Getting Your School Ready for 2026: What Service Design Has To Do With It
“What will it feel like to be a student, parent, or staff member in our school in
2026 – and how can we make that feel better than last year?
🤔 What are we actually “designing” for 2026?
Whether you plan them or not, certain experiences will happen next year:
New families will inquire, visit, and apply.
Students will move into new classes, new year groups, or even new schools.
Parents will try to keep up with dates, forms, messages, and changing routines.
Staff will look for information, support, and clarity when things get busy or difficult.
All of these are services your school provides. They make up the lived experience of 2026.
Service design invites you to slow down for a moment and say:
Let’s look at these journeys from the user’s point of view.
Let’s name the patterns that caused stress in 2025.
Let’s design small improvements now, so 2026 runs more smoothly.
It’s less about “transformation” and more about thoughtful housekeeping – clearing the clutter and making everyday interactions kinder and clearer.
🏁 One practical place to start before 2026 arrives
If you only have capacity to focus on one thing, a powerful place to start is the new‑family journey. It’s one of the most visible experiences in your school.
From the family’s side, it might look like this:
Hearing about your school (word‑of‑mouth, website, social media).
Going hunting for clear, up‑to‑date information.
Reaching out to the office or leadership.
Filling in forms and sending documents.
Waiting and wondering what’s happening.
Receiving a decision and figuring out next steps.
You probably already know where things got messy this year:
Maybe parents weren’t sure which app, email, or form to use.
Maybe different staff members were giving slightly different answers.
Maybe the office was flooded with calls and you were constantly firefighting.
Before 2026 gets going, you can:
Sketch that journey on a page or whiteboard.
Mark the bits that caused the most confusion in 2025.
Choose one or two realistic improvements to put in place now.
For example:
A more friendly, clearer admissions page that you can confidently send everyone to.
A short “We’ve received your application” message with a simple timeline for what happens next.
One place where key dates and steps for the year are clearly laid out.
None of these changes require a full system overhaul. But they do mean that, when 2026 starts, one important part of your school’s experience is already in better shape.
📍Why now is the right moment
The lead‑up to a new year is when many schools naturally:
Review what worked and what didn’t
Update calendars, policies, and key messages
Plan priorities for the coming terms
It’s the perfect time to bring a service design lens into the conversation.
🚨 Over the next few weeks in this series, I’ll share ways you can:
Map key experiences you want to improve in 2026
Listen to students, parents, and staff without drowning in feedback
Design small, meaningful changes that respect staff time
Bring people into the process so they feel part of the redesign, not pushed around by it
