How pupils can design a school app

When you start talking to pupils about creating their own school app, they can offer plenty of ideas. They want timetables, lunch menus, event listings, absence notes, a school map, chat or discussions, sports results, polls and student council updates all in one place. A project day is a chance to show that they can design such an app together and develop a prototype — and that a good app does not begin with a list of features. It begins with a specific person and a problem worth solving for them.

Let pupils find the problem first

Start with an ordinary school day. Ask questions and discuss them. Here are some topics to explore: What do pupils repeatedly look for? What do they forget? Where do unnecessary misunderstandings arise? Someone misses a classroom change, another person is looking for cover arrangements, a parent is confused about dates and a new pupil cannot find their way around the building. What do pupils enjoy and care about? Why will they return to the school after leaving? What are parents looking for? How can the school’s partners and sponsors raise their profile?

Groups can carry out short research with classmates, teachers or school staff, recording situations rather than immediately suggesting features. Former pupils and representatives of parents and sponsors can also help.

A useful brief is not ‘invent an app for our school’, but, for example, ‘help a new pupil transferring from another school get through their first week without having to ask about everything’. This keeps the project grounded and forces the group to decide what really matters. We recommend letting pupils choose the main topics. Choosing them yourself may make the project day easier to manage. But when pupils choose for themselves, they are more likely to take ownership and look forward to the outcome.

One well-designed user journey is enough

There is no need to design a whole app in a single day. Each group can work on one user journey: finding a timetable change, signing up for a school event, reporting a technical issue or finding their way around the building. Pupils sketch each step and ask what information the user needs and what they should do next.

Only then do they create screens. First on paper, then perhaps in PowerPoint, Canva or Figma. A clickable prototype does not need to send anything or connect to the school’s systems. It should let people test whether the proposed journey makes sense.

AI can suggest options, but the group makes the decisions

AI is useful for exploring different screen layouts, shortening text and preparing sample situations for testing. A group can describe its user and ask for three possible approaches. It then compares them with its research. AI’s first suggestion often looks finished, but may include unnecessary features or assume the school has data it does not actually hold.

Do not enter real pupil data or school system credentials into public tools. Use fictional names and sample data in the prototype. If the design involves absence notes, messages or other sensitive information, take the opportunity to discuss who can access the data and what should happen after it is submitted.

Testing reveals more than another hour of drawing

Give the finished prototype to a group unfamiliar with how it works. The tester receives a task, such as finding out where tomorrow’s first lesson will take place, and says aloud what they expect each button to do. The creators do not offer guidance. They watch where the person hesitates, what they miss and whether they can go back.

After testing, the group should make at least one visible change and explain which finding prompted it. In assessment, focus on understanding the user, the logic of the journey, how feedback was used and team participation. Visual perfection is not the main criterion.

Creating basic navigation and connecting outcomes from several project days can also be a project in its own right — from a new school website and school guide to a new app. All of these can work alongside and complement one another.