Architect, not decorator
We listen before we design. The best school stories are already being lived. We surface those and give them shape. Strategy and creative are grounded in what we hear.
Working with us
Closing the gap between who your school is and what families experience is rarely a single piece of work. Three streams cover most engagements, with the Enrolment Ecosystem Audit and Ongoing Advisory for schools that want a comprehensive diagnostic or sustained partnership instead.
Align your team
Clarity & Alignment
Learn moreYour team knows your school inside-out. Yet, you've noticed families slipping through the cracks, or the team struggling to align around the best path forward. You can see the benefits of introducing shared language, reducing key-person risk, and delivering a better experience for your families.
Key engagements
01
Enrolment Journey Mapping Workshop
Get your whole team working from one shared picture of how the enrolment journey runs, from first contact to first day.
Explore this engagement 02School Marketing Playbook Workshop
Turn reactive, scattered marketing into a year-round rhythm your team can actually follow.
Explore this engagement 03Experience Training
Give your team the capability to design family experiences with confidence.
Explore this engagementAlso available: custom team training, strategy advisory, capability development, and alignment for new leadership
Find your story
Story & Experience
Learn moreYour school has a story worth telling, but unearthing and articulating that story is challenging. You can see the result of not investing in this area: the website says one version, the prospectus says another, and misconceptions are creeping in to your community.
Key engagements
01
Messaging Workshop
Get clear, shared language for how your school talks about itself. Often the foundation for a prospectus or website rebuild.
Explore this engagement 02Experience Design Workshop
Turn a moment that feels transactional into one that carries your story. Most often a tour, sometimes an enquiry or onboarding sequence.
Explore this engagement 03Brand Story Strategy
Close the gap between who your school is and how it is perceived. Drawn from your community, carried by Bolsta.
Explore this engagementAlso available: tour experience design, voice and tone, storytelling training, and content strategy
Show your school
Creative & Infrastructure
Learn moreYour website, prospectus, and brand were built for an earlier version of your school. Families judge from what they can see and hold, and right now those materials tell a story that no longer fits.
Key engagements
01
Website Design and Development
A site that earns trust on the first visit and carries families from enquiry to tour to first day. Built around the enrolment journey.
Explore this engagement 02Prospectus
A story-driven piece families want to hold onto, doing its work during tours, at events, and in enrolment conversations.
Explore this engagement 03Visual Identity
A coherent visual presence that actually takes hold. The design system plus the rollout work that makes it stick.
Explore this engagementAlso available: microsites, digital experiences, photography and videography, brand campaigns, and print collateral
Other ways to work with us
The Enrolment Ecosystem Audit
A comprehensive diagnostic for schools that want to see the whole before committing to direction. Pulse, interviews, systems review, synthesis workshop, and a final report with priority recommendations.
Learn moreOngoing Advisory
A monthly partnership for schools that want continuity through the year. Sessions, in-person visits, and access to Bolsta's tools and frameworks. Designed to support sustained alignment across enrolment, brand, and communications.
Learn moreOur approach
How we work
Compass, not manual
We build your capability by designing principles, systems and guardrails that give you a new lens for your work. We want to see you extend, adapt and build excellent and coherent work long after the project is complete.
Lantern, not spotlight
A family's journey with your school starts well before they enquire and continues well after they enrol. We design for that whole arc, so that every touchpoint helps families find their way to a place that is right for them.
Mirror, not megaphone
We help you hear yourself clearly, and then reflect back to you what you need to understand to make progress. Real partnership means being honest about what's working, what isn't, and where the real wins lie.
Our schools
Schools across Australia, and the world.
Based in Australia, working with leadership, marketing, and advancement teams in schools of all sizes across the world.
What schools say
“Jacob laid the foundation of the Enrolment Journey — we could see how Marketing, Communication and Enrolment fit together into an integrated system.”
Allie Smith Communications Manager MidCoast Christian College
When to call us
We partner with schools at critical inflection points.
A new principal, a strategic plan reset, an anniversary, an expansion — moments where the school's story needs to be re-told. We work with leadership to make sure the new chapter is actually heard and felt.
Sustained growth or sustained slippage is rarely about marketing alone. We look at the whole enrolment ecosystem — story, journey, and infrastructure — and identify the few moves that will move the most.
Admissions, marketing, communications, and leadership each holding a different version of the school. Workshops bring everyone into one map and one language.
When the visible work has aged out of step with the school. We make the rebuild a chance to align story, system, and creative — instead of replacing one piece with another that still doesn't fit.
Where to start
If you're considering meaningful change in your school experience, let's talk.
Bolsta is a one-person practice. You'll be speaking with the founder, not an account manager.