Most schools have a full calendar of events, activities and occasions, so it can be hard deciding what content to include in your yearbook and what to leave out – especially in these rapidly changing times.
As with any publication, deciding what content is appropriate is a lot easier when you define your audience.
Primary & Intermediate
Parents are the target audience for primary and intermediate schools. They want a memento of their child’s time at the school, and the milestones achieved.
Secondary
For secondary schools, the student body is likely to have some direct involvement in creating the yearbook and will take more ownership of the content. So the audience for secondary school yearbooks is more evenly split between parents and students.
Teachers & Staff
Teachers and staff are an important secondary audience. For them the yearbook encapsulates all the hard work they’ve put in throughout the year and the successful outcomes achieved, so don’t forget to acknowledge them!
Getting The Balance Right
Should you feature as many students as possible in the yearbook or only the deserving?
Striking the right balance is challenging but worth pursuing. Academic and sporting success are right to be celebrated, but this can result in the high achievers getting most of the exposure.
It’s important to acknowledge the diversity of achievement among students within your school, including artistic endeavours, cultural performances and contributions to the local community.
Non-competitive activities and cultural events are an excellent way to ensure you get a good cross-section of students featuring in the stories and they often provide more exciting picture opportunities.
It’s Not All Accomplishments
Yearbook content needn’t be all about accomplishments.
Academic, sporting and cultural excellence are important, but so is persevering in the face of obstacles and getting up when you get knocked down – don’t forget to acknowledge the fighters.
It’s good to include some light-hearted stories to define the ‘vibe’ of that year, whether it’s a fashion craze, a funny saying or a new gadget everyone was bringing to school.
Yearbooks serve a valuable role as time capsules for the school and the wider community, and their importance in this regard shouldn’t be under-estimated.
