Wednesday, 16 January 2013

Designing our new Prospectus

September 2013 is a long way off, but already we are starting preparations for next academic year by appointing a marketing agency to design a new prospectus for us.

Coming up with a design in the really fun part, but before we get to that stage, we have to pick which marketing agency to use. We are doing this by inviting four companies in to present their ideas to us. As Marketing Co-ordinator, I am a part of this process, but there are other staff involved too, including the Principal and Vice Principal and even one of the College governors too!

We want to make sure that whichever company we pick, they are going to do a good job and come up with a design that speaks to students and parents alike. Now, I might like to think I’m still in touch with 16 year olds, but the sad truth is that my sixth form years were quite some time ago! Because of this unwelcome fact, we are asking some younger people to be part of this process, involving current students in our decision making process.

A small group of students are meeting with each of the four marketing agencies we have invited in and will participate in a focus group. In these meetings, students will talk through what they like and what they don’t like about the designs and ideas that these companies have come up with. Staff will be in the meeting too, but only to observe and we will take the students’ views into account when we make our decisions. The meetings take place today and next week.

It’s an exciting process, but we are only just at the start of our quest for a new prospectus. Once we pick an agency, we will get started on creating the final design. This usually involves several versions, until we are happy with how it looks and what it says and then over the summer the prospectus will be printed so it is ready for September.

So, if you are currently in Year 10 and starting to think about your post-16 options for September 2014, make sure you get a copy of our prospectus this autumn, and just remember that we didn’t knock it up in five minutes; we started the process nine months earlier!

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