Bedford College Academies Trust

WordPress multisite network created from scratch for Bedford College Academies Trust.

Summary of the brief

Bedford College Academies Trust needed a WordPress multisite network to contain websites for the two schools that they operate, plus the trust entity itself. WordPress multisite allows you to run a network of sites under a single WordPress dashboard — which fits well with the trust’s requirements, since the same plugins, themes, and Gutenberg blocks can be used across the sites with only minor stylistic & structural modifications.

Working alongside an agency, I created the multisite network from scratch, overcoming the many structural challenges of a WordPress multisite including SCSS inheritance, interactions between the main theme & the multiple child themes, and management of the child themes from the network admin account.

  • WordPress Multisite
  • WordPress CMS
  • Gutenberg Development
  • Custom Theme Development
  • Modular HTML & SASS
  • Vanilla JavaScript

Skills used

Development

I used the WordPress CMS to allow editors to insert or remove any module whenever they wanted, based on user needs. In this regard, the old approach of using the WordPress template hierarchy to create a set of rigid templates, which are then rolled out across the site, was insufficient.

With this in mind, I created a set of Gutenberg Blocks using PHP & JavaScript which can be selected from their own section in the Gutenberg Editor. If one of these blocks no longer served a user need, they could be removed immediately and replaced. With a templated approach this would not have been possible.

BC Trust Screenshot

Results

A WordPress multisite bringing together three stylistically different, but structurally similar, websites beneath a single WordPress dashboard.

BC Trust Website