The Need For Good School Signage: What It Says About a School

Aug 04, 2021

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Originally Posted On: https://corporatesignindustries.com.au/the-need-for-good-school-signage/

When was the last time you thought about the impression your school’s signage makes? Good school signage is critical, for a number of reasons.

According to recent ABS data, in 2020 there were 9,542 schools in Australia, a net increase of 39 schools since 2019 (16 government, 17 independent and 6 Catholic schools). Furthermore, the total student enrolments across Australia, have continued to increase in the five years to 2020, with a 5.5% increase. Independent schools had the largest increase with 9.5%, followed by government schools with 5.9%.

So, unless you’re the only school in your area, attracting new enrolments, while retaining existing ones, will always be the focal point in a school’s marketing strategy.

Amongst several other tactics within a school’s marketing mix, signage plays a vital role in how your school comes across to visitors. Without good school signage, your enrolment rates are likely to impacted, as will your school brand.

What’s more, school signage is also essential for communicating with staff and attendees, and for regulatory compliance purposes.

Although good signage is essential for schools, it is often overlooked.

Ready to stand out from other schools? Keep reading to find out why good school signage is so important, and some of the functions it plays.

Good Signage Helps You Stand Out:

One of the biggest benefits of good school signage is it helps you stand out. It conveys an immediate message that your school is well run, cutting edge, and provides quality education.

Even if someone has never visited your school, and merely driven by it—if your school building signs are attractive and eye-catching, they’ll already have a preference toward your school over one that has hard to read, or old signage.

Standing out in this way is essential if you want to attract new enrolments. Your school will look smarter and better run, which means parents will automatically consider you as a primary option to investigate for their kids.

Appealing School Signage Makes a Great First Impression

Besides helping you stand out; appealing school signage helps you create a great first impression. First impressions count tremendously, more than many of us would like to think.

If a parent comes to your school and is greeted by weather-beaten or old school signs, their first thought will be that they’ve come to a dilapidated school. If the signage looks bad, what’s the rest of the school like?

It doesn’t matter how many amazing school programs you have, what your ATAR scores are, or your student to teacher ratio, if your signage is not appealing, parents are bound to be left wondering why.

Signage is Essential for Branding

Good branding is everything if you want to gain exposure, maintain high recall, and build trust. One of the most integral parts of branding is signage. Without good school signage, your school brand is not going to shine through the way it should.

Old signage tarnishes your brand identity. On the other hand, modern LED schools signs that stand out and attract the eye, convey the message that your school is innovative, and progressive.

Signage Helps Students, Visitors, and Staff Get Where They Need to Go

Along with conveying a good image, quality wayfinding and directional school signage is also vital for helping everyone on school grounds get to where they need to go.

This is important for everyone, especially if your school is large and sprawling. If students can’t get to the right classes easily, this can impact their learning. The same applies if new teachers are struggling to get to their classes on time because they can’t read directional signs.

What’s more, visitors getting lost is never great for a school. Old, missing, misleading, or cracked signage, which isn’t easy to interpret on how to get around, could leave potential parents with a poor customer experience.

Signage is Important for Communicating Information

Besides telling people where to go, school signage is also important for communication information. This could be history about the school, or something as simple as opening hours of a college campus building.

If these signs are old and hard to read, this does impact communication. If the signs on your school grounds have reached this point, then it is vital that you start looking into some new school signage solutions.

Signage is also Essential for Regulatory Compliance Purposes

Another area that signs are essential for is regularity compliance purposes. For instance, accessibility restrooms should have a sign by them with the International Symbol of Accessibility. If they are not accessible, then you should display signs showing directions to the next closest restroom that is accessible.

Besides this, you may also need to mount non-smoking signs, and signs that state “staff only” at access points to areas where students aren’t allowed. These are just a couple of examples of some of the regulatory signs your school may need.

To ensure that regularity signs are clear, easily read, and presentable, you might want to have a signage audit done. Our signage audits also evaluate whether your school signage is drawing in students or you are missing out on opportunities to better communicate. Furthermore, whether they are consistent with your school brand, and their current condition.ssive.

Do You Need New School Signage?

Good school signage is vital if you want to keep enrolment numbers high. It’s also important for helping students, staff, and visitors navigate around your school, and for communicating and remaining compliant with regulations.

Good signage is a powerful thing, as it can cement your school brand, create a stellar first impression, and make your institution the go-to school for potential parents, students, and staff.

Are you in need of school signage solutions? If so, you are in the right place. Here at Corporate Sign Industries, we specialise in quality signage for schools and educational centres.

Ready to upgrade your school signage? We offer a range of solutions, including LED signs for schools, school map signs, changeable school signs, PBL signs, notice boards, building signs, and more.