The verdict in three sentences
Many Jersey school websites age not because of the design but because nobody is clearly responsible for keeping them current: stale term dates, last year's lunch menus, a revised policy never swapped in. An island agency commonly charges £9,000 to £28,000 for a redesign in 2026; Kolonell delivers in 3 to 4 weeks, once content is ready, at £2,300 (Starter), £3,900 (Growth) or £6,900 (Premium). A successful redesign in St Helier, St Saviour or St Lawrence therefore builds in, from day one, a simple publishing workflow and a termly content check.
Is the problem design or governance?
A few questions sort it out:
- How many days does it take to publish a news item? More than 3 points to a workflow problem.
- Who last edited the term dates page, and when?
- Are the policies online the versions approved by governors, or old copies?
- Do the staff pages list people who have left?
- Does the site display properly on a phone, which most island families use?
If only the last two answers are a problem, design is to blame. If it is the first three, a redesign without governance rules will recreate the same mess within two years.
What budget in Jersey in 2026?
2026 ballpark, based on typical quotes from island and UK agencies:
| Option | Indicative price | Who updates after go-live | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jersey agency | £9,000 to £28,000 | often the agency, fixed fee or hourly | the cost of every change |
| Mainland UK agency | £8,000 to £20,000 | the school, after training | remote meetings, little island knowledge |
| Specialist school platform | £5,000 to £12,000 + yearly licence | the school, in a templated CMS | licence dependency |
| Freelancer | £3,000 to £8,000 | varies | continuity if unavailable |
| Kolonell Starter | £2,300 | the school, essential pages | tight scope |
| Kolonell Growth | £3,900 | the school, with news and calendar | roles to define before launch |
| Kolonell Premium | £6,900 | the school, the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote | review per language |
All tiers include a project manager reachable in your time zone, native English or French copywriting and 3 months of support. Maintenance beyond that is on quote. Details are on the international offer.
Who updates what, and how often?
The governance charter fits on one page. A sample split:
| Content | Owner | Frequency | Approval |
|---|---|---|---|
| News | communications lead | weekly | deputy head |
| Term and exam dates | school office | at the start of each term | head |
| Menus | catering | weekly, or a link to the existing tool | none |
| Policies and safeguarding | designated safeguarding lead | at each approved revision | governors |
| Staff pages | HR | at each arrival or departure | head |
| Admissions | admissions lead | each term | head |
Add a one-hour termly review: broken links, outdated documents, pages with no owner. Policies and reports remain the school's own documents, published as approved, never rewritten as marketing copy.
What are the risks during the redesign?
Search traffic. Inventory of existing URLs (admissions, curriculum, open days, transport, term dates, fees if published), a 301 redirect map and Search Console monitoring for 6 weeks.
Children's data. The enquiry form collects the minimum: no health, SEN, school report, passport or custody data. Documents go through a secure admissions portal, on quote. The local framework is the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018, overseen by the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner. This is not legal advice.
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Integrations. Admissions portal, fee payment, school management system, parent app and calendar feeds are each a separate line on quote, kept and linked to the new site.
Cutover. Go-live outside the admissions peak, open days and exams, typically at the start of the summer holidays; email records copied before any DNS change.
Accessibility and image. WCAG 2.2 AA (contrast, keyboard, captions, accessible PDFs); pupil photos only with documented parental consent.
Ask the provider: who trains the editors? How many roles does the CMS allow? What happens to the site if the school changes supplier?
When is an island agency the better choice?
If the school wants to hand all updates to a supplier based on the island, or to run in-person training sessions with several editors, a Jersey agency has a real proximity advantage.
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Rozel Point College, a senior college of about 200 students with a university guidance office. Today every change goes through the agency. The guidance office wants to publish its calendar and application steps without waiting; it will not publish any unverified list of university destinations.
- Current change requests: 6 a month x £80 = £480 a month, or £5,760 a year (market assumption)
- Kolonell Growth: £3,900
- Local photographer (third-party cost, consents up to date): £500
- Investment: £4,400, offset in about 9 months (4,400 / 480) if staff publish themselves
Technical maintenance after the 3 included months remains on quote.
FAQ
How many people should be able to publish? For a college of 200 students, 3 to 5 editors are enough, each limited to their own sections. Avoid a single shared login.
How often should we review the whole site? A one-hour review each term, so 3 hours a year, is enough to catch outdated documents and broken links.
Should policies be republished at each revision? Yes, in the approved version, replacing the old file at the same URL so that links do not break.
Is the £2,300 Starter tier enough for a senior college? Rarely: news, guidance and the calendar usually justify Growth at £3,900.
Let's scope your project. Send us your sitemap and the list of people who publish, and we will propose a tier between £2,300 and £6,900 with a matching update charter. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
