The Valley School

A Joyful, Engaging Website Rooted in Childhood

The Valley School is a progressive independent school serving preschool through fifth-grade students in Seattle, Washington. Intentionally small and deeply connected, Valley combines strong academics with hands-on exploration, meaningful relationships, and plenty of room for play. Students are known as individuals, encouraged to take risks, and given the support they need to grow into confident, curious learners.

The school needed a website that captured that distinctive experience. Design TLC partnered with The Valley School to create a fresh, welcoming digital presence that speaks directly to prospective families, celebrates the joy of childhood, and makes it easier for visitors to understand what makes a Valley education so special.

Objective

The Valley School’s previous website contained a lot of information, but its dated design and text-heavy pages did not reflect the energy, warmth, or creativity of the school community. The previous website was built with Edlio, a website platform designed specifically for K–12 schools. With a move to WordPress, Deslgin TLC offered a more customizable foundation, with greater control over page layouts, visual storytelling, navigation, and SEO tools.

For Valley, the move was an opportunity to build a website around the school’s distinctive personality and admissions goals, while giving staff more flexibility to manage and expand the site over time.

In Seattle’s competitive independent-school market, Valley needed a website that would immediately engage prospective families while communicating the substance behind its playful approach to learning.

The primary goals of the redesign were to:

Create a fresh, modern website that reflects Valley’s warm and joyful personality
Help prospective families quickly understand the school’s philosophy, programs, and community
Make admissions information and calls to action easy to find
Showcase the school’s small size, close relationships, and expansive outdoor environment
Improve search visibility and establish a strong foundation for ongoing SEO
Give staff greater flexibility to manage and expand the website in WordPress
Continue supporting current families without allowing internal resources to overwhelm the prospective-family experience

Approach

Strategy and Content

Design TLC began by identifying what makes The Valley School distinctive: its intentionally small community, meaningful academics, close relationships, and belief that play is essential to learning. These qualities guided a content strategy focused primarily on prospective families.

We focused on:

Reorganizing content around admissions, academics, and school life
Refining messaging to explain Valley’s philosophy in warm, family-centered language
Structuring academic information by developmental stage
Adding clear calls to action for families to inquire, visit, and apply
Incorporating testimonials to share authentic community perspectives

Playful, Purposeful Design

The visual design captures Valley’s joyful personality through soft shapes, natural colors, engaging photography, and whimsical illustrated details. Trees, a rocket, and one of Valley’s chickens support the “Rooted in Childhood, Ready to Launch” theme while creating a memorable digital identity.

Our design approach:

Gave student photography a more prominent role
Used curved forms and layered elements to add warmth and movement
Balanced playful details with a polished, professional presentation
Created flexible layouts that make detailed content easier to explore
Ensured a cohesive experience across desktop and mobile devices

Navigation and Development

A streamlined structure makes it easier for visitors to find essential information while preserving convenient resources for current families. Built in WordPress, the new site also gives Valley’s team greater flexibility and control.

This includes:

Organizing content into clear About, Admissions, Academics, Community, and Giving sections
Creating direct pathways to tuition information, admission events, inquiry, and application
Maintaining convenient access to calendars and the family portal
Making ongoing content updates easier for school staff
Establishing a flexible foundation for SEO and future marketing initiatives

Outcome

The redesigned website captures the heart of The Valley School: a place where childhood is celebrated, curiosity is encouraged, and every student is known.

It quickly communicates the school’s most compelling qualities while giving families plenty of opportunities to explore its philosophy and programs in greater depth. Clear navigation, prominent admissions pathways, engaging photography, family testimonials, and approachable content work together to create a more effective enrollment resource.

The new website:

Presents a fresh, modern image in a competitive independent-school market
Clearly communicates Valley’s educational philosophy and distinctive approach
Makes academic and admissions information easier to find and understand
Gives prospective families clear next steps throughout their journey
Showcases the close-knit community and joyful experiences at the heart of the school
Preserves easy editing with saved modules using Beaver Builder for WordPress, in addition to integration with Google Calendar, display of reivews throughout the website, and a password-protected family information page
Fast-loading and highly perofrmant, accessible website, even with a homepage background video, thanks to Design TLC’s custom background video plugin
Gives staff a flexible platform that can grow alongside the school
Establishes a stronger foundation for SEO, content marketing, and future admissions initiatives

Most importantly, the site helps families see that at The Valley School, childhood is not something to rush through. It is the foundation from which confident, capable, and enthusiastic learners are ready to launch.