How Burton Borough completely transformed their local perception in partnership with Schudio
WHAT CHALLENGES WERE YOU FACING PREVIOUSLY?
We’d been with our previous hosting provider for nearly four years. Although the website had served us well, web design and hosting had moved on substantially in that time. The old website was starting to look dated and we wanted to make more changes which included to the design, than what the providers content management system would allow. We also needed someone to help us with re-branding designs. We hadn’t got sufficient skills in house to do this ourselves, which limited what we could do in building a new secondary school website.
WHAT DID YOU LIKE ABOUT WORKING WITH US?
We found Schudio’s approach to school website services very refreshing; their approach was to not just provide a design and web hosting service. It was to work with us in a school-focussed manner that made them stand out against their competitors. Everyone that we have dealt with has been incredibly flexible and helpful, which made the whole transition process much easier. Communications were always dealt with promptly as the team project-managed the work on Schudio’s side well. In addition, key milestones in the design process were clearly set out along with expectations on both sides. We also wanted to update the school logo and branding. Their designer was really helpful in supplying us with revised designs and changes after they were reviewed by our SLT.
WHAT RESULTS HAVE YOU SEEN?
The re-branding element has been fantastic. Their designer was able to supply us with artwork in a format that we can manipulate and use across a variety of media. This has been applied for example to new school uniforms, student’s workbooks and all our printed materials. Having such a service available has helped us enable the changes the principal wanted, which has given the school a more colourful and ‘refreshed’ feel. This design then filtered into the website; feedback about the new look has been really positive and we are making it easier for visitors to find the information they are looking for. By using analytics, we are noticing that visitors are spending more time on the site than previously.
WHY MIGHT OTHER CLIENTS LIKE YOU ENJOY WORKING WITH OUR TEAM?
Schudio’s approach to working with schools goes beyond just providing a design and hosting service. To me, this is evidenced in their focus in keeping schools and especially their customers, informed about the latest changes to OFSTED regulations. We are compliant with OFSTED standards because they take this pro-active approach. They also making sure our website is the best that it can be. Ian’s advice about how to improve the structure of the website has been invaluable and solved some long-standing page navigation problems. Their service offering was also very competitive, which is extremely important with pressures on school finances.
YOUR FUTURE PLANS FOR YOUR WEBSITE AND MARKETING?
Now that we have a new secondary school website with a flexible content management system, this is allowing us to manage the website much more effectively. We are steadily adding more content. Staff are seeing the website as a great way to advertise events and celebrate the success of our students. We are about to start work on the dedicated school app, which will allow us to improve our engagement with parents and our community. By having such a flexible service from Schudio, it is helping us improve the way we can show what life is like in school and benefit our students, parents, staff and community as a whole.
