“A relaxed, professional and creative approach to our prospectus: great photography, creative design and high quality printing.” – Clarissa Williams, Head Teacher, Tolworth Girls School and Ex-President, National Association of Head Teachers

We produce Prospectuses, Annual Reports and Yearbooks for numerous nurseries, schools and colleges around the UK. The following is a step-by-step guide to how we work on prospectus production.

1: Costs
We will discuss with you your ideas for the prospectus and advise on what will and will not work. You should have a realistic budget (see overall cost assessment below) so we can tell you what can be achieved within that (specifically, size, number of pages etc.). We will then email you quotes for photography, design and print costs on this basis before proceeding.

2: Photography
Following an initial visit, we will come to spend up to one full day with you to shoot the images required. This will probably result in approximately 400-500 images. Within one working day of the shoot, we will publish a password-protected gallery of all the images online and email you the URL, so you can browse, download and print them out if you have a suitable printer. Note: You will own the images so you are free to produce and sell prints to help recover your costs: this can generate significant revenue.

We will then edit the images down in consultation with you, choosing the very best for use in the prospectus. You may wish to supplement the selection with other images you already have if they are of suitable quality and are of specific events which we have been unable to cover but you wish to include. However, we may advise using only the images shot on the day for consistency and quality. Remember, images that hold particular significance for you may not be appropriate for a wider public audience.

The cost of this element of the work is generally £450 + VAT + travel expenses.

3: Design
If you have an OFSTED report, positive comments should be utilized. We can write the copy for you but require a very clear brief. Alternatively, you can supply the copy yourself. This should be produced in Word or an equivalent WP package and sent to me by email. Remember to keep words to a minimum. Let the pictures do the talking.

We will then work on a design and send you a pdf proof (this requires adobe acrobat reader to view). You may wish to print this out and mark up where you would like corrections or changes made. We implement those changes and send you further proofs until we are both happy with the result.

The cost of this element of the work is generally between £750 and £1,500 + VAT depending on complexity and extent, and whether or not we write the copy.

4: Printing
On final approval of artwork we will organize printing. We will send you a printer’s proof by post for your approval, upon which we will then arrange delivery.

We invoice for the whole job on completion of the design at the point of ordering the printing. Payment is requested within seven days following the delivery of the finished prospectus.

We would recommend a ball park budget of between £1,500 and £3,000 for printing, for example, 1,000 copies of a 16-page prospectus. This element is VAT zero rated.

Follow-up
You will find that a new, professionally produced prospectus creates quite a stir! We would be happy to come back each year and update it with new photography. Design costs are considerably lower for this service as we recommend using the same basic design and copy for three to five years.

Overall cost assessment
Your prospectus speaks volumes about your nursery, school or college, significantly raising your profile in the local community. It will help you to attract investment, sponsorship and support. An overall budget of between £3,000 and £4,000 is recommended. Remember, you can recover some of this cost by selling images to parents, and the costs for producing a new prospectus in subsequent years is lower.