One group in Helmond, a school with its own profile behind every door
OMO Scholengroep Helmond is part of Vereniging Ons Middelbaar Onderwijs and covers the secondary schools in Helmond: Dr. Knippenbergcollege with mavo, havo and vwo, Carolus Borromeus College with mavo, havo, atheneum and gymnasium, Vakcollege Helmond for vmbo basis and kader, and Praktijkcollege Helmond, a small scale school with its own practical route. Together they teach around 4,000 students.
Each of those schools has its own profile, its own talent areas and its own audience, and each one wants to speak to a parent or a student in its own voice. At the same time the group has to be findable as one organisation, with one place for its plan, its annual reports and its vacancies.
One base, a site per school
We put the group site and the school sites on the same WordPress base: our own base theme with a child theme on top. Every school keeps its own design and its own content, while the technical layer underneath is the same everywhere, down to the same set of plugins.
The group site is the entrance. Every school has a profile page there that says what the school is and who it is for, and links through to that school’s own website. Vacancies, the school plan, the school guide and the annual reports live on the group site, where one team maintains them.
- One WordPress base theme shared by the group site and the school sites.
- A profile page per school on the group site, linking through to the school's own site.
- Vacancies as their own section, with the hours and the subject per opening.
- School plan, school guide and annual reports readable in the browser instead of downloaded as a file.
- Filtered overviews, so a visitor picks a school or a vacancy instead of scrolling a list.
The shared base is what keeps a separate site per school maintainable by one team.
The result
The group site now introduces every school in its own words and sends the visitor on to that school’s site, so a parent comparing two schools does not have to start over on every page. Vacancies are published on the group site with hours and subject, and the school plan, the school guide and the annual reports open in the browser.
Because the school sites share the same base theme, editing one school works the same as editing another, whichever site the team is in.
Do several brands or locations each need their own site?
One base with a site per brand keeps the differences visible without multiplying the maintenance. Take the Growth Scan and see what that would look like for your organisation. It is free, it takes 30 minutes, and it commits you to nothing.
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Justin van Dongen
Founder & digital growth partner
