The brief

The Village School needed a new approach in presenting their philosophy and methods of teaching and learning online, and methods of communicating and engaging with the broader community. The school wanted to utilise the web more effectively to;

1. educate and inform a broader local audience about the Village School and it's unique approach to education
2. connnect with potential students and their families to increase enrolments and interest in the school
3. promote the school to a national and global audience as a model of democratic education in practice

The approach

To achieve this, Bea Pierce;

1. Developed a strategic approach and design philosophy specifically tailored to showcase democratic education at its best
2. Developed an information structure and navigation design that;
   1. made moving around the site and finding relevant information easy and intuitive
   2. emphasised the main aspects of the school
   3. clearly articulated the educational philosophy and practice of the school
3. Created a visual design style that communicated the nature of the school and their approach through visually engaging media such as photography, colours and organic graphical elements
4. Built the site in a combination of Joomla and WordPress to;
   1. utilise sophisticated content management capabilities, integrated functionality such as calendars, Google map and promotional slideshows
   2. allow easy weekly news updates for teachers and students in a blog format
5. Tested the site thoroughly for standards-compliance and accessibility and ensured SEO metadata was in place throughout the site to increase ‘findability’ via Google search
6. Provided training in using the Joomla and WordPress administration tools to staff, and a step-by-step instruction guide

Referee: David Ridler, Business Manager, Village School