Brisbane Independent School
At Brisbane Independent School, our mission is to nurture, develop and trust in our pupils’ innate love of learning. Our goal is to produce graduates who are confident, competent and respectful: and to equip them with the skills necessary to continue learning courageously.
Children Thrive Here
Testimonial:
There is one thing that sets equivalent exchange apart from other businesses, Min understands yours. Being an independent business, Min took the time to get to know us at the Brisbane Independent School and our point of difference from our competitors to help us make something truly special. Under Min's guidance, we now have a website that is representative of our school and emotive. She has also taken the time to understand our capacity as a business and taken our staff through a thorough handover and training, she is so approachable, I know that if something doesn't make sense, she is only one (very quickly responded to) email away. Thank you for supporting our school and future vision Min.
-- Jessica KellerAdministrator at Brisbane Independent School
Web project details:
The Brisbane Independent School or “BIS” website was possibly one of the most fun projects I’ve worked on to date.
As a labour of love, I worked with the school’s principal to determine the true goal of the website from the perspective of both interface designer, and parent. Every decision made on the BIS website was then formed with that goal in mind: providing parents with snapshots of easy-to-digest information about what sets BIS apart from other schools, and encouraging them to continue learning more about the school.
Aesthetically, the school’s colours along with a variety of cool blues and gradients were used to convey the same vibe as stepping through the gate at the school does: welcoming, with nature, artistic, and fun – all while providing education.
With WordPress as the backbone, and Ninja Forms integrated to manage forms, I’ve built several custom post types into the theme, so we could present the information in a variety of interesting ways – to ensure readers weren’t met with a wall of text – and to account for the variety of different ways users like to consume information.
I figured, BIS at it’s heart works to ensure every child is able to learn, no matter their personal learning style – so the website needs to reflect that, even on a subconscious level. You consume information through videos? Here’s a video. You like to read? Here’s text. You like to see pictures of what’s being explained? Here’s a gallery. And they’re all small enough so they’re not going to overwhelm anyone.
I found myself digging deeper into this theme, building modules from scratch rather than rely on weighty plugin solutions, such as a light-weight image gallery module, created in a Galleries section, and then inserted into whichever page they want to have the gallery appear on.
Team members (which encompasses everyone from Teacher aides to Board members) were created with the change it once, change it everywhere mindset; by linking a teacher/aide to a Basecamp, their data would be displayed on the referenced page using the data from the teacher’s page itself. Change it on the teacher profile; the basecamp information changes automatically, to keep everything current and make administration a breeze.
Basecamps – classrooms – were curated to provide enough information to prospective families about how and why the BIS model differs from a conventional school, giving enough information to make it clear what a child would be doing in any given day, and who – which developmental level – the basecamp has been set up to suit. For basis of easier comparison, I included approximations of where a basecamp fits in to a conventional classroom – because if you have no basis for comparison, you tend to discount an option as too complicated.
And that, fundamentally, was what developing the BIS website came to be all about: demystifying, organising and curating the wealth of information the school offered to prospective families, and highlighting just how clever and passionate the teachers and staff are at the school – and why it’s worth taking a closer look at what they provide to their students.