A custom WordPress website to promote child protection services

Wakefield Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) is a partnership of statutory, voluntary and community agencies working to safeguard children and promote the welfare for children and young people in Wakefield. WSCP was looking for an updated online presence and CMS tools to help them create and maintain content.

A primary focus of WSCP is helping to inform and educate the many different agencies, organisations and sectors that deal with children and young people. As such, the online presence of WSCP as an informational and promotional tool was vital to the project. A comprehensive training management and booking system was also required, which you can read about here. WSCP chose to work with us to create a flexible, modern solution that met their needs.

We designed and developed a custom WordPress website with Gutenberg content editor at the centre as the primary content management system (CMS). The new solution was built to the latest standards and features of WordPress. WordPress with Gutenberg was the obvious choice for WSCP, delivering a straightforward system to update and maintain.

One of the main challenges during the project was working through the pandemic. The initial consultation and planning phases were conducted during the first lockdown, where remote working was the only option. Close collaboration was essential to ensure that remote working transitioned through COVID-related delays to in-office meetings towards the project’s end. We worked together through personnel changes and scope changes to deliver a final solution that was as close to WSCP’s initial brief as possible.

To continue with an informed process; we wireframed all key aspects of the website. Through wireframes, WSCP was fully informed of the makeup of the site functionality and could make decisions on required changes before starting development. During development, we provided regular updates and access to the development environment.

When presented with the final project, it can be overwhelming for clients to take in every aspect of the build and understand all the moving parts. We addressed this with a full demonstration of the system, an in-depth training session and user manual, and ongoing phone and email support. The way we see it, clients should leave us knowing how to use their new digital tools. Otherwise, they won’t get the most out of them.

For WSCP, we created a high-performance website that catered for the best user experience with a scalable interface (meaning a consistent experience across all screen sizes and devices), fast load times and improved SEO controls. The initial brief for an easy to update promotional site was fully met. Due to ongoing updates and discussions with the client throughout the initial development process, we were able to expand on requirements delivering a more comprehensive and functional system than initially expected.

We’re proud to have worked with WSCP for over five years now. We designed, developed and maintained their previous website, and the WSCP team was keen to work with us again. Feedback from the client has been overwhelmingly positive, and we hope to work with them for many years to come.