Communicating your school story on your website

At mso we believe that each school website needs to provide a distinctive and memorable experience.

This can be achieved in a number of ways, although an essential part of any successful school website is communicating the story.

The best school websites all do this well.

Far too often we see schools that have deliberately chosen to imitate a rival school or select an incumbent whose websites tend to look the same.

Or worse yet, revert to the ‘typical’ school website design.

You know what we mean, the big aerial video of the school’s grounds or the gimmicky over-engineered animation, centred around the same descriptive words which most schools use.

Like ‘inspiring’, ‘all rounded’ and the ‘big enough to deliver, small enough to care’ and so on.

Now we must caveat the above a little, as some schools really do have exceptional grounds and world-class facilities, all of which deserve to be promoted, although not to the point where it is the main attraction.

How do you expect your school website to stand out online, if it looks just like everyone else?

In this blog post, we will share our thoughts on how a school can best stand out online and communicate its story.

Focus on your key strengths and identify any USPs.

By communicating your school’s key strengths and unique selling points early on, you are immediately promoting to your audience why they should choose your school.

Now, we say key strengths as there are various assets that other schools might have as well, which wouldn’t render them unique.

Strong academic performance. A supportive environment. A nurturing pastoral care system. A sense of community.

All the above strengths can be exhibited by any school, however, they deserve to be communicated as they are an asset and can create an emotive connection with the user.

Unique selling points on the other hand are like little golden nuggets and should be a central point of any school website design.

Now, if your key strengths and USPs are not particularly obvious, or you have just started at the school and you are still finding your feet, it’s best to conduct a bit of research.

Obvious right?

For several of our projects, we conduct extensive stakeholder meetings with the local community, to hear what people outside of the school think about you.

This is a great way of getting insight into how you are perceived by people that have no ties to your school. Incredibly valuable!

Internal insight can be extremely valuable too, so be sure to consult staff, pupils and parents as to what they think.

Once you have your key strengths and USPs confirmed, ensure that each has a dedicated space within your homepage, with a signpost into the website where the user can investigate further.

Share stories, culture and values.

The majority of school website experiences begin with an introduction from the Head.

The Head normally starts by sharing their own story with the school and outlining its culture and values, which immediately set the tone for the rest of the experience.

More often than not, this is where the storytelling stops.

There is a huge opportunity to reinforce the culture and values throughout the website by devoting areas towards telling these messages.

Subtly mentioning awards that the school has won is a great way of providing credibility.

Visual testimonials and interviews with staff, pupils and parents are great at building an emotive connection with the user.

News articles and blog posts focused on activities, all help to provide evidence of the school’s culture and values in action.

By reflecting on each area of the website, and having your culture and values defined, it will help to cement your brand identity and communicate your story.

Celebrate your people.

We’re often surprised when a school fails to showcase its people.

Most school websites have a page that has a staff list, with little to no mention as to who each person is, why they chose the school and what their passions are.

Your staff are a completely unique entity! No one else will have them.

The user can learn so much about your school by delving into staff profiles and seeing who will deliver the experience.

It can instil confidence in prospective parents that their child is in safe hands.

This area of the website has the ability to once again communicate your school’s culture and values, and can go a long way to confirming with the user that their values are shared by the school’s people.

Always think brand.

To be memorable you need to provide a brand experience that stands out.

It’s essential that you have a set of guidelines that specifically state what colours, fonts, heading sizes, image styles etc., are to be used and how.

This ensures that your school brand is consistent across all channels, whether online or offline.

A website that has a strong brand presence will prove memorable to any user, and will ensure you are top of mind for any decision they the user may need to make.

When deciding on a creative concept for your website, always ensure that your brand is central to that concept.

Just be you.

The power of communicating your own perspective cannot be overstated.

By introducing your own viewpoint and not following what others are saying, you really are ensuring a distinctive experience.

This is why we feel so strongly about making sure that people within the school create the website copy.

No one else will know your school better than you do!

Lasting thoughts.

Every school that we have ever spoken with has something worth communicating about.

Some schools have more than others, but every school has something worth communicating.

The last thing you want is for your school to be overlooked because it fails to showcase your distinguishing features.

And the best way to differentiate your school from everyone else is to communicate your school’s story.