Drone shots are becoming increasingly popular across various industries. From real estate to tourism, businesses use aerial photography to provide unique perspectives and captivating visuals. This trend is now making its way into the education sector, with schools recognising the value of school drone footage.

Visual content plays a crucial role in making a school website appealing. High-quality images and videos can capture the essence of a school’s environment, making it more attractive to prospective students and their families. Drone shots, in particular, offer a fresh and engaging way to showcase a school’s campus and activities.

This article will explore five key benefits of incorporating drone shots into school websites.

Enhanced Campus Overview

Drone shots provide a comprehensive view of the entire campus, capturing all its features in a single frame. This bird’s-eye perspective allows visitors to appreciate the layout and beauty of the school grounds, something ground-level photos simply can’t match.

Creating a memorable first impression is crucial; visually stunning drone footage can do just that. When prospective students and parents visit the website, they are greeted with breathtaking aerial views highlighting the school’s best features. This can set the school apart from others, making a lasting impact on visitors.

Improved Navigation and Virtual Tours

Drone shots can enhance virtual tours, making them more engaging and informative. Parents and students can better understand the school’s layout by providing a clear aerial view of the campus. This helps them feel more oriented and comfortable before setting foot on the grounds.

Dynamic drone footage adds a new level of excitement to online open days and virtual visits. Prospective families can experience the school environment in a way that’s both visually impressive and highly informative. This makes the virtual experience more immersive and memorable, helping the school stand out in the minds of visitors.

Highlight School Events and Activities

Drone shots capture large-scale events like sports days, assemblies, and outdoor activities. They provide a sweeping view of these events, showing the full scale and energy that can be missed with traditional photography. This makes for more engaging and dynamic content on the school website.

Drones offer unique perspectives that ground-level photos and videos simply can’t match. Aerial shots can highlight the organisation and excitement of school events from rarely-seen angles. This unique viewpoint makes the website content more captivating and memorable for visitors, showcasing the school’s vibrant community in a new light.

Boost Engagement and Retention

Engaging visual content, like drone shots, can significantly increase website traffic. Visitors are more likely to explore a website with captivating images and videos. This keeps them on the site longer, increasing the chances that they’ll learn more about the school and its offerings.

Drone footage also encourages social sharing, boosting visibility and word-of-mouth promotion. High-quality, unique aerial shots are more likely to be shared on social media platforms, spreading the word about the school far and wide. This can attract prospective students and parents to the website, further enhancing the school’s online presence.

Professional Image and Branding

Using cutting-edge technology like drones reflects a sense of modernity and innovation. Schools that incorporate drone shots into their websites show they are forward-thinking and embrace new ways to present themselves. This can make a strong, positive impression on prospective students and parents.

Professional drone footage also ensures consistent visual branding. High-quality aerial shots can be seamlessly integrated with other visual content on the website, creating a cohesive and polished look. This consistency helps reinforce the school’s brand identity, making it more recognisable and appealing.

5 Benefits of Drone Shots for Schools

Drone shots offer several key benefits for school websites. They provide a comprehensive view of the campus, enhance virtual tours, highlight events from unique perspectives, boost engagement and retention, and contribute to a professional image and consistent branding.

Given these advantages, incorporating drone shots into your school’s website strategy is a smart move. If you’re looking for done shots for your school or educational institution, get in touch with School Jotter today!

Staying updated with website design trends is crucial for schools to remain effective and engaging. As technology evolves, so do user expectations. Modern parents and students expect a seamless, intuitive online experience that provides easy access to important information.

Evolving technology and user expectations greatly influence school website design. Innovations such as mobile-first design, AI integration, and enhanced security measures are becoming standard. Schools must adapt to these changes to meet the needs of their communities.

This article explores future trends in school website design and highlights what schools can expect in the next five years.

Enhanced Personalisation

Enhanced personalisation is a growing trend in school website design. Websites are increasingly tailored to offer personalised user experiences, making interactions more relevant and engaging.

For example, a school website can display different content for students, parents, and teachers. Students might see homework assignments, grades, and class schedules. Parents could access important announcements, event calendars, and contact information for teachers. Teachers might have quick links to lesson plans, staff resources, and internal communications.

Customising the user experience means schools can ensure visitors find the information most relevant to them quickly and easily. This level of personalisation improves user satisfaction and streamlines access to essential resources.

Integration of AI and Chatbots

Artificial intelligence is rising in school websites, bringing innovative solutions to enhance user experience. AI can analyse user behaviour and preferences, offering personalised content and recommendations.

Chatbots, a popular AI application, are particularly useful for school websites. They can answer common questions, provide instant information, and guide users through the website. For example, a chatbot can help parents find enrollment details, direct students to their homework assignments, or assist teachers with accessing resources.

Virtual and Augmented Reality

Virtual and Augmented Reality is set to revolutionise school websites by enhancing learning experiences. VR can create immersive environments where students can explore historical sites, conduct virtual science experiments, or visit distant planets, all from their classrooms.

AR adds interactive elements to the real world, making lessons more engaging. For instance, students can use AR apps to see 3D models of biological cells or historical artefacts on their devices.

Schools can also offer virtual tours of their campuses, allowing prospective students and parents to explore facilities remotely.

Interactive learning modules using VR and AR make education more engaging and accessible to a broader audience, transforming traditional learning methods.

Accessibility Improvements

Making websites accessible to all users is crucial, especially for schools. An accessible website ensures everyone, including those with disabilities, can access important information and resources.

Standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 provide a framework for improving accessibility. Tools such as screen readers, keyboard navigation, and voice commands can significantly enhance usability for all users.

Implementing these standards and tools demonstrates a school’s commitment to inclusivity. It ensures that every school community member, regardless of ability, can navigate the website and participate fully in school activities.

Seamless Integration with LMS

Integrating school websites with Learning Management Systems is a growing trend. This integration provides a unified platform on which students, teachers, and parents can easily access educational resources, assignments, and grades.

Linking the school website with a LMS allows schools to streamline administrative tasks and improve the user experience. Students can find assignments, submit work, and check their progress all in one place. Teachers can manage course materials and track student performance efficiently. This seamless integration enhances the educational process, making it more efficient and user-friendly for everyone involved.

Emphasis on Visual Storytelling

Using multimedia elements to tell the school’s story is becoming increasingly important. Photos, videos, and infographics can bring the school’s activities and achievements to life, making the website more engaging.

For example, photo galleries of school events, video interviews with students and teachers, and infographics highlighting key accomplishments can captivate visitors. These visual elements make the content more appealing, and help convey the school’s culture and values effectively.

Future Trends in School Website Design

In summary, key trends in school website design include:

• Enhanced personalisation.
• The integration of AI and chatbots.
• The use of VR and AR for immersive learning.
• LMS integration.
• Accessibility improvements

Schools should adopt these trends proactively to enhance their website’s effectiveness and user experience. Embracing these innovations ensures that school websites remain modern, engaging, and accessible, meeting the needs of their diverse communities and supporting educational goals in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Contact School Jotter to discuss how we can support you with your new school website design.

In response to valuable customer insights, we’ve enriched Jotter 3 with features designed to streamline your experience. Recognising the demanding nature of educational leadership, we’ve crafted this third iteration with a primary focus on saving you both time and resources.

Transparency is paramount to us; therefore, our pricing model is straightforward. The quoted price encompasses all features, including social media walls, slideshows, and curriculum links. Moreover, we empower you with full control over your platform, enabling effortless customisation of slideshows and headers with videos at no additional expense.

Our commitment to your success extends beyond mere software provision. We offer unparalleled training sessions, available at your convenience and completely complimentary.

At the heart of Jotter 3 lies its exceptional design, meticulously crafted to elevate your school’s online presence. Should you desire a truly unique touch, our adept team of designers stands ready to create bespoke solutions tailored to your needs.

Key features of Jotter 3 include:

• Intuitive drag-and-drop functionality
• Transparent pricing, no hidden costs like social media walls
• Monthly releases of fresh designs
• Effortless creation of multi-row columns
• Seamless integration of slide shows and video into main headers, at no extra charge
• Dynamic logo placement, such as moving logos for initiatives like Healthy Eating
• Fully responsive across all mobile devices
• Built-in mobile app for centralised content management
• Convenient pop-up box feature for announcements like open days and admissions
• Integration with Google Analytics for comprehensive visitor tracking

Get in touch to discuss how we can support your new school website design.

Showing School Spirit

It is not always the easiest to let your website visitors see your school spirit. However, with the right design and images, it is possible for you to showcase the school spirit and get people enthused and inspired.

It just takes a little experience and knowledge to create a great school website design that emphasizes how much spirit your school has. There are a lot of top ideas that will accomplish this goal for you.

One positive result is that the more you highlight your school spirit, the more potential students will join in and continue the traditions of the school.

Why Is It Important To Showcase Your School’s Spirit And Identity On Your Website?

Showcasing your school spirit is not just to gain a higher enrollment. Although that purpose helps, it does not sustain growth or keep students engaged with the school for a long period of time.

One of the main reasons you need to showcase your school spirit and identity is that it reinforces your school’s values. It also reinforces your school mission which is term development that should inspire your students to greater educational heights and achievements.

Then by highlighting your school’s identity, you are helping to instill dignity in your students. Plus, it helps to enhance collaboration, and cooperation, as well as giving a greater student connection to your school.

One of the aspects of school spirit is that it is a unifying force that brings all your students and teachers together. Also, showcasing both school spirit and identity is a way of separating your school from all the rest.

With this advancement, the ability of the students to uphold the school’s values is vastly improved. Not only that, but you should see a rise in educational success among the students.

They are going to work and study harder so they do not let the school down or tarnish its reputation. With the result of a connected community, a better learning environment is formed increasing the students’ chance for success.

Highlight Your School’s Unique Culture And Traditions Through The Website

There are a variety of ways to achieve this objective. While some schools may see more printed content as the key way to highlight their school’s culture, it is not the only way to accomplish this goal.

To start, you can place videos of cheerleaders leading the annual pep rally for athletic success. Or videos and images focused on students cheering on their favourite classmate as he or she races to victory.

Other options would be to place the school logo or coat of arms in high-profile places. Having it on a school shirt is ideal when you are trying to convey the school’s culture and traditions.

Or you can use images and print content to present the school awards ceremonies, special celebrations, and other events. Letting the community know you honour your students’ achievements is a good way to send the appropriate cultural message as well as communicate certain school traditions.

Then you can also have special web pages where your top administrative staff provide words of encouragement and advice to the students. The options are unlimited when you want to showcase what your school is all about.

The key will be to place them in a top school website template and design to get the maximum benefit from those images, videos, and printed content. Using a person with experience in these matters will enhance your efforts and make it a lot easier to complete.

How To Use Your Website To Connect With Alumni And Parents

If you do not have experience in creating these website options, then this can be a tougher-than-normal task. Here are a few suggestions to help get you started on the right path.

1. Build An Alumni Space On Your Website

One of the best ways to get alumni engaged and stay connected to your school is to make sure they are included in your school’s website and activities. Letting them participate through suggestions, ideas, or offers of help is a good way to ensure they remain connected to the school.

2. Build A Parent Space On The School’s Website

Having the parents know that they can easily get information on their child’s progress or communicate with the teacher through their own space is ideal. Keeping the communication channels open and easy to use ensures better parental involvement and helps them connect with the school better.

3. Start Engagement Before Graduation

This is more for students and alumni than it is for parents but it is an effective way to keep the graduating students involved in school affairs and activities. It also helps them remain connected or provides an avenue for them to reconnect later on. Teaching them how to stay engaged is very useful as well.

4. Support Parental And Alumni Businesses

Connection is a two-way street and providing support for these local businesses generates a lot of interest in the school as well as a desire to stay connected with it.

Supporting their small businesses is a way to support the school as the good feeling is returned by parents and alumni.

5. Hold Non-Money Drives

Everyone gets asked for money more times than you may think. One way to get parents and alumni to remain connected to the school is to hold drives for items students need.

The ideas for these types of drives can come from the parents and alumni themselves.

Some Additional Words

When you want to incorporate all of these ideas into your school’s website design contact our company. Not only are we experts with years of experience in web design for schools but we also are experienced in mobile-friendly school website design.

We can help you keep your parents and alumni connected to your school. Contact us today to see our products and hear our ideas to achieve this objective. We work hard for your success.

One Of The Best Tools To Use

In this digital world, your school’s website is going to be one of the best tools you have to help students learn and teachers teach. A good website goes beyond the basics to capture all the opportunities students need to learn and teachers need to teach.

Designing your school’s website to enhance both learning and teaching takes time and talent. To enrich your students’ education you need to know what you are doing and how your website can facilitate that education process.

The Basics Of A School Website

The very basics any school website should have would be a solid and informative About Us page. This allows prospective students and their parents to know and understand the school, its culture, as well as its goals, and more.

Besides including the curriculum, your website should also include a staff and teacher web page for the same purpose. Getting to know the staff is essential to facilitate learning.

On top of that part of the basic school website information will be the upcoming events and special occasions. This information lets parents and students be aware of what is happening throughout the school year.

A web page for photos and videos will also help the students get to know the school and what they can expect when they enrol. Also, you should have a contact page or contact information that is easily accessible for parents to contact the school to ask questions about their children’s progress or to talk to their teachers.

These are just some of the basics you will need for your UK school’s website.

Features Of An Effective School Website

Having the basics is a good start. It is a simple way to initiate interaction between the school and the parents and or students. But the website needs more to make students, etc., want to come to the website and take advantage of all that is on it.

One of the ways to do this is to develop a system that is compatible with PCs, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Having a responsive website makes the school’s website more attractive and user-friendly.

Then you can add features like maps so parents can find the school easily. Along with adding a map to your school’s website, you can place all the necessary forms on it in a downloadable format so filling the forms out will be easier and faster.

Along with those features, making it accessible from anywhere at any time allows for parents to know when there will be school closings, special events, and field trips, as well as being able to make appointments.

Other features should include a school calendar, multi-platform as well as easy-to-use navigational tools. The most important feature will be website speed. The school’s website should load up very quickly so parents do not have to spend a lot of time waiting for the page they need.

Ways To Engage Students Through The Website

There are many options you can implement when you want to engage your students through your website. One that works for both students and parents would be to include some surveys to gauge how your students think about the school and what goes on.

These surveys can help the administrative staff tweak programs, eliminate the less popular ones, or learn how to make them better, and so on. Getting feedback from the students is a great way to improve learning through the school’s website.

Another option would be to place questions online through different software programs or apps. Then let the students answer the questions independently before joining together in a joint online session through your website.

A third option would be to create a social engagement area on your website and let teachers interact with the students. This digital social engagement space is a great tool to help students trust teachers, staff, and each other.

This can be done through asking different questions, an activity designed to get people talking to each other, and a myriad of other possibilities. With the right professional help, you can add more ways to help engage students on your school’s website.

How School Websites Can Benefit Teachers

School websites are a boon to teachers as they can use them in their own time when they are free. This is probably the biggest asset a school website offers teachers.

The teacher is not tied to just school hours to communicate with their students nor do they have to sacrifice quality family time to do the same thing. The school’s website allows a teacher to schedule the time for interaction that fits their personal needs.

Also, the teacher can place mandatory work assignments on the website making it easier for students to know what they need to do, or if they have been absent, they will know what work they need to do to catch up with the rest of the class.

Also, when time is limited for both teachers and parents, the school website allows for easier communication when it is most convenient for both parties

The Role Of The School Website In Keeping Parents Informed And Engaged

This is an essential feature of the school. Parents want to know how their child or children are progressing and the school website makes that communication smoother as well as more convenient.

Parents can log in and navigate to the web pages that concern them and their students and see what I going on. Or they can have virtual meetings with teachers to understand what is happening in the classroom.

The school’s website also keeps parents up-to-date on school events, and other activities so the parent is aware of those events as well as any cost their child needs to pay to participate.

Some Final Words

If you need help in constructing your website to enhance teaching and learning, then contact our company. We have the tools, skills, and know-how to create a website that will promote both teaching and learning through your school’s website. Contact us today to solve this issue faster.

School Jotter Podcast – Website Accessibility

School Jotter Podcast – School Podcasting

Around 41% of parents agree that they would like their child’s school to communicate with them more often.

School communication, both internally between teachers and students and externally with parents is one of the foundations of effective all-around learning.

School website calendars are a means for schools to organise school events as well as keep everyone from teachers, staff, students, and parents in the loop about the happenings at school.

Let us take a look at ways to optimise the functionality of your website calendar that strengthens communication between schools, students, and parents.

3 features of a school website calendar

A school website calendar is a schedule of all school events during an academic year displayed on the school website for everyone to see and use. School staff, students, and parents use this to keep up with the school events and not miss out on anything.

A regular school website calendar will include:

● Term time dates

● School holidays

● Activities and events such as Sports Day, Book Fair, etc.

● Examination dates

● Inset days & teacher training dates

Here are the 3 features that are a must-have for your school website calendar.

1. User-friendly for parents and staff

The purpose of a school calendar is to help teachers and students pre-plan activities and stay ahead in their curriculum. This is why the most important feature your calendar needs to have is user-friendliness and ease of use.

The calendar loses all its purpose if the people it is meant for are not able to use it the way it is intended. The interface should be personalised, meaning a user will only see events that pertain to them.

For example, a student who has opted for drama classes but not for music classes should be able to view all drama class-related events and no events related to music classes. This keeps the calendar from becoming too convoluted.

Secondly, not everyone is well-versed with technology. They should be able to view and use a calendar without putting in much work. Steps to set reminders and highlight events should be simplified.

2. Personalization and customization

Another important feature to have is one that facilitates personalization. Parents and staff should be able to use the calendar how they wish to. This could be in the form of highlighting events that pertain to them or hiding/silencing ones that don’t.

We have already talked about setting the calendar to your personal setting such as only seeing events related to the classes you are a part of or interested in. This helps in keeping the calendar clean and organised.

People can always access the ‘master calendar’ to view all the events at once whenever they want. Moreover, you should make sure that people with disabilities are also able to have a personalised experience with your calendar.

3. Mobile-friendly experience

Over 55% of website views come from mobile. Your school website calendar should provide a mobile-friendly experience to make it accessible to all. See if the font, images, and graphics are well-suited for a mobile layout or not.

A way to put your school calendar in the parent’s pockets is via mobile apps. Make your calendar a key feature in your school mobile app. Enable it with features such as notifications and mobile-friendly UI & UX.

This has the dual effect of not having to remind parents or teachers to check school calendars regularly. And they will receive reminders about events with ease. They will not have to go to the school calendar on the website anymore, the school calendars will come to them, so to speak.

Conclusion

School calendars are an excellent way to keep everyone associated with schools in the loop about their workings. When creating a school website calendar, your focus should be on making it user-friendly and accessible.

Everyone from the staff, parents, teachers, and students should be able to view events that pertain to them and plan for them accordingly. Making them Mobile-friendly goes a long way in integrating school calendars into the daily life of people seamlessly.

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” – Charles Darwin

The scope of mobile apps lie beyond shopping, gaming and binge watching. Thanks to school apps, parents can now stay connected to their child’s school via mobile. This ensures they never miss out on any important information. Let’s glance over some of the benefits of school apps.

• Dispenses news and updates related to events, class timings, schedule, courses, competitions and much more
• Serves as a quick reference point for events calendars, school policies, news etc
• Promotes events, sponsorships, fundraisers, volunteer services to reach out to more parents

After assessing the wide-ranging benefits of school apps, let us take a look at some of the criteria for establishing a school app.

Top 5 criteria you need to consider 

The way we learn and teach has undergone a sea change in the post-pandemic world. School apps have bridged the gap between teachers and learners, creating a simpler and engaging learning experience.

Here are the top 5 factors you need to consider as you set out to create a robust and multifunctional school app:

1. Reach out to parents

Your school app should facilitate the process of reaching out to parents. Ensure the process of registration and login are safe and secure for parents. The content should be streamlined for your targeted audience. Thus, parents ought to be able to view the latest updates relevant to their child’s class or year group.

2. Provide up-to-date news, letters and integrated calendars 

You should be able to share the latest school updates and notifications so that all stakeholders are kept in the loop regarding the most recent school news. Another key aspect is the use of integrated calendars for keeping key events and reminders easily updated so that users never lose sight of important events and notifications.

3. Mobile forms for absences and other feedback

Mobile apps are a great opportunity to gather responses straight from parents. Within seconds of launching an app a parent can have notified school administrators of sick days and other absences. Forms can also be setup for feedback on recent events, or anything else you can imagine. Allowing parents to us mobile forms means parents won’t all need to call the school at the same time in the morning, saving time for parents and teachers.

4. Relive memories with school gallery

Create a dedicated gallery section on your school’s website where you can share photos from events throughout the year. This will evoke a sense of nostalgia and belonging for the existing students. Moreover, newer students and their parents will get a glimpse of all the events and activities of the past couple of years. A walk down memory lane will make your students cherish those moments even more.

5. Make it user-friendly 

What accounts for a significant and purposeful app experience is the quality of interaction between users and the app. School apps ought to focus on creating simple yet effective UI interfaces that are easy to navigate and appeal to the eyes.

A clear layout, well-designed digital tools, readily accessible features allows users to focus on the task at hand instead of getting distracted by unnecessary features or elaborate layout.

Conclusion

The needs and demands of education are going through a transition phase, especially in the post-Covid era. In the process of prioritising the needs of students, teachers, parents and administrators, let’s not forget the massive utility of a school app. No matter what your goals are or what your budget is, a mobile app is undeniably an invaluable asset that’ll benefit your school in the long run.

The History

The original Jotter Mobile app, as part of the School Jotter 2 suite of products, was a ground-breaking innovation which changed the market for school mobile apps. The app was deeply integrated with school’s websites and provided a real benefit to parents and schools alike, namely that content could be shared directly into the pockets of parents, instantly, and for a far cheaper price than traditional printed letters in school bags.

The original app was deployed at more than a thousand schools, and used by hundreds of thousands of parents across the United Kingdom. The app has met with acclaim with more than 3,400 reviews and has averaged 4.6 stars across both the Apple App Store and Google Play, and could be found amongst the Top 20 educational apps on the App Store.

Since its launch in 2016, the app has been improved a number of times. The original concept of many separate apps was changed and apps combined into one, benefitting parents with children in multiple schools needing only a single app to access all of school life. Features such as direct messaging were added, and even a unique video-calling option was developed to support remote education during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The Opportunity

Our investment in the School Jotter 3 platform presented an opportunity to take stock of the success and consider feedback, both the good and not-as-good, that we received from the parents and schools who used the original mobile app. 

As we began the School Jotter 3 project we were able to factor in the mobile app from day 1, whereas with School Jotter 2 we had to bolt on the mobile app functionality after the platform had been in use for a number of years. This allowed us to change the way that content is built within the new School Jotter 3 content modules and syndicated to both the website and the mobile app.

Logins by Default

One of the core differences is that we now require logins for all users of the apps. This change was done to ensure that the app would work consistently for all users and to provide the best long-term user experience. With the School Jotter 2 app, logins were optional, however, we found that this could confuse parents who might miss messages as they did not realise they were not logged in.

Our approach is akin to Facebook – you log in to the app and then remain logged in until you want to log out or switch to use a different phone. If you are logged out you will see the login box, which is clearer to a parent than showing a padlock in the corner of the home screen. This decision was the result of many discussions as we were aware that this requires a little extra setup initially.

To ease the onboarding of parents we have switched to generating registration codes, using MIS data, rather than requiring schools to set up and maintain usernames and passwords. These registration codes can be sent to parents as letters by mail merge (or via a text-messaging platform) and parents are then free to register with their own email address and a password of their choice. This also simplifies password resets as parents are in control of their accounts.

Modern Design

A new app was a new opportunity for a redesign, again giving space for us to rethink the choices we made the first time around. Our new design strives to give parents clear and immediate access to the information they need, while still keeping enough branding so that our customers feel it is an accurate representation of their own identity and ethos.

When designing the new app we decided to take a content-first approach. This included a pared-down design that doesn’t distract from the content that schools are presenting to parents. Of course, the app still makes use of the school name, logo, motto, and colors – but in a way that is sympathetic to the content itself. In order to validate the designs we built the whole app using Adobe XD to prototype the look and feel of the app, and the feedback to this from customers and user groups was overwhelmingly positive.

As with all technology, the last 6 years have seen significant progress in terms of tools, trends, and evolving user expectations. In building the new app we aim to have taken advantage of the best progress made, and we intend to keep building upon this over the lifecycle of the new app for many years to come. Our new design allows us to make changes down the road without negatively affecting the branding, which we think is a better prospect for our customers.

Content Targeting

It is important with any communication tool to make sure that the right messages and content reaches the right audience; the opposite is also true – our lives are busy and hectic enough already without unwanted pings from irrelevant push notifications interrupting our days!

With the original app, there were settings for parents to opt-out or opt-in to categories of content, with categories being set up for year groups, classes, or anything else a school decided. This worked well in theory, however what was seen was that near-universally parents never changed these settings from default. This meant that parents received all the updates, even those which were not relevant to them and their children.

A key change in the School Jotter 3 mobile app is that content can be targeted to parents based on what is relevant to them, crucially – without any setup required by the parent themselves. We achieve this by allowing all content to be tagged as public or private, and being associated with a particular group or groups of parents. This works for the content that is shown within the app and for the push notifications which are triggered when content is added or scheduled to appear. By syncing data from the school’s MIS and linking up parents, students, and classes the majority of the ‘hard-lifting’ is automatically done by the system.

The Future

With the new mobile app being introduced at the very start of the School Jotter 3 lifecycle, we envision that the new app will have a longer lifespan than its predecessor. This allows us to take a long-term view on the roadmap of the product, and the app that parents use in 5 years will not necessarily offer the same features of the app today.

By building the mobile app in tandem with the new platform we can ensure that any new features added to the School Jotter 3 system can also be adopted in future versions of the mobile app. This could involve messaging, booking parents evenings or booking equipment, payments, or things which aren’t even on our radar yet.

We are excited and proud to launch the new mobile app and we look forward to schools joining us on the next major chapter of our School Jotter platform. To find out more or for a demo of our app please call us on 0113 3200 750 or email info@schooljotter.com.

Branding refers to the “image” associated with your product or organisation and how this “image” is strategically defined in the eyes of your target audience. Anything that makes your product unique forms a part of its brand. This includes the company’s name, logo, tagline, and website.

Now, how is branding related to schools? Well, irrespective of the industry type, a strong brand is an immensely valuable asset.

It draws attention to the amazing work your school is doing and enables parents to know what to expect from the institute. They can make an informed decision based on authentic information conveyed through smart branding. 

Let’s glance over some of the benefits of school branding.

●  Allows your uniqueness to shine through

●  Instils trust and confidence

●  Creates a sense of belonging

●  Allows students and staff to forge an emotional bond with your school

●  Marketing becomes seamless and organic

●  Attracts the most competent staff

Let us take a look at some of the top elements of a school website brand.

Top 7 elements of a school website brand

School websites encapsulate almost everything one needs to know about a school. They’re a storehouse of information, performing multiple tasks and catering to families, prospective staff, as well as meeting Ofsted guidelines.

Here are the top 7 elements for creating an successful brand that can tilt the scale in favour of your school:

1.   Brand Promise: Stand by what you say 

A brand promise states the school’s purpose in no uncertain terms. It serves as a guide for an effective marketing strategy and ensures you’re accountable for delivering a message that is at par with the customer experience.

Ensure your promises are genuine and backed by consistent performance. If there’s a discrepancy between what you promise and what you eventually deliver, your brand’s popularity will take a hit.

2.   Positioning Statement: When words ring true  

Often, it’s the short and simple phrases that linger for a long time. Trust those gripping taglines to sum up your school’s brand promise in the most memorable way!

Crisp and concise at two to six words, these statements resonate with prospective and existing families likewise. Besides “sounding good”, the taglines should be in sync with your school’s ideals and principles.

3.   Visual Identity: Seeing is believing

More recognition equates greater trust. Thus, elevate your brand stature by creating a strong visual identity with appropriate logos and colour palette.

This is one investment you won’t regret. Make your branding style guide easily accessible to staff and faculty through the school’s website. Back it up with a list of do’s and don’ts so that your brand’s image remains untarnished.

4.   Differentiators: What makes you different?

Besides the visual differentiators, try relying on quick facts, statistics, and infographics to put across your points. Visitors would be at ease recalling key facts from a sea of information. Sprinkle these statistics on the oft-visited pages of your website and watch the impact they create.

5.   Personality: Let yourself be heard

What you say and how you say it makes a lot of difference. As your brand is the truest reflection of who you are, be mindful of the tone and tenor of the language used to represent your school in the public domain.

Adhere to grammar rules and ensure there’s consistency in terminology and degree of formality. Different people from different backgrounds may contribute to your website’s content. The overall language should be aligned with the brand’s values and promises.

6.   Brand Communications: Convey and Connect

For communications to be effective and impactful, try adopting a multi-layered approach. Reach out to parents, students and your staff through newsletters, emails, contests, banners, notices on school boards. Keep an eye on details to ensure every time you communicate, it becomes a natural extension of the brand’s core values.

7.   Brand Story: Stories that stay with you

Once you’ve completed the above steps, it’s time to put out poignant stories that’ll generate positive buzz and bring in the right families. Here, testimonials come in handy.

A truly heart-felt testimonial has the power to appease anxious parents and affirm their faith in the school. Brand stories encompass newsletters, blogs, social media posts and almost anything you share online and offline.

Conclusion

A focused and consistent approach to school branding displays a degree of professionalism and shows how seriously the school pursues its standards of excellence.

With the right branding strategy, your school can stand out from its competitors and make a lasting impression in the minds of impressionable young kids and their concerned parents.