Website redesign for a private or international school in Cork: budget, timeline and risks (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

A Cork private school redesigns its website when families looking around Douglas, Ballincollig, Blackrock or Carrigaline can no longer picture, online, what a day with you looks like. Full-service agency quotes sit around €10,000 to €25,000 in 2026; Kolonell offers €2,700 (Starter), €4,500 (Growth) and €8,200 (Premium) at a fixed price, delivered in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready. The main risk is twofold: losing the traffic of pages that already rank, and swapping verifiable facts for claims the school cannot prove.

What should the new site tell prospective parents?

In Cork, families comparing schools include local families and employees of the pharma and tech multinationals based in the region. They all ask the same practical questions. A clear story beats a slogan:

One simple rule: every sentence on the site should be backed by a school document. Child safeguarding pages and policies remain the school's own documents, published as they stand and approved by the principal.

What budget should you plan in Cork in 2026?

2026 ballpark, based on typical quotes and public rate pages of local agencies, with an indicative 3-year cost:

Every Kolonell tier includes a project manager reachable in your time zone, native English or French copywriting, delivery in 3 to 4 weeks and 3 months of support. Premium is the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote. Details are on the international offer.

How does the redesign run, phase by phase?

• Audit (1 week): inventory of every URL, spotting the pages that get traffic (admissions, curriculum, open days, transport, term dates, fees if published).
• Content (2 to 4 weeks, school side): day-in-the-life copy, staff introductions, fact sign-off by the principal.
• Design and build (3 to 4 weeks, Kolonell), once content is ready.
• Pre-launch checks (1 week): 301 redirect map, WCAG 2.2 AA (contrast, keyboard, captions, accessible PDFs), cookie banner that works with analytics and admissions tags, compliance review of marketing copy.
• Go-live outside the admissions peak, open days and the June exams: early July or a quiet mid-term break.
• Monitoring (6 weeks) in Search Console, fixing any 404 errors.

Which risks should you watch?

• Lost rankings if old URLs vanish without a 301 redirect.
• Over-hungry forms: the enquiry form is limited to the parent's name, contact details and intended year of entry. No health, special educational needs, school report, passport or custody data; documents go through a secure admissions portal, on quote. The framework is GDPR, Ireland's Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data Protection Commission. This is not legal advice.
• Integrations: admissions portal, fee payment, school management system, parent app and calendar feeds are each a separate line on quote, kept and linked, never rebuilt.
• Downtime: DNS switch on a quiet morning, TTL lowered, old hosting kept for 30 days.

Questions to ask the provider: who writes the 301 map? Who signs off the facts? How are photo consents tracked? Who updates the news after handover?

When should you choose a local agency?

If you want a video shoot on campus, in-person workshops with the board or a maintenance contract with someone in Cork, a local agency remains a solid choice. The European Accessibility Act is also raising accessibility expectations: an agency that audits on site can reassure a cautious board.

Mini case study

Illustrative example: Glenmore Park College, formed by the merger of two neighbouring schools, still runs two old websites, each with its own licence. The principal wants a single site that tells the story of the new school: a typical day, the curriculum explained, the combined staff team.

• Current situation: 2 licences x €1,500 a year x 3 years = €9,000 (market assumption)
• Kolonell Growth: €4,500, with a 301 map covering both old domains, scope confirmed in the quote
• Local videographer for the day-in-the-life film (third-party cost, parental consents up to date): €900
• Maintenance over 33 months: €90 a month x 33 = €2,970 (market assumption; Kolonell maintenance after the 3 included months on quote)
• 3-year total: €8,370, which is €630 less than the status quo, with one coherent site.

FAQ

How long does a school redesign take in Cork? Allow 6 to 9 weeks overall: 1 week of audit, 2 to 4 weeks of content on the school side, then 3 to 4 weeks of design and build at Kolonell.

Can we merge two old sites without losing traffic? Yes, provided every useful URL on both domains is 301 redirected and Search Console is monitored for 6 weeks.

Should we publish our exam results? Only if they are real, verified and the school chooses to publish them. A redesign never invents results or rankings.

Is the €4,500 Growth tier enough? For most English-only schools, yes. If you want an Irish-language version or another language, Premium at €8,200 is the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote.

Let's scope your project. Send us your two old sites or your current sitemap and we will propose a tier between €2,700 and €8,200 and a go-live date clear of exams. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.