A big website refresh for Bucksmore Summer Schools

What does Bucksmore do?

Bucksmore is the summer school operation of the prestigious Nord Anglia group of international schools, and offers exciting, inspirational and illuminating summer programmes for children and young adults from around the globe.

The programmes operate out of some of the finest educational establishments in the UK, including Oxford University's St Hilda's College and King's College London. The offering has expanded over the years to encompass English Foundation programmes, Young Professionals courses which give young people a taste of professional careers, Pre-University courses for an insight into British University life and study, as well as year-round Home Tuition and One-to-One Tutoring online.

What did Disquiet Dog do?

SEO, Keyword and Technical Audits

After initial technical and keyword audits, Bucksmore asked us to improve the design of the site to bring it into alignment with the obvious prestige of the brand.

Design

We drew up design concepts, and in tight collaboration with the team, we redeveloped the look and feel of the site whilst introducing new landing pages and sections which would help the site to be found online. Significantly, we managed to do this within their existing content management system (CMS) rather than starting from scratch. That saved time and money, and made it much easier for the Buckmore team to keep control of content creation and tweaks to the site thereafter.

Content expansion and optimisation

We optimised content and wrote a large part of the new programme content, in Bucksmore's brand tone and voice.

Course Chooser

We resurrected a much loved course chooser component which had dropped away in a previous site iteration. This makes it straightforward to students, parents and agents to choose the best programme and navigate straight to it.

Video

We also pulled in our video production team headed up by the ever dynamic Morgan. We shot new footage over ten days in three locations, and created a new set of programme-specific videos as well as 2TB of raw footage for repurposing into social media posts throughout the year!

CMS enhancement

We built new blocks for the site's existing CMS, which can be reused again and again in the future. We got very close to a website rebuild, without the need for an extended process.

Reimagined navigation and site structure

We redeveloped the header, footer and overall site structure, improved url structure and created a better user flow in the process.

What were the main challenges?

The big one was time. We had a small window of opportunity to capture all the stills photography and video footage and fold this into the website, which also had to adapt to new programmes and updates which were being established for the following year's offering.

We really pride ourselves on how we maintain our positive connection and level of collaboration with the organisations we support. You can tell that has worked out when we finish the project on the same breezy, happy and enthusiastic tone we started with.

It's so easy to start out with good intentions and a burst of energy, but it's much more special when it feels as light at the end, and that's testament to everyone in the team being utterly professional and human at the same time.

I love how we all work together generally, but it really comes together in a special way on a website redevelopment project. I have the best team.

Richard Bradford, Managing Director, Disquiet Dog

And how was it from Bucksmore's perspective?

We asked for Marketing Coordinator, Richard Restell's thoughts on all aspects of the process. Here's what he had to say:

How was the overall experience of working with Disquiet Dog?

5/5 stars: It has been an absolute pleasure working with Richard and the team. The attention to detail and support at every step of the way has been great.

On Disquiet Dog's marketing consultancy and know-how

5/5 stars: The team has a strong understanding of the education sector and is able to provide valuable insights and recommendations.

Our technical audits and recommendations:

5/5 stars: The recommendations provided for SEO optimisation and technical adjustments to the website have proven invaluable in improving its performance, visibility, and user experience.

Disquiet Dog's design and website build capability

5/5 stars: The team is more than capable of implementing requests from the Bucksmore team, while also offering valuable suggestions for ongoing improvements.

Our project management capability

5/5 stars: Great attention to detail and great at keeping everything moving forward.

Our video capture and editing

5/5 stars: Working to tight deadlines and an ever changing timetable, the team delivered a selection of great videos. A pleasure to work with Morgan. His professional attitude and energy on long work days really carried this project.

And in summary?

Working with Disquiet Dog was a fantastic experience. The team consistently went above and beyond in every aspect of their role.

They played a key role in shaping our vision, setting realistic targets, and establishing clear expectations.

Throughout the process, the team was always available to offer support and valuable advice.

Their expertise helped us create a website that truly serves the needs of our students and parents.

I highly recommend working with the team—they are a dedicated, friendly and professional group and look forward to working with the team on new projects and developments in the future.

Richard Restell, Marketing Coordinator, Bucksmore Education

We love a happy ending, although Disquiet Dog has been retained to keep working on new website improvements and ongoing videography. We couldn't be happier. Living the dream.

If you want us to make your life easier, please give us a shout. We absolutely don't bite.