What makes a good school prospectus

In fact, we have proven time and time again that a beautiful prospectus in the hands of a parent is often the deciding factor in them choosing to visit your school open day or requesting a personal tour. Read on to find out how we have turned the school prospectus into a vital piece of the school admissions process.

If you have been tasked with creating your school prospectus we have provided 10 essential tips to ensure that it forms an integral part of your school admissions process and provides a fantastic return on investment.

By Blue Apple Education. Your prospectus is a sales brochure. Whether you like it or not the job of the prospectus is to sell the school. To provide a tactile and long-lasting view inside the school. To show the reader why your school is so remarkable compared to the next school down the road. A well planned, prepared and presented prospectus offers a great opportunity to convince prospective parents and even pupils to choose your school over your competitors.

Not to mention that more and more people are turning away from their screens and back to print when they really need to digest important information. The prospectus should form an essential part of your admissions process and everyone involved needs to fully understand when and how it will be used when giving or sending it out. It is more costly when it sits there hidden from the world. Because of its tactile and permanent physical nature, a well-designed prospectus will be looked at several times and even passed on to other parents or relatives.

So it is important to make sure they are handed out at key times and at every opportunity. A beautiful brochure with gorgeous photography and a lovely textured cover is very hard to throw away and will usually sit on a table or worktop for months, but will often be seen time and time again.

So make sure they are used efficiently and effectively. You never know when a parent will be discussing schools with their friend and suddenly remember that they have your prospectus at home and share it. Knowing your target audience is fundamental to getting the right message across in the prospectus design.

However, you can always do this yourself with staff and parent focus groups, sending out surveys and generally chatting with parents at the school gates. Once you understand your audience, know how they talk, what they need and why they choose your school you can start to focus the content of your prospectus to attract and win over similar types of parents.

It is a good idea to have your prospectuses published and available at least 6 weeks before the final dates for applications — so you need to start your planning well in advance. As Ofsted has made it mandatory for all schools to display their key information on your website this means there is now much more space within your brochure.

This allows you to include gorgeous photography that fills the pages, key statistics, quotes, destinations and generally more desirable information to really sell your school to prospective parents and pupils or even potential new staff.

Keeping all of the more mundane information online. Writing a list of common questions which you must answer within your content will give you another great starting point. You could even speak with your current parents and pupils to find out what key questions they needed answering during the prospecting process or what information they would have found helpful and interesting.

Once you have your content written up and checked for grammar and spelling! This is a simple page map that allows you to see how many pages you are likely to need for the amount of content you want to include.

When you do, you will find that the provider will be able to guide you through the process. The company should commit to providing you with a bespoke design. Some companies offer template prospectuses which means that you will have little input into the layout of the design of the final product. Limitations on the number of updates during the design process. The best suppliers will work with you until you are completely happy.

It is best to ensure they will provide a reasonable amount of revisions before you decide on a provider. It is best to work with a school prospectus provider that has a wide variety of alternative offerings for you.

Your school is unique - your prospectus should communicate this to prospective students and their parents. These are some of the key points to consider when choosing a potential school prospectus provider.

Skip to main content. Login Register. Home Primary More. School Prospectus. How to design a good school prospectus? Why is a school prospectus important?

A: Firstly, we love a challenge and our designers get very excited at the prospect of something a little different! Q: I would prefer a face to face meeting to discuss a new prospectus — is this possible? A: Yes, we are always happy to arrange for one of the team to pop in and have a chat about any new project!

Simply contact us online, call us on or email enquiries fsedesign. Q: How much will it cost us to have a brand new prospectus brochure? A: In order to provide you with a cost for your new prospectus, there are a few variables to consider including; how many pages you would like your brochure and how many you require.

One of our team will be happy to have a chat and provide you with a no obligations quotation. We can produce a variety of brochures to meet a range of budgets and have split payment options to help with budgeting. Prospectus Samples. Request Samples. Marketing Partner. In your prospectus, everything has to work together to make a convincing case that your school is the right one, and this comes down to a combination of the design and the copy.

A high-quality prospectus that is visually appealing as well as pleasing to hold and use can make a big impression on students and parents, so make sure you do everything you can to get the prospectus you deserve. Get a Quote. Call Home school news Top tips for designing your school prospectus Top tips for designing your school prospectus. Search Keywords. Enter keywords below to perform a search within the events to find more relevant posts.