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.
Creative and Infrastructure
Your 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.
Website Design and Development
Format Nine to twelve months
Best for For schools whose website no longer reflects who they are.
For schools whose website no longer reflects who they are.
Your situation
The website was built for an earlier version of the school. The path from homepage to tour booking takes too many clicks. Families drop off before they get where they need to go.
The work
- 01 Discovery and strategy
We work with your team to define the information architecture, user experience, and broad strategic and creative vision for the website.
- 02 Design
We design a beautiful, custom website for your school. Adhering to best-practice accessibility, SEO, responsive design and modern UX principles. We explore unique features that set you apart.
- 03 Development
We develop your site using an extendable architecture, built on WordPress. This means that your website can be extended, reviewed, and built on top of by Bolsta, your school, or a future developer. We don't believe in locking you in by using proprietary software or development stacks.
- 04 Copywriting
We take the load off content creation by guiding as little or as much of the copywriting process as you need.
- 05 Launch and handover
We liaise directly with your wider team to ensure a smooth, safe, and secure launch and handover.
You get
A complete, custom-built website shaped around the enrolment journey
Story-led copywriting across all pages
Information architecture designed for how families actually move from enquiry to tour to first day
Prospectus
Format Three to four months
Best for For schools whose prospectus reads as a list of facts families put down and forget.
For schools whose prospectus reads as a list of facts families put down and forget.
Your situation
The prospectus reads as a list of features and facts. Families put it down after the tour and forget about it. It does not carry the school's story or give families a reason to come back to it.
The work
- 01 Discovery and copywriting
We run a discovery process using our Prospectus Design Canvas. Copywriting is handled as part of the engagement, drawing on your existing brand and story foundation.
- 02 Design and production
The piece is designed to carry your school's story in a form families want to hold onto, pass around, and come back to. Print and digital versions are produced together.
- 03 Delivery
You receive a finished prospectus ready for tours, events, and enrolment conversations. Print production is handled through trusted suppliers.
You get
A finished prospectus, available in printed and digital forms
Copywriting, design, and production handled as one process
A piece designed to support tours, enrolment events, and individual conversations with families
Visual Identity
Format Four to six months
Best for For schools where different applications use different versions of the logo, fonts, and colours.
For schools where different applications use different versions of the logo, fonts, and colours.
Your situation
You have different logo versions, colour usage is like the wild west, and design is dated - certainly not reflective of the quality, professionalism and growth of your school.
The work
- 01 Stakeholder engagement
We have run many brand and visual identity projects with schools, and know how to navigate the patient work of bringing board, alumni, leadership and school community on the journey. Through careful stakeholder engagement, we build a specific scope for your school's unique context.
- 02 Design exploration
We explore and design your new visual identity to be in more direct alignment to the story, experience, culture and values of your school. At the same time, we bring modern brand-thinking to the table, giving you a top-of-class suite of brand assets to help communicate your school to the world. That means more than a logo: Patterning, graphic elements, detailed colour pairings, are all part of the equation.
- 03 Refinement
We re-engage your community around the proposed changes. We see ourselves as a partner in this process. As refinements and feedback is provided, we look for 'third-way' solutions that retain quality and satisfy the vision of the community.
- 04 Handover
You receive a full brand suite, fully documented and ready to use. If required, we can support you in the communication and planning for the initial launch of the new visual identity.
- 05 Rollout
We plan, scope, and manage the rollout of your new visual identity shoulder-to-shoulder with your team. Rollout is a significant undertaking, so we bring our school experience and various templates and checklists to the table to ensure nothing gets forgotten, and the rollout is sustainably managed.
You get
A logo and wordmark suite
Typography and colour system
Photography direction
Application examples across key materials, plus brand guidelines
Stakeholder engagement and rollout support across your school's existing materials
Custom scopes
The three offers above are common starting points. We regularly work with schools on custom scopes, unique to their particular situation.
- 01 Microsites and campaign sites
- 02 Digital experiences (interactive prospectus, lead-magnet-style sites, tour landing pages)
- 03 Photography and videography
- 04 Brand campaigns (open day, scholarships, anniversaries)
- 05 Print collateral (annual reports, fundraising materials, event programs)
What schools say
“The College has grown 30+ percent in enrolments since we engaged Jacob, and whilst there are a multitude of reasons for enrolment growth in schools, having a clear messaging base and support structures in place has definitely supported the growth projections.”
David Gray Director of Mission & Community Belmont Christian College
Is this you?
Schools come to this stream when...
If any of these sound familiar, it's worth a call. I've started here with many of the schools I work with.
- 01
Your website was built years ago and the school has changed since then.
- 02
Families drop off between the homepage and enquiry because the path is unclear.
- 03
Your prospectus reads as a list of facts that families put down after the tour.
- 04
Different departments use different versions of your logo, fonts, and colours.
- 05
You have done strategy work but the visible materials have not caught up.
- 06
You are setting a new strategic vision for your school, and want to signpost the new direction.
Our 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.
If you're wondering if one or more of the engagements on this page could benefit your school, let's have a conversation.
Book a 30-minute call
With Jacob
jacob@bolsta.education
Common questions
Before you get in touch
How long does a website project take?
Nine to twelve months. Bolsta directs design, copywriting, and development as a single integrated process. The timeline depends on the size, complexity, and content scope of the site.
Do we need brand strategy work before a website or prospectus?
It helps. Schools that have done Messaging Workshop or Brand Story Strategy work arrive at creative projects knowing what they want to say. If you have not done that work yet, we can scope story foundation into the creative engagement.
What makes a Bolsta website different?
It is built around the enrolment journey rather than as a generic brochure site. Story-led copywriting is handled in-house. Design, copy, and development are directed as a single integrated process, which reduces friction and produces coherent results.
Do you handle print production for the prospectus?
Print production is handled through trusted suppliers and charged separately at cost-plus. The digital version is optimised for embedding on your website and sharing as an attachment.
What if we are not sure which offer fits?
Most schools don't come in knowing which stream fits. Book a 30-minute call and Jacob will help you figure out where to start based on your situation. No pitch, no obligation.
Can you work alongside our existing agency or marketing team?
Yes. Bolsta typically directs strategy while partners handle tactical execution. The role is getting story and messaging right first, so whatever you build — with us or with other partners — is grounded in real strategy.
How does the visual identity process handle stakeholders?
Jacob provides the patient work of bringing board, alumni, leadership, and parent community along through the process. This is where most identity projects succeed or fail. The engagement includes structured stakeholder engagement, not just a reveal at the end.
What's included in the price?
Everything listed under each offer: discovery, design, copywriting where relevant, and the finished deliverable. Content entry for websites and print production for prospectuses are scoped separately. Travel is additional for schools outside the Hunter Valley.
Can we combine more than one creative project?
Yes. Some schools commission a website and prospectus together, or add visual identity work to a website engagement. The call is where we figure out the right scope and sequence.
What if our current brand work was done by another agency?
That is fine. Bolsta works with what you have. If the existing brand foundation is strong, creative work builds on it. If it needs strengthening, we can scope that into the engagement.
When to call us
We partner with school leaders and their teams.
Something that once felt strong has started to fade, and misconceptions are creeping in to fill the gap. The team no longer shares a clear, confident sense of who the school is. We help you re-find and re-anchor the core story, mission and culture, then build the language to hold them.
See related case studiesWhat families see doesn't match how good the school really is, because the visible work has aged out of step with it. We make the rebuild a chance to align story, system, and creative, instead of replacing one piece with another that still doesn't fit.
See related case studiesFamilies slip away between enquiry and enrolment, the journey feels clunky, and the tour depends entirely on who's running it. We map the whole journey and design the moments that decide how a family feels, from the first phone call through to day one.
See related case studiesAdmissions, marketing, communications, and leadership are each holding a different version of the school, and there's so much to fix it's hard to know where to start. We diagnose first, then bring everyone into one map and one language with a sequence matched to your capacity.
See related case studiesWhether you need more of the right families enrolling or the staff to grow with, sustained growth, or sustained slippage, is rarely about marketing alone. We look at the whole enrolment ecosystem and identify the few moves that will move the most.
See related case studiesA 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, and embedded into culture for years.
See related case studies