Branding Story: Longvernal Primary School
'From a loose brief, Paperhorse really got to the heart of what Longvernal needed. The new ideas are changing the way people view the school, and helping us stand tall in the community. It's been a huge step forward for us!'
Jane Richardson, Headteacher
Longvernal Primary is a small school on the edge of Somerset, with a catchment area characterised by high unemployment and social problems. Low parental interaction with the school, disproportionate numbers of Special Needs pupils and local resilience to change were just some of the many challenges Longvernal faced.
The school needed a sea-change as well as an action plan to boost perception within the locality and showcase the many positive aspects of life there, which were often obscured. People had to think differently about Longvernal - and this was the brief to Paperhorse.
Focusing on solutions, not problems
We began by appraising Longvernal's strengths. These included clear skills in Outdoor Learning, boosted by extensive green space in which Longvernal was undertaking a highly individual approach to 'alfresco education'. Children responded to this method of teaching and it also resonated with less academic parents. It was quickly apparent that Longvernal had more than a knack in this area, it had a genuinely unique proposition that could set the school apart, not just in its community, but countrywide.
The school needed holistic change fast, so Paperhorse developed a fun and flexible visual identity based around the woodpeckers that inhabited the school grounds. New school uniforms, including outdoor camouflage gear, was sourced and a specific printed prospectus for Early Years developed, that could be produced in batches of two's and three's as new parents visited. The school also commissioned a rebuild of its site - and, because we had identified a central and powerful proposition, simple enough for even the youngest pupil to understand, there was no need to spend extensively on a large site - we simply had to focus on our key message.
We branded Longvernal as 'Outdoor Learning Leaders', developing straplines and key thoughts that would be easy for Google to find. Our
first meeting with the Head was in January, the creative and messages had been agreed and the site was live by May. Before the school broke up for summer, Google was bringing traffic to the site and enquiries from parents and potential partner organisations who who were interested in the schools' methodology. Our brand message was self-fulfilling.
Great branding doesn't fundamentally change a school - great teaching will do that. But our work has gone a long way towards helping revitalise Longvernal, and breaking paradigms that held it back, as well as generating interest from prospective parents attracted to the ethos, and therefore already onside. Teachers also love the new 'feel' of the school - and recent Ofsted results equally reflect the overall upward trend. Longvernal is tangibly turning around.
The potential for change has always been there of course - Paperhorse simply unharnessed it.
PROJECT SCOPE: Brand Analysis and Development, Copywriting, Web Design and Build, Search Engine Optimisation, Brand Implementation
