Warden Hill Primary School

Warden Hill Primary School in Cheltenham is an ‘outstanding school providing an oasis of educational excellence’ (OFSTED 2008).

But at the admission of Head Teacher, Georgina Flooks, the school’s branding, school website design and communication material fell short of the same standards. “When I came into post in early 2017 high on my agenda was investing in our school’s brand and marketing. What’s followed has been an exciting process with outstanding results.”

Our brief

To complete an overhaul of the school’s branding, website and communications material.

From early conversations it was clear that a contemporary, clean design style was most appropriate. In addition, the overall theme needed to reflect a core component of the school – the pupils feel part of the whole school family, yet are proud members of four houses that offer keen competition across many disciplines.

The process

For a brand to accurately represent its school, and to ensure it is successfully adopted, we believe two things are paramount. First, the people within the school are engaged with the process from the outset. And secondly, a core set of values are identified and agreed within the school.

We subsequently provided exercises to the SMT to help them create a picture of what the school represents, and ultimately why and how it’s different. Staff and pupils were then asked to identify the core values at the heart of the school. Some strong themes quickly came through, resulting in the values – Belong, Explore, Succeed.

“The SMT were thrilled, but not surprised, by the way all our staff enjoyed being involved in creating a vision for our school. Furthermore, the nature of the feedback provided by our pupils mirrored all the things we hold dear.” Georgina Flooks, Head Teacher.

With that input as our foundation, we set about developing logo identity concepts. With a concept chosen, this was expanded across stationery and signage visuals to show how it could come to life. Following unanimous approval, we designed a full range of printed material and built the school’s new website. The website being a contemporary, uncluttered site that provides easy access to information for all the school’s stakeholders.

Within the process we worked closely with our partner printers and photographer to ensure a coherent delivery of material.

The result

• Brand identity: A distinctive, contemporary logo that represents the unity of the four school houses. An identity that is equally effective online as it is on school uniform and in print.
• Stationery suite: Clean design, adapted across a suite of printed and digital documents.
• Signage: Both external and internal signage, ensuring clarity of message and a suitable level of visual branding within the school.
• School website design: A striking, modern and easy to navigate school website that works across smartphone, desktop and tablet. The school are able to quickly update content, resulting in a growing hub of information that will help reduce unnecessary burden on the school office team. Click here to visit the Warden Hill Primary School website.

“From the outset it was clear our vision for successful school branding and marketing aligned with their’s. The result, we believe, helps the school stand out from others locally and reflects the outstanding environment and education that the school proudly provides. We look forward to continuing to support Georgina and her team for a smooth ongoing management of the brand and communications material.” Duncan Gilroy, Down The Line Design.