The difficulty for an organisation without in-house resources to realise the potential of the digital environment for their growth is well known. Understanding technical platforms, along with the variety of ways we communicate to our audience is a challenge.
So, to help with this process, during 2018 I worked with Forestville Montessori School to progressively improve their use of digital platforms, while developing the necessary assets to fully represent the school as it stands in 2018. Thus I worked to build regular communications for parents through the school's InFocus magazine, while behind the scenes we worked on a brand refresh, development of content and message, and determining the overall impact we needed to make to deliver on key performance needs.
In addition to rebuilding from the ground up the school's website, this also involved looking at organisational processes such as forms and payments. So, for example, all forms were upgraded to be electronic, payments moved online and existing mechanisms rationalised – such as removing duplication of where information was made available.
The result was a new website, with regular parent communications and a focus on reaching out to potential parents on the benefits of a Montessori Education for their children.
The overall project has resulted in some incredible outcomes – with improved satisfaction from parents, increased school tours with the ultimate goal to increase enrolments. When the new site was launched, current indications are promising as demonstrated by an uptake in visitors to the site and enquiries.
An important consideration of the project has been the development of content written by the teachers, parents, students and alumni that has provided a rich source of relevant and meaningful content. Presented in the InFocus magazine over the last 4 terms, this has also meant there is a relevant timeframe to each publication of the magazine that fits within school life, while also providing new visitors with a deeper understanding of school culture and the opportunity for their child's education.
In early 2019 the developments continued with the expansion to a school blog. This now helps to support their social media strategy and develop strong regular communications with parents and the school community.
