Smart School Directory

4 steps 5 min Updated 29 October 2026

Overview

Smart School Directory (shown in the plugin list as WP School Locator) adds a public school finder to your website: an interactive map with a pin for each school, and a list beside it that visitors can search by name and filter by type. Clicking a school in the list zooms the map to it and shows its phone number and email address.

It is designed for trusts, federations and other groups that want a "Find a school" page. You keep the list of schools under Smart School Directory in wp-admin — adding them one at a time or importing them all from a spreadsheet.

The school locator is not switched on for every website. If you do not see Smart School Directory in your wp-admin menu, contact Realsmart support.

Getting set up

Step 1: Create your school types

The map's filter offers Primary, Secondary, All Through and Middle+, and colours each pin by type. A school only matches a filter when its school type has the matching slug:

Filter option	School type slug	Pin colour
Primary	`primary`	Red
Secondary	`secondary`	Blue
All Through	`all-through`	Green
Middle+	`middle-plus`	Purple

Go to Smart School Directory → School Types and add the types you need, typing the slug exactly as shown. (WordPress fills in primary, secondary and all-through for you from the names, but for Middle+ you must type the slug middle-plus yourself.) A school with any other type, or no type, shows a grey pin and only appears under All Schools.

Step 2: Add a school

Go to Smart School Directory → Add School. Enter the school's name as the title, then fill in the School Details (Required for Map) box:

Latitude and Longitude — the school's position, as decimal numbers, e.g. 53.4808 and -2.2426. You can copy these from most online maps by right-clicking the school's location.
Phone and Email — shown when a visitor clicks the school's pin.

Tick the school's type in the School Types box and select Publish.

Step 3: Or import all your schools at once

Administrators can go to Smart School Directory → Import CSV:

Under Step 1: Download Template, select Download CSV Template. The template has the columns Title, Type, Latitude, Longitude, Phone and Email, with one example row.
Fill in one school per row in a spreadsheet, keeping the header row as it is. Put the school type's slug (e.g. primary) in the Type column. Replace the example row rather than leaving it in, or it is imported as a school too.
Save the file as CSV. Under Step 2: Upload CSV, choose the file and select Import Schools.

A message confirms how many schools were imported. Each row becomes a new, published school. Rows without a title are skipped. The Type is turned into slug form (lower case, spaces become hyphens, so "All Through" becomes all-through); if no type with that slug exists yet, a new one is created, named with the slug. Check Smart School Directory → School Types afterwards and tidy up any names you want to change.

Step 4: Add the map to a page

Add a Shortcode block containing [school_locator] to the page, and publish or update it. The map zooms to fit all the schools shown.

Features

School details

Where to find it: Smart School Directory → All Schools → edit a school

Setting	What it does	Default
Title	The school's name, shown in the list and on its pin	Empty
Latitude	North–south position of the pin	Empty
Longitude	East–west position of the pin	Empty
Phone	Shown when the pin is clicked	Empty
Email	Shown as an email link when the pin is clicked	Empty
School Types	Controls the filter and pin colour. Give each school one type — if it has several, only one is used	None

What visitors see

[school_locator] shows every published school:

A Search schools... box that filters the list and map by school name as you type.
A drop-down with All Schools, Primary, Secondary, All Through and Middle+.
A count, e.g. "Showing 12 schools".
A list of schools, each with its type in capitals (e.g. "PRIMARY"; a school with no type shows "OTHER"). Clicking one zooms the map to the school and opens its details.
The map, with a coloured pin for each school that has a latitude and longitude.

The shortcode has no options — it always shows all published schools.

Importing from a spreadsheet

Where to find it: Smart School Directory → Import CSV (administrators only)

Column	What it holds	Example
Title	School name (required — rows without it are skipped)	Example Primary School
Type	School type slug	primary
Latitude	Decimal latitude	53.4808
Longitude	Decimal longitude	-2.2426
Phone	Phone number	0123456789
Email	Email address	[email protected]

The import always adds new schools; it does not update existing ones. Importing the same file twice creates every school twice, so delete duplicates from Smart School Directory → All Schools if that happens.

Troubleshooting

A school is in the list but has no pin on the map

It has no valid Latitude or Longitude. Clicking it in the list shows "No map coordinates available for this school." Edit the school and enter both as decimal numbers (for example 53.4808, not 53° 28′ 51″).

A school does not appear at all

Only published schools are shown. Check the school is published, not a draft, and that the visitor has not typed a search or chosen a filter that excludes it.

A school only appears under All Schools

Its school type's slug does not match the filter. Go to Smart School Directory → School Types, edit the type and set its slug to primary, secondary, all-through or middle-plus. This is most common with Middle+, whose automatic slug is middle.

The pin is in the wrong place

Latitude and longitude may be swapped, or a minus sign may be missing — schools in the UK west of Greenwich have a negative longitude.

I cannot see Import CSV

Only administrators can import schools. Editors can still add schools one at a time with Add School.

Did this work for you?

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