In the last week of August a parent searches “ballet classes for 4 year olds” or “Irish dancing” with the name of the parish, and wants the timetable by age, what a term costs and when it is due, whether there is still space in the Tuesday class, what the child wears, and when the show is. In the same week an adult searches “salsa beginners” or “first dance lessons” and wants something different: a drop-in price and reassurance that nobody will laugh. Websites for dance schools in Dublin have to serve the parent at enrolment time and the adult all year.
Enrolment week decides the year
A dance school’s income arrives in three bursts: September, January and after Easter. In the old pattern, enrolment is a paper form at the door, fees come by bank transfer with no name on them, and the teacher spends October matching payments to children.
On the site, enrolment is a form that asks exactly what you need: the child’s name and date of birth, the class, the parent’s phone and email, and any note you want to know about. The term fee is paid at the same time with a card or Apple Pay, the sibling rate is shown where it applies, and the confirmation goes to the parent. You get a list, not a shoebox. When a class is full, the form switches to a waiting list on its own.
What to list, down to the costume fee
Parents want the full cost before they commit. Fee per term by class length, any registration fee, exam fees if you enter children for them, the costume fee for the summer show, and what the uniform is and where to buy it. A page that states all of it reads as organised, and organised is what a parent is paying for.
Shows and exams are events with their own page: the date, the venue, the ticket price, and a button to buy. Costume deposits are collected the same way in February rather than chased in May. The rules around deposits and refunds are set out in how to take deposits online in Ireland, and we keep your wording on the right side of them.
What the page should look like
The studio or the hall you use, photographed clean and bright. A class seen from the back, with consent from every parent whose child appears. The teachers, with a line on where they trained and that they are Garda vetted. The stage at last year’s show. The entrance and where parents can pull in at ten to four on a Tuesday. Nothing from a stock library: a parent can tell.
The adults’ side
Salsa on a Thursday, ballroom for beginners, a couple wanting a first dance for a wedding in June, a hen party on a Saturday afternoon. These classes sell with a different voice and a different price shape, drop-in or six week course, and get their own pages so the adult who arrives from Google is not reading about tights and buns.
Timetable changes and term dates
The timetable, the term dates, the mid-term break and the show week all live on the page and are changed by you from a private edit page that opens from a link in your email. “No classes Monday, bank holiday” takes a minute and reaches every parent, including the ones who left the WhatsApp group.
What we need from the teacher
The timetable by age and level, the fees and the dates they fall due, the uniform list, the questions you need answered at enrolment, show and exam dates, the policies on missed classes and refunds, teacher bios, and photos. Children’s details are personal data, so the enrolment form, the privacy notice and how long you keep records are set up with care; there is a plain guide to GDPR for small business websites in Ireland.
Plan and price
Enrolment with payment, show tickets and deposits put a dance school on Complete at €1,499 to set up and €100 a month. A single teacher with one hall and a handful of classes who prefers fees by transfer can start with Essentials at €499 and €50 a month, which still carries the timetable, the enquiry form and the Google listing. Both are explained on the pricing page. A swim school runs on the same term rhythm, and we have written about that on websites for swim schools.