Summer 2020 has finally arrived.
Summer term has not exactly been what we were expecting back in March, so I am sure everyone will welcome the summer break before getting back into a normal school routine again.
We have been taking some great photos (many of them in the rain) of the year 6 students before they leave and move on to secondary, we also still managed to produce thousands of leavers products for them to remember their time at primary.
Most schools are now closed for summer, but myself and Jaimie have spent the last few weeks speaking to as many customers as possible regarding autumn shooting, and how we will be managing this. It goes without saying all the plans in the world may change at the last minute, but still better to plan.
I am grateful that so many of our customers have taken the time to engage in the conversation about the challenges we all face and working with us on best practice when our photographers are due to visit. We will be constantly updating based on government guidance and each schools’ individual challenges.
It really is just a matter of a few weeks until we start shooting again and with many thousands of secondary students from the end of August through to the start of September, the feedback has been invaluable. Jaimie has done an amazing job, managing to accommodate all the diary changes so far. We are working over the summer so if you have any concerns at all about photography in autumn please get in touch.
Juliet and Sam have also been working on the updated photography styles for autumn shooting and the images look fantastic. We will be sharing them soon!
Contactless is the buzz word!
There are going to be so many changes to the way we work for the foreseeable future, and contactless is a word that is being used a lot. I would go as far as to say that we have been working on this for the last few years, knowing what we need to do as technology and the customers expectations change. With our web systems being our own and the development being driven directly by our constant learning from our customers we have secretly been adding function that reduce time lags and help parents see their images as soon as we have made them live, even before a proof is printed. We have now also brought forward our plans to be completely cashless as with many businesses due to the pandemic, and have options to directly supply to parents, taking even more work away from the school office. If that’s an option your think would benefit your school, please call and we can discuss all the options available.
Loop Wear update
I’d say we are looking forward to a little calm over the next 6 weeks but Loop, however our sister company supplies school uniform is very busy already. We have always invested heavily in online sales platforms as an expectation that this is the way customer wish to shop. A trend that looked likely to overtake face to face sales long before Covid-19. This year we are still seeing parents coming into the showroom to try on for correct sizing, but returning customers now simply prefer to order at a time that suits them.
Ashleigh and the team are doing a great job with everything running like clockwork, just as long as they don’t need to rest until September!
SO many babies….
In other news we have had a couple of company babies in the last few months. Firstly, Elle had a baby girl closely followed by Sarah with a baby boy. Huge congratulations to both families, I know all staff can’t wait to meet them both.
Baby update
Litterally as we posted this news item I was informed that Claire has had her baby girl too! Congratulations to her family.
