Shevington Vale

To step away from the templated school website, and create a unique experience that is functional for parents.

Shevington Vale is a primary school in Appley Bridge, Wigan. The brief was simple, focus on the user and give them what they need - in a simple, aesthetically pleasing website. Many school websites are 'templates off the shelf' and Shevington Vale did not want that. Here at MadeByShape we considered the user, how they visit the website, when they visit it, and what information they need from the website.

Reduce the amount of calls, questions and email.

It was important that we conducted user research to understand what the target audience (parents) needed from a school website. If we were able to offer them all the info they needed on a regular basis, it would reduce the amount of communication the staff at the staff had to deal with. This in turn helped reduce stress among staff and parents.

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Target the parents, not the kids.

Too many school websites target children, adding games, printed colour sheets etc when in fact the large majority of users are parents. Simple functionalities on the site offer valuable information for parents such as a calendar stating holidays, term times, downloadable information surrounding school dinners etc.

Before

After

Adapt to mobile.

As standard, all websites we create are fully functional on all latest devices and browsers. In the school industry, this isn't the case - but it was important for us to explain how this can benefit user experience on a website. Hats off to this client for stepping away from what every other competitor is doing, and creating a bespoke website that is fit for purpose.