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Helping a school uncover their unique purpose and realise their potential

Boyd, the Principal of Hunter Christian School, and his staff, would have to be some of the most purposeful and loving people we’ve ever met. You can feel the warmth every time you walk into the room – Boyd is a principal who went out of his way to sit and chat to a student about their nerves before an interview, then give them a secret high five and reassuring nod before continuing on his way (we may have shed an admiring tear). We were eager to help them communicate that feeling in every experience people had with the school, not just face-to-face.

Our role was to build a framework and support them to bring their purpose and difference to life; to make it clear and real so that the school community could rally around it and instil it into every part of their school lives.

Clarity

Discussions with Boyd and Services Manager Luke, a workshop with all 43 staff members and questionnaires to parents revealed that the HCS community were united in their particular beliefs around nurturing children’s potential, but were expressing it in different ways. We studied these dispersed thoughts and actions, and looked for similarities in order to find the consistent beliefs to build a framework on.

After analysing their contributions, we were led to research into emotional intelligence, self-belief and empathy. Affinity mapping was used to distill all of the data down into core concepts summarising the School’s approach and the purpose that informs it. A purpose delivery model was then developed to help them to easily explain their inimitable approach to education, and to demonstrate how the formative aspects of these concepts combine and underpin Hunter Christian School’s work.

We see a future where every child leaves school knowing their innate worth, and equipped with the self-belief and emotional intelligence to live authentically.

 

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Expression

With complete clarity around the HCS purpose, values and brand direction, our creative and strategy teams were able to work together to develop a meaningful new brand identity for the school, while maintaining the integrity of the current logo and colours. This was important as it just isn’t feasible for a school to change something so ingrained in all uniforms and resources. We saw this as an opportunity to evolve and reframe these elements to tell a different story, rather than seeing them as a constraint.

We then developed the brand voice and identity to reflect their purpose, so that parents and potential parents can understand how the school’s approach will shape their child’s emotional growth, self-belief and their journey to adulthood and beyond.

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Transformation

The transformation phase is where your brand begins to take shape and change really starts to occur, as your purpose and identity becomes coherent across every experience. In this phase, we help clients hone in on the actions and behaviours most needed in order to start building their desired future. Building a purpose-driven business and brand is a long-term commitment shaped by the smaller actions and decisions we make every day.

For Hunter Christian School, this meant redeveloping their online environment, and building collateral and content to help them communicate their point of difference while engaging and collaborating with their staff to nurture an aligned vision.

After identifying key concepts underpinning the School’s ethos in the Clarity Phase, we were able to use the concepts as the basis for a series of videos to introduce the School. We asked Boyd and some of the students to explain them in their own words. The result is a vibrant, clear and emotive communication of their purpose and approach.

We’re continuing to work with HCS to embed their purpose into every aspect of their school and grow their impact.

Further Reading