Distinctly St George’s:bringing a school’sidentity to life online

St George’s School is a Church of England academy in Blackpool and part of Cidari Multi Academy Trust. Its values of dignity, hope, community, wisdom, humility and kindness are central to how it describes school life.

Those values gave the website something specific to communicate. Visitors needed to encounter the school’s identity in its content and presentation, rather than see it confined to a badge or a statement on an otherwise generic page.

The design discussions reflected that ambition. Schudio shared an initial homepage direction in April 2026, exploring typography and colour around the school’s existing logo and aiming for a more considered, premium presentation. The school reviewed the direction before the work moved into further refinement.

The emphasis was on finding an expression that felt right for St George’s, then carrying it consistently into the rest of the website.

The project grew beyond the design of individual web pages. Schudio prepared a full brand kit, including logo files and a brand guide, giving the school a reference it could share with others producing design work.

The relationship between school and trust identity was part of that conversation. Our recommendation was to keep St George’s own brand prominent, with the Cidari identity acknowledged more subtly. That approach recognised both the school’s place within the trust and its distinct relationship with its local community.

Its Church of England identity also received specific attention during the logo work, including the accompanying wording. These details mattered because the website and the wider materials needed to tell the same story about the school.

By May, Schudio had shared the completed brand kit and incorporated more of that work into the website design. Branding and web design were being developed together, rather than treated as unrelated jobs.

The school’s contribution went well beyond approving a visual design. Its leadership set out the subjects the homepage should introduce, including ethos and values, spiritual life, what makes the school unique, results and video.

The school also proposed a structure for the wider website, separating the welcome and introduction from academy life, learning and curriculum, extracurricular activities, pastoral support and statutory information.

This gave the project a practical foundation. A prospective parent exploring the school has different questions from a current family looking for uniform or attendance information. The proposed structure recognised those different needs while giving the school’s character a clear place in the overall presentation.

Schudio shared both homepage and internal-page designs for review, including examples with and without a sidebar. That allowed the conversation to extend beyond the opening screen to the pages families would use in more detail.

Alongside the design work, the school reviewed its words. By June, its leadership had rewritten the website narrative and decided on the menu options. Schudio then coordinated the content work with the school, bringing its own account of its life into the developing site.

A website’s identity doesn’t end when a visitor opens a document. Policies and other downloadable information are part of the same experience, and the project included work on document templates as well as web pages.

Schudio supplied alternative template treatments using content from the school’s charging and remissions policy as a starting point. The options explored different cover styles and text alignment, followed by an additional landscape template.

This made the branding work useful beyond the website itself. The school had materials to support a consistent presentation across its pages and documents, rather than a new homepage sitting alongside unrelated paperwork.

Photography and video were also part of the planning. Schudio coordinated dates for a two-day photography and video visit, while the design and content discussions continued. The timetable made room for the school to refresh its narrative and for the visual material to inform the pages.

The approach brought the main elements into the same conversation: how the school looks, what it says and how that information is presented.

On the live website, spiritual life has a prominent place in the homepage and a dedicated page of its own. It explains the role of the school chapel, collective worship, chaplaincy and pastoral support, giving families concrete examples of how faith is expressed in school life.

Importantly, the school also explains its inclusive and invitational approach. The page recognises pupils and staff from different faith backgrounds, or no faith background, and describes a community in which people can engage and reflect in their own way.

This is more informative than relying on a label alone. Families can read what being a Church of England academy means in practice, alongside the school’s educational expectations and its care for pupils.

The homepage’s introduction and the headteacher’s welcome carry the same emphasis on values, ambition and community. Together, those pages give visitors several ways to understand the school before arranging a visit or making an enquiry.

The result is a cohesive presentation where our visual branding, spiritual life, and day-to-day school information tell one consistent story.

Alongside that introduction, the website provides practical routes for families. The admissions page separates visiting the school, joining in Year 7, in-year admissions and appeals, with a dedicated admissions contact.

The homepage also brings key information into view, including curriculum, term dates, SEND, examination results and behaviour policy. These routes sit alongside the content explaining the school’s identity, rather than asking visitors to choose between an engaging introduction and useful information.

The outcome is a live website supported by a wider set of brand materials and a substantial contribution from the school to its own content. Schudio’s work connected the visual design, brand guidance, document presentation and website implementation; the school supplied the knowledge and narrative that make the result its own.

For the school, the benefit is clearer communication with the families who already belong to its community and those considering joining it. Its feedback connects that difference to the combined work on design, branding and narrative, rather than any one element in isolation.

It has made a huge difference to how we communicate with prospective and current families alike.