Temple Christian Academy | Custom School WordPress Website

In the summer of 2025, Temple Academy’s Head Master reached out to me about building out a brand website for the school. The request was simple: “Give us a website that visually positions us as a premier private Christian School and helps us tell our story.” We started down the design journey but quickly were met with a speed bump along the way when the church’s long-time pastor passed away. As the school was processing the loss, they decided it was also time to pivot their school’s message to focus on four key areas: Increasing your student in (1) wisdom, (2) stature, (3) favor with God, (4) favor with man.

The result? A school website whose navigation is anything but standard but paints a beautiful picture of a school that holistically develops their students beyond just academics.

Problems on the old website

The old website had a multiple of problems:

• Built on WordPress with a theme that isn’t adaptable or scalable
• Images on the website were either very old or non-existent in key areas of school life
• Messaging focused more on their “offerings” more than what type of student they produce

Desires for the new website

When building a new Christian school website, visuals are always key. Photos of the students, staff, and facilities are crucial, but schools can often fall short on what photos to use. When a potential family comes to a new school’s website, they often think two things – maybe even self-consciously. First, they think, “what kind of kids are already in the school, and can I envision my child(ren) in these photos, too,” and they think, “do the current students actually enjoy themselves at the school?” With Temple Academy, we wanted their photos to tell this story. We had many photos from stages “around Knoxville” scenes, but we desired to paint a full story with images from events, theme days, spirit week, academic competitions, athletics, teacher/student relationships, etc.

Then, beyond the photos, we want a desktop website navigation that made a statement. A statement of “we have a vision and we want you to be a part of it!” We originally started with a cleaner, more standard navigation (think academics, admissions, student life, etc.), but at the beginning of the year, the Head Master said, “can we structure the menu in accordance to the new vision?” The answer? ABSOLUTELY!

As parents are processing their decision with Christian Education, we wanted to usher them through the entire school marketing funnel of first learning about the school, trusting the school, and visiting the school. Going beyond just showcasing each part of the school, we highlight the simple steps getting information, visiting, and apply for the school everywhere on the website. We utilized our signature floating next step menu, and at the bottom of each page, we help them take their next step and each page is a little different based on where they find themselves. For example, if they are on the “Portrait of a Graduate” page, they then are prompted with a question of “where to next?” with the options being “Why Temple,” “Tuition & Fees” and “Get Enrollment Information” because if a parent is on this page, these are the logical next steps that they are thinking through – which guides them further into the website with the goal of them contacting the school for more information and scheduling a visit.

After website launch

Now that the website is launched, Temple Academy is subscribed to a WordPress hosting, maintenance, and support plan through Marc Hyde Creative so that the website stays clean, sharp, secured, and updated. Plus, they now have a partner to help them fulfill their mission while never having to worry about the website again.

Ready For Your School To Show Up Online & Look Good When Doing It?

If you’re like Temple Academy and ready to get started with your website, fill out the contact form below to get started!