How effective is the Mossley Hollins prospectus, as a media text?

'...which opened in 1961...' '...any faith, race or ability...'

This is used completely to inform the readers about some of Mossley Hollins' history and it also seems by the mentioning "...race..." the school is an anti-racist school that permits nothing of this sort. Again this would be effective as it reassures the audience that their child would be in a good, safe school community. Opinions are the opposite of facts and are therefore not completely true. Opinions are again used throughout the Mossley Hollins prospectus one good example being based at the beginning of the prospectus starting with:

"...We enjoy and celebrate our own and others' success..."

It seems this is used to try and convince the audience that success accrues often and therefore the audience might consider the school as a more than reasonable choice to send their child, making the prospectus effective and also showing the prospectus is fulfilling its purpose.

Still, more rhetorical devices like adjectives and also repetition are used to further the effectiveness of the prospectus. Adjectives are used throughout the prospectus to describe a different variety of things included within the school. There are many examples including,

'...Mossley Hollins' teachers are caring, energetic and experienced...'

These exact adjectives are used to describe the teachers and their teaching within the school. These are also again, opinions. The adjectives used are all positive which will then make the audience think positively about the school, which again shows the prospectus is fulfilling its purpose. Repetition is also used to make the prospectus effective. I know this because as I studied the prospectus I realised a paragraph that was said on page one was then repeated onto page seven. The paragraph started with:

'...Your child will enter a school that has a modern, rigorous focus on TEACHING & LEARNING...'

I personally think that this certain paragraph was inserted twice into the Mossley Hollins prospectus because again it has direct address but also has "...TEACHING & LEARING..." in capital letters to make it stand out, giving the audience the impression again of success and also a environment with high teaching and learning within the classrooms.

It seems to me that the second reason the Mossley Hollins prospectus is effective in my opinion is because of the presentational techniques used to improve the visual form of the Mossley Hollins' prospectus. The first presentational technique I realised whilst studying the Mossley Hollins prospectus was the use of, glossy high standard photographs, that's suggest to me and the audience that the school and it's teaching are also high quality. These photographs are photographs from different points within Mossley Hollins high school. A large number of the photographs taken are used as visual evidence of the relationships between the teachers and pupils. One of these pictures has an anchor that's clearly says:

'...We succeed because we learn together...'

This is repeated throughout the prospectus and it seems this is trying to persuade the audience that the school is a successful school, which would be perfect for their child. This is also used as the anchor of the photograph to stress the togetherness of the school, because of the smallness of the school it can be used to their advantage.

The fantastic eye-catching, bright, bold mixture of colours used frequently throughout the Mossley Hollins' prospectus suggests personally to me that the school, pupils and also staff are all very bright, vivid and lively with huge personalities and since great personalities lead to great relationships again it suggests to me that the students and teachers have very close relationships. In addition to that the three different colours used on the back and front of the prospectus, (red, dark navy and white), suggest to me again that the school is anti-racist as they seem to represent the different colours of a person, and as they are merged together it seems that it shows the togetherness of the multi-cultural community and also that everybody is as one although individually have different needs.

The format of the prospectus is not as effective as the techniques and devices used, but are still effective in the eye of the audience as it is eye-catching because it's an unusual size. My guess is that the Mossley Hollins prospectus is a little larger than the average A5. Another presentations device used is the expensive waxed paper used within the prospectus. This makes the school look high quality in my opinion, which will almost defiantly persuade the audience that school is worth visiting at the very least. The final presentational device I noticed is the Mossley Hollins' traditional badge on the back of the prospectus. It seems it's implying that the school is a mix of traditional and modern learning.

Lastly but not least the third reason the Mossley Hollins prospectus is effective id because of the various text techniques used throughout. Within the Mossley Hollins prospectus there are at least five different text techniques. These include the various font styles. The text techniques seem to be used in attempt to get the prospectus noticed. The different fonts, font colours, bullet points and also italics it's very effective in terms of getting the prospectus attention. An example of all these different varied text techniques are based on the high quality waxed paper, making the waxed paper and the overall prospectus look even more high quality. Headings are also used throughout the prospectus to catch the eye of the reader. Headings such as "...The right to succeed..." and also "...Learning Beyond..." as based up in the prospectus to try and get the audience to read the paragraph written below the headings. The bullet points also used, catch the readers' eye making them want to read what is written, which then gives them more positive information on the school.

I feel the prospectus is very effective because of the text techniques, rhetorical devices, presentational devices and much more. The prospectus seems to have a connotation screaming "...join our school..." although the denotation of the prospectus seems to be to market the school. The prospectus is very vivid, bright and very eye-catching whereas the language contained within the prospectus is extremely persuading. All this along with high quality images I don't see how the prospectus could fail its' purpose and is therefore effective in my point of view.

David Pollard English coursework Mr Eyre