Innovative web design with immersive & interactive features

The Kearsley Academy website was developed in two phases, initially an interim site to cover the period before the official launch,including installing InTune, our content management system for schools, so that the site was set up for further development. We were then commissioned to update the main site to make it easy for different audiences to find relevant and interesting information quickly, and to create a micro site specifically designed to appeal to pupils at Primary partner schools.

The home page design was carefully weighted to the key audiences for the website. The Academy is working very hard with primary schools and wants to engage primary pupils so there is a prominent panel that links to the Primary Zone. The Academy in Action (including links to Specialisms) and News are featured next as they appeal to all audiences. Across the bottom of the page are panels linking to sections for Students (Student Zone), Current Parents (Parent Zone), The Sixth and the local Community (Community Zone). Overall, the effect is organized, bright, colourful and informative.

The Primary Zone is an innovative and unique approach that integrates primary liaison, learning initiatives and marketing using specially developed cartoon characters with a dedicated micro-website. Inhabited by five characters, developed by Homer, each is named after someone who has been an innovator in a field of human endeavour and collectively known as the Kearsley Kids. These characters were then developed by the teaching staff, and endowed with key characteristics and learning styles to form an integrated approach to the learning programmes the Academy was running with their partner primaries.

With simple but effective roll-over animated effects, the micro site was designed to appeal to primary pupils and get them logging on regularly to take part in interactive games and challenges and to link with the work the Primary Teams are doing in their schools. In particular, it was designed to introduce the idea of learning styles and how teaching and learning are adapted at the Academy to suit each student.

Ms Mel Hughes, the Assistant Principal at the Academy responsible for primary liaison, says: "The site is exactly what we wanted - a primary pupil friendly learning and engagement tool. The Primary Zone is proving to be a great success with primary pupils and is providing a supportive web platform for engaging pupils and, through them, parents. We don't think that there is anything like it being done at other Secondary schools and the idea is already sparking interest amongst primary pupils and we've got lots of ideas for how it can be developed."

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