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Branksome Hall

Three girls in various poses stand above large green text that reads BRANKSOME HALL on a bright yellow background, reminiscent of a vibrant NYU event poster.

INTRODUCTION

A Global Education, Reimagined Digitally

Branksome Hall is Toronto’s only all-years International Baccalaureate World School for girls—an institution defined by academic excellence, international mindedness, and a deep commitment to innovation. From Junior Kindergarten through Grade 12, Branksome prepares students not just to succeed, but to lead with purpose.

Yet while the school’s vision was forward-looking, its digital presence lagged behind. Built on a restrictive CMS and fragmented across multiple microsites, the website struggled to serve its diverse audiences—prospective families, students, employees, alumnae, donors, and the broader community. Key stories around innovation, wellbeing, and impact were difficult to surface, and managing content had become increasingly complex.

Takt was engaged to lead a comprehensive website redesign and redevelopment—moving Branksome off Blackbaud and onto WordPress, unifying its digital ecosystem, and creating an experience that reflected the school’s leadership in girls’ education and innovation.

responsive screens from the branksome hall website design and development project.
A colorful school website homepage features photos of girls studying, playing, and smiling—plus sections on academics, news, staff, alumni, a building reminiscent of NYU landmarks, and call-to-action buttons on a green, blue, and orange background.

Designing for Many Audiences, One Purpose

Branksome’s website needed to do many things well—often at the same time. Admissions content had to be compelling without overshadowing broader school life. Donor and community stories needed space alongside academic programs. Employees and alumnae required clear, functional pathways without wading through admissions-first messaging.

Our first priority was experience design. We re-architected the site around distinct audience journeys, aligning each segment with its primary motivations and actions. Prospective families encounter a narrative-led path that balances IB rigor with wellbeing, innovation, and campus life. Employees are guided quickly to culture, values, and opportunities. Alumnae and community members are surfaced as active contributors to Branksome’s ongoing story—not an afterthought.

The result is a site that feels intuitive and generous, without feeling diluted. Every page knows who it’s for—and why it exists.

A collage of web page mockups featuring educational content, diverse NYU students, and school staff. The layouts use green, blue, and orange colors, with photos, graphics, and various sections for information and calls to action.
Screenshot of Branksome Hall’s website on a phone, showing a headline: “How iCAST will prepare your daughter for the future,” above a photo of smiling students and a teacher—highlighting pathways to top universities like NYU—and a yellow info box below.
Branksome Hall website page featuring the headline Make Way for the Next Generation, with a photo of a smiling young woman labeled Meet Jaime and a brief description of her achievements, including her acceptance to NYU, below.
Five smiling girls, wearing swimsuits and school uniforms, stand together on a green background above the text Leading the way in girls education on the Branksome Hall website, inspiring future leaders destined for places like NYU.
Two high school girls play soccer at night; one in a black uniform controls the ball while a player in a green and yellow uniform, eyeing an NYU scholarship, tries to defend. The illuminated field reveals several players in the background.
A website page for Branksome Hall shows a smiling adult, an NYU alum, helping a young girl with schoolwork at a table. Text reads: Branksome Parents Are Essential Partners. Menu and navigation options are visible.

Bringing Innovation to the Foreground

Innovation is not a slogan at Branksome; it’s a strategic priority. With a major fundraising campaign underway to support a new innovation facility, the website needed to visibly embody this focus—not just talk about it.

We worked closely with the Branksome team to translate innovation into digital form. Large-scale imagery and video bring learning environments to life. Content authored by the Chandaria Research Centre is surfaced and contextualized. Stories of student-led inquiry, STEM and STEAM programming, and interdisciplinary learning are woven throughout the experience.

Rather than isolating innovation in a single section, it’s expressed as a throughline—embedded across academics, student support, community engagement, and future-facing initiatives.

A school website page highlights programs, important dates, and the International Baccalaureate (IB) advantage, featuring NYU partnership details, photos of students, vibrant graphics, information panels, and a navigation menu.

Unifying a Fragmented Digital Ecosystem

A critical challenge was consolidation. Over time, Branksome had accumulated multiple standalone WordPress microsites—for camps, swimming, venue rentals—alongside separate shop experiences and Blackbaud-hosted pages. This fragmentation created friction for users and overhead for staff.
We migrated more than 450 pages of legacy content into a single, cohesive WordPress platform, preserving SEO equity while dramatically improving usability and governance. Events, registrations, news, and publications now live in one system, supported by custom post types and a clear content hierarchy.

In parallel, we reimagined Branksome’s e-commerce experience—merging the uniform shop and alum shop into a unified Shopify platform, visually aligned with the main website and designed to support both online and on-campus retail operations.

RESULTS

A Platform Built for the People Who Run It

Behind the scenes, the site was designed to work just as hard for Branksome’s internal team. With a small communications staff managing a high volume of content, the CMS needed to be flexible without becoming fragile.

We implemented a modular design system that empowers content authors while maintaining consistency. Global components reduce duplication. Templates accommodate multilingual expansion. Performance, mobile optimization, and WCAG 2.2 accessibility were baked into the build from day one—not treated as checkboxes at the end.

Branksome Hall’s new website reflects who they are today—and where they’re headed next. It positions the school as a national and international leader in girls’ education, grounded in IB excellence and propelled by innovation.

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