Our new website feature allows you to create your own public facing responsive website which displays well on all screen sizes. The easy to use template is already part filled with some of the details from the school profile page and has been designed with schools in mind.
How can I get a Classlist PTA website?
What does the website include?
School personalisation and branding
Can more than one person add content?
Do I need hosting, a domain name or SSL?
How will it look when it's finished
How can I get a Classlist PTA website?
If you have already joined Classlist as an Ambassador you will see the website option on the admin side. The website is part of the pro package along with no adverts and extra support for your team.
How to activate your website
To activate your public-facing website, simply select a dropdown section and insert your words and images into the spaces on the “Website” page of your Classlist ambassador admin account.
Once you are happy with the content, click on publish, and then you can share the website address or “URL” on websites, newsletters and social media.
Anyone will be able to see it, whether they have a Classlist link or not. Your website is perfect for sharing information with potential parents, the local community and outside supporters who are not parents at the school.
We have included some screenshots from the admin side of Classlist to help you prepare and get set up.
What does the website include?
- 1 cover photo; the photo from the school profile page is used as standard unless you would prefer to choose a different one.
- An optional space for your logo
- Space for two separate areas of text (eg welcome message, thanks to volunteers or event outcome)
- 3 event blocks with date, photo and title (Optionally, these can link to events you have set up in Classlist)
- Displays up to 4 admin users from your PTA/committee (names, pictures and role titles)
- Space for up to 4 links to other websites
- Any ambassador can edit - no more trying to share login details or reset a website password
- A personalisable web address that is not made up of a jumble of numbers. You can choose a minimum of 4 letters and dashes e.g. web.classlist.com/stjosephs-townsville
- Stylish professionally-designed web page that displays well on mobile as well as PC
Hosting, SSL and domain are all taken care of!
What content can I add?
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School personalisation and branding
If you have a school photo and the logo already added to the School Profile page they can be displayed on the website. Alternatively you may choose to upload a different photo/logo. The school name & address is also taken from the profile page and can be updated if you need to add eg 'PTA' to the name for the website.
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Text content
You have two areas for blocks of text. Each with a title and the option to add a link with a link label.
These can be used for any content you like and can be updated as little or as often as you choose.
For example, you may wish to have long-term content with an ‘about us’ or welcome message, and a second one about the volunteering opportunities or the mission behind your organization.
These are not intended for lengthy texts as we know people do not read a lot of website content so they are limited to 250 characters each.
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Events
You can showcase three events, whether sample events of the type your school often runs, or specific public events created on your Classlist Events platform.
Events are shown in the order you enter them, so when one has finished, removing it will make space for a new one to be added to the end of the list.
When you create a new event in Classlist, and switch on the share to public option, you can copy the link into the event detail on your website, so visitors can click through from there. This is so you can sell more tickets and your supporters who are not parents can access your events. Public community events can contain a lot more details such as attachments and volunteer sign up lists.
This option gives you complete control over which events are shared beyond the school community and means you can share up to three at the same time by advertising the weblink.
Please note that when you have saved an event here you currently can't edit the event directly, you would need to add the details again if you wish to change them.
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Parents association committee
Up to four of your admin users’ names can be shown on the website. Simply select them from the drop down list. These are often PTA committee members, but can be any admin of your choosing who has a registered Classlist account at your school. If you need to, you can update admin user details before publishing. It is not possible for members of the public to send messages directly to individuals from the website.
Please note: if someone has 2 roles on Classlist they will be listed twice on the dropdown list. Once you have selected them you won't be able to see their other role to prevent duplication. You will need to delete them from the list and re-select them to make the change.
You can also re-name this section to suit you eg 'PTA committee', 'friends association' or 'ambassadors'.
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Links
Share up to 4 of your links to campaigns, donation payment sites, the school website or shop. You could even put the Classlist sign up link (from the invite parents page) on the site to make it easy for new parents to join. Links must start with https and not be commercial. For advertising that grows your business and supports your community, see Advertising in Classlist.
Can more than one person add content?
We know it takes teamwork to run a successful community so we’ve created a website that can be updated by any of the Classlist ambassadors at your school.
This means that you never have to worry about losing access or waiting for one person to update the content.
Simply assign your website content creators the role of ambassador.
Any ambassador logged into their Classlist account can update the content. No need to remember another set of login details! Don't forget to 'save' and 'publish' when making updates.
Do I need hosting, a domain name or SSL?
No. We’ve taken care of the technical side of creating a website so that you don’t have to.
You personalise the URL to a name of your choosing, if it is available, which must be a minimum of 4 letters eg web.classlist.com/stjosephs-townsville or web.classlist.com/stjosephs-PTA If your school has a popular name it is a good idea to include the area in the name to avoid confusion. We suggest that once you have chosen a name you stick to it.
How will it look when it's finished
Currently you need to publish your site to see exactly how it looks, you can then edit and re-publish as much as you like until you are ready to share the web address for the first time. Nobody will be notified when you publish it, and people are unlikely to find the page until you decide to share it. You can still continue to edit and update the site as things change - just remember to re-publish it for you changes to take effect.
Here is a screenshot from our demo school, to see a responsive version suited to your screen size visit https://web.classlist.com/yalebury. If you are on a computer you can make your browser window narrower to see how it will look on a mobile.
Promoting your Website
Once you have published your website you will want people to view it! Here are some ways to consider promoting it to parents and your community.
- Adding the website url to a section about it in your school newsletter.
- Posting the website url on social media
- Send a Classlist announcement with the website url. This will go to parents you have invited to join that haven't signed up yet as well as those that have signed up.
- Adding it to the useful links section on Classlist.
I have custom needs
Need more space or something specific? We make continual improvements to our features and often implement ideas from schools when making changes. Please let us know what you would like to see included in a future version.
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