Call us now on: (01908) 239971
Call us now on: (01908) 239971
Priory Rise is a brand new school and it found itself in the position of having an almost-finished building but still needing staff and, of course, pupils. One of the aims of the website was to connect with the local community. However, at the time the school was built, the community didn’t exist!
The school was surrounded by new housing estates under construction, and the website had to reach people who were moving to the area and looking for schools.
Sue Cox, head teacher of Priory Rise, also wanted the site to work as an effective recruitment tool. It needed to create the right impression about the school and give prospective staff the right information before they applied.
Sue had come across Prominent Media when she managed the Cedars School website and, having worked directly with Iain Row (managing director and senior web developer) at that time, she knew what to expect.
“I knew he’d be able to deliver what we wanted,” says Sue. “He was always approachable and available at the end of the phone to help with any technical issues. He has a lot of experience creating websites for schools – and has the best understanding of what we needed.”
More building work was underway for the school, but this time it was the construction work on the website! Prominent Media came up with the design and tweaked it to make sure Sue and her team were completely happy. Iain then explained the structure of the site and the relative advantages and disadvantages of different options – to help them make the right decisions.
“It was built really quickly and turnaround was swift with any changes that we asked for. Iain really listened and understood what we needed. The finished site looks fantastic. It’s eye-catching, clear and easy to navigate, and the overall design is very much in keeping with the approachable image we had in mind for the school.”
Being able to use the website as a marketing and communications channel for the school is key, and Sue was delighted that she could easily upload news and photographs. She was very impressed with the work.
Today’s generation of parents expect digital information on demand, day or night. With the new Priory Rise website, their demands are satisfied, and the new site also builds confidence that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an important part of life at the school. The website is always up and running and is packed with information that’s easy to find.
The site enables parents to download useful forms to order their children’s school uniforms, for example, and request a leave of absence. They can also access all news online. It means parents no longer have to find a crumpled letter at the bottom of a school bag! Plus, by communicating via the website, the information doesn’t get eaten by the dog en route from school to home either (or at least that can no longer be used as a valid excuse!).
There’s a link to the school site from the Parish Council website to attract parents of prospective students and to provide accurate and up-to-date information about what the school can offer.
Prominent Media designed the site so that Sue and her team at Priory Rise can make simple changes using specific content management software. Staff can also easily update news. This keeps parents and members of the local community informed about what’s going on – all in a cost- and time-effective way.
However, new software always takes a little while to master and, whether you’re an IT guru or not, we all know that disasters can happen when the pressure is on. One day Sue managed to accidentally reformat the front page when she just wanted to adjust the content! Fortunately, Prominent Media simply talked her through the problem over the phone and rectified the problem without delay. It saved Sue a lot of worry.
TThe site has become much more than a promotional tool for the school. It actively saves the school money and gets messages out to parents quickly and efficiently. Staff spend less time on mail shots because parents can access information over the web. And, as staff are the biggest expense, freeing up their time to work on more valuable tasks is always financially rewarding.
Another big saving is on recruitment costs. Whereas previously the school was spending £2,500 on a large advert in the Times Educational Supplement, it now spends just £480 on a small advert, which signposts potential applicants to the recruitment section of the website.
Teachers can use the website to find out more about the school, which means that job applicants are a better match for the role right from the start.
“We’ve saved lots on postage and can turn applications around more quickly. This way of recruiting also strengthens the message that ICT is indeed a key focus at this school.”
Enquiries and responses from parents have increased, as they can get in touch with the school directly via the contact form on the website. This way they don’t have to memorise the email address and navigate away from the site. Everyone in the team at Priory Rise is extremely happy with the new site.
““You meet some technical people who make you feel inadequate if you don’t understand the technical side of things. Working with Prominent Media was really good though. Iain really knew his stuff and was able to talk about what we needed in a straightforward way. He was approachable, friendly and modest. I’d recommend Prominent Media to anyone.”
Sue Cox, Priory Rise School““You meet some technical people who make you feel inadequate if you don’t understand the technical side of things. Working with Prominent Media was really good though. Iain really knew his stuff and was able to talk about what we needed in a straightforward way. He was approachable, friendly and modest. I’d recommend Prominent Media to anyone.”