Your homepage might steal the spotlight, but your calendar is likely one of the most visited pages on your school's website. Parents, students, and others in the school community use it to browse upcoming events, important dates, and school activities, and answer the question asked nearly every morning at the breakfast table: “What letter day is it?”

When well-managed, your school calendar can boost engagement and keep everyone informed and in sync all year long. But if your calendar is poorly designed, incomplete, or causes your community to miss important school events, no one will be "saving the date" anytime soon.

From making your calendar easy to find to keeping it mobile-friendly and clutter-free, there's always MORE you can do to make it a reliable and effective resource for everyone.

School Calendar Management Best Practices:

1. Easy Access from Your School's Homepage

Your school's calendar should be just a click away from your homepage. Providing a quicklink or a visible section directly on the homepage makes it easier for users to find event dates, times, and details without having to navigate multiple pages.

Oaks Christian School added the calendar to its navigation, but it ALSO added an icon to a collection of quick links—an easy, mobile-friendly way to provide quick access.

2. Allow Users to Subscribe for Updates and Notifications

Subscription options are crucial to allowing your school community to receive automatic updates and notifications about new events or changes.

Like Homer Community Consolidated School District, your school's calendar software should integrate with popular platforms like Google Calendar or iCal, so users can add events, stay informed, and reduce the chances of missing events.

3. Categorize Events by Type

Organizing events by category (such as sports, arts, and academics) makes the calendar more user-friendly. Creating calendars for different departments or separate athletic teams also helps organize events and reduce clutter even more

Users can filter Paideia School's calendars for easy viewing, and with a separate calendar, the school highlights admission-specific events and places that calendar directly on its admissions and enrollment pages to engage prospective families.

4. Include All Necessary Event Details

Every event listing should include essential information: time, location, contact information, and details about tickets or registration if needed. materials or fees required. You want your attendees to come prepared!

5. Regularly Update the Calendar

This is obvious, but an outdated calendar doesn’t help anyone, so regular checks to ensure all information is current and accurate are crucial. This includes removing past events and updating or confirming upcoming dates well in advance.

6. Offer Different Viewing Options

Different people prefer to view calendars in different ways. Offering views by month, week, or day, with list or grid layouts, makes the NSU University’s calendar more accessible.

Additionally, consider options for printing or downloading the calendar for those who still want those physical copies.

7. Use Consistent Formatting for Dates, Times, and Locations

Decide on a format for dates and times and stick to it across the board. This attention to detail makes your calendar easier to read and understand at a glance.

8. Highlight Major or Signature Events

Special events or school traditions deserve extra attention. Highlighting these major events, possibly with distinct colors, banners, or icons, helps in building excitement and getting it on everyone's calendar.

9. Include a Search Function

A search function enhances the user experience by allowing users to find events quickly based on keywords, date ranges, or filters.

The Kinkaid School calendar allows users to search by keyword and date range, which is particularly useful for busy school calendars where manually sifting through numerous listings would be time-consuming.

10. Integrate with Other School Communication Tools

Make sure your calendar is integrated with your other school communication tools, like newsletters.

Finalsite’s email marketing tool, Messages, allows admins to insert dynamic content like Posts, athletic schedules, and calendars into newsletters without manually typing out important events.

11. Don't Overload Your Calendar with Minor Events

A cluttered calendar can be overwhelming. Focus on events that impact the broader school community, such as major assemblies, school-wide initiatives, and key dates for the academic calendar. Help users find the information that matters most to them without having to navigate through less significant events.

12. Add Descriptions and Links to More Information

Providing context is crucial, and just a title and time usually don't give users enough information. Want more sign-ups, attendees, or participation? Including a brief description or linking to more details can give insight into the event's purpose, audience, and any special registration instructions. Knowledge is power!

13. Think About Your Mobile Users

Make sure your calendar is responsive and easy to navigate on smartphones and tablets. With more users accessing your school’s calendar with a mobile device, your calendar needs to be mobile-friendly.

A responsive design that adjusts to various screen sizes, like Chelsea School’s calendar, makes it easier for users to engage with your school's events. Simple navigation, large icons, and legible text can significantly improve the user experience while on the go.

14. Don't Assume Users Know How to Filter and Subscribe

We can be quick to assume users will know all the ins and outs of filtering events and subscribing to calendars for the latest updates. A little extra help and instructions on staying connected can go a long way.

Bryn Mawr went the extra step and added a pop-up website notification to its calendar end events page to assist visitors with a few helpful tips.

15. Think About Privacy and Security

There will always be a need to balance protecting the privacy of school events with the pragmatism of informing your community, but it’s always a good idea to consider the information you’re sharing.

• Do you want a public-facing calendar sharing the details of an “all-school assembly” held at (location) at this (time)?
• Are you comfortable with the public knowing exactly where and when all your students will be?

Discuss what details your school is— and isn’t— comfortable sharing externally, and consider putting sensitive event information behind a more protected part of your school’s website, like the parent or student portal.

16. Don't Manually Recreate Recurring Events

For events that happen regularly, like weekly meetings or monthly open houses, you shouldn’t have to keep creating and adding them to your calendar.

With Finalsite’s school calendar software, you can easily create an event and then duplicate it or set it as a recurring event.

17. Don’t Forget about Translation and Accessibility

Accessibility and translation are key to reaching a wider audience. Features like alternative text for images and screen reader compatibility ensure that everyone, regardless of disability, can access and understand your calendar.

And just as Marin Country Day School has offered its users, translation features can turn your calendar’s content into multiple languages with just a click.

18. Don’t Forget about Your International Audience

Specifying the time zone for online events is important for schools with a global community and boarding schools with an international audience. Dates and times should adjust for each user, but clarifying your time zone ensures everyone is aware of the event’s correct time, regardless of their geographic location.

19. Don't Assume Everyone Knows Where "the Usual Place" is

Always specify the location of events, even those that occur at well-known venues within your school.

For off-campus events, providing an address, directions, or a map link can be incredibly helpful, especially for new families or visitors who are not yet familiar with the area. Linking to a campus map can be a good option!

20. Holidays, Breaks, and Observances are Important, Too

When scheduling events, be mindful of cultural and religious holidays and mark them on the calendar if your school community observes them. 

Chappaqua Central School District’s calendar offers a tab with upcoming school closures, school vacations, holidays, and breaks, which will help families with their planning.

21. Remember to Include a Start and End Time

Providing clear start and end times for events is helpful for planning purposes. It also helps attendees manage their schedules and arrange transportation or childcare if needed. Clear timing also helps manage space and resource allocation for your school’s back-to-back events.

Key Takeaway

Who knew calendars could be so complex? Make the most of one of your website’s most popular pages. Follow these best practices, and your school's calendar can become an even more effective and engaging tool for keeping everyone informed and involved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Connor has spent the last decade within the field of marketing and communications, working with independent schools and colleges throughout New England. At Finalsite, Connor plans and executes marketing strategies and digital content across the web. A former photojournalist, he has a passion for digital media, storytelling, coffee, and creating content that connects.