About Digital Schools – and the belief that started everything.
Twenty-eight years of community storytelling.
The instinct found its home.
Digital Schools didn’t begin with a business plan. It began with a belief – that storytelling is a fundamental human need, and that the tools to tell a good story should be available to everyone.
From Cafe Society’s first darkroom sessions in 1997, through film festivals on the Yorkshire coast, community workshops on the Navajo reservation, and curriculum projects in Sierra Leone and Ethiopia – every project we ever took on was driven by the same instinct: find the community, understand their story, and help them tell it well.
In 2008 that instinct found its permanent home. Schools are where young people are. Their story deserves to be told brilliantly to parents, to Ofsted, to the community around them.
Digital Schools was founded to make that happen.
Where it all began for Digital Schools The Digital Schools story began in Hull in 1997 — with photography, youth media and a belief that schools deserved better digital communication. Hull, 1997. Before YouTube,…
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14,000 miles across America, documented in real time using digital cameras and a laptop. Images relayed live to a server in Hull. Artists back home reinterpreted the raw material digitally and posted their work…
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A four-day outdoor film festival. International guests from Europe and the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. A six-month embedded training programme for schools and community groups across South Holderness. All of it happening in one…
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In the summer of 2002, eight digital artists from the UK and Holland drove into the Arizona desert with cameras, laptops, and a single belief — that the most isolated communities on earth deserve…
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A five-year creative partnership spanning national TV commercials, internet safety curriculum films, and a university launch campaign. Some of the most remote island communities in the Indian Ocean. Some of the most rewarding work…
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Working with Africa Unite, UNICEF, the Bob Marley Foundation, and the JRDC School. Community storytelling at its most purposeful — giving young people in rural Ethiopia a platform and a voice. Shashemene, Ethiopia. 2005.…
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A three-year project connecting Hull and Freetown, Sierra Leone. Community filmmaking, music production, and digital storytelling with young people in one of West Africa’s most challenging post-conflict environments. The same belief that drove every…
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After a decade of taking storytelling tools to isolated communities across the world, the focus turned closer to home. Schools are where young people are. Their story deserves to be told well. Digital Schools…
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Swinemoor Primary School in Beverley became a Digital Schools client in January 2013 – and remains one today. Over twelve years of school website design, photography, and ongoing support. The kind of partnership that…
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Digital Schools became the digital partner of choice for Venn Academy Trust – a growing multi-academy trust across Yorkshire and beyond. Website design, photography, film, and branding across multiple schools, built to a consistent…
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School websites across Yorkshire and beyond From twelve coastal schools in South Holderness to more than sixty school website design projects across Yorkshire, the Humber and beyond. Yorkshire and beyond. 2026. Sixty schools. Sixty…
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The story isn’t finished.
Today Digital Schools works with 60+ schools and trusts across Yorkshire, the Humber and beyond. The technology has changed beyond recognition since 1997. The belief hasn’t moved an inch.
If you’d like to find out what we could do for your school — we’d love to hear from you.
Ready to transform your school’s online presence?
Whether you’re starting from scratch or ready to move on from a website that no longer reflects your school – we’d love to hear from you. Schedule a chat and let’s explore what’s possible.