Great Academies Education Trust is a multi-academy trust operating in the Greater Manchester boroughs of Tameside and Rochdale.
Established in 2008, the Trust oversees 5 schools in total; three secondary schools: Great Ashton Academy, Middleton Technology School, and Copley Academy. As well as two-form entry primary school, Silver Springs Primary Academy. Great Academies emphasises their commitments to high-quality learning opportunities, strong community links, and dedication to excellence in education.
Problem
Great Academies Education Trust faced the challenge of having disjointed and outdated websites for its schools. The existing websites lacked a unified system and did not effectively align with the Trust’s vision, values, and ambitions for growth. The key issues they wanted to resolve were:
- Difficulty in meeting the contrasting needs of various audiences, like parents, teachers, and students.
- Challenges in providing essential information effectively (e.g. school closures and term times).
- Lack of a system that complied seamlessly with Department of Education regulations.
- A need for scalability to accommodate future growth.
Solution
GAIN LINE was selected to redesign and centralise the Trust’s websites by consolidating Great Academies Trust and schools platform into a unified system. The redesign prioritised a user centric design that catered to various user groups, ensuring an intuitive and seamless experience. Stakeholders were actively involved in the process of development, to identify audience needs and refine messaging priorities. The system was designed to be easy to use, which enabled quick updates and met the regulatory compliance standards. The platform was also built with individuality in mind to support future growth, and ensure distinction between the school sites.
Results
The project successfully achieved its objectives:
- Immediate goals were met for the trust as the websites operated intuitively and efficiently.
- The digital infrastructure was built future-proof, enabling seamless integration for late commodities; like changes in design, or new education establishments.
- The new websites advanced the Trusts’ branding, aligning the schools under a cohesive digital presence, whilst also ensuring individuality in design.
Project Team
Who worked on this project?
Mike Wildhood
Project Manager
Adam Faux
Senior Front-End Developer
“We are delighted with our new websites. They have moved the Trust and our Schools forward as a brand, which is exactly what we wanted them to do, and this is now coming back to us as feedback which is superb. Rolling out an intuitive system, which can be used immediately, was central to our requirements, whilst recognising the Trust’s long-term growth objectives which enable future education establishments to be easily integrated into our new digital infrastructure”.
Brendan Loughran
CEO at Great Academies Education Trust
