: Use intuitive menus and search tools to
make information easy to find.
• Accessibility standards: Comply with the latest WCAG 2.2 AA
standards, which came into effect in October 2024, to e
sure inclusivity.
A website that’s easy to use reflects your trust’s
professionalism and commitment to all stakeholders.
6. Regular updates and maintenance
Keep your MAT website fresh by regularly updating
information.
• Add new content: Upload photos, videos, and updates on
events or new schools to keep the website fresh.
• Update visuals: Refresh images and messaging to keep the
website relevant and engaging.
A well-maintained website demonstrates that your trust is active,
engaged, and committed to providing a great user experience.
7. Use a “bespoke and clone” website approach
Make managing your trust’s websites easier with a “bespoke
and clone” model. This means creating a main website design
that’s tailored to your trust’s brand and values, then reusing it
as a template for each school’s website.
Here’s why it works:
• Keeps things consistent: All your school websites will look
like part of the same family.
• Saves time: Once the template is ready, setting up each
school’s site is much quicker.
• Cuts costs: You won’t need to pay for every school’s website
to be built from scratch.
This approach lets each school keep its own personalitywhile
making sure everything ties back to your trust’s overall brand.
MAT leaders, let’s get started!
Whether you're starting from scratch with a new website,
tackling a specific challenge, or just looking for a brand
refresh to create unity, we’re here to elevate all the schools
within your trust.
Get in touch
