Sharing positive news stories is essential for any schools today seeking to engage with the local community. In fact, schools with better local reputations have higher admission numbers and an easier time recruiting quality staff.

Traditionally, schools published news in periodical newsletters. Today, there are many other, more outward facing, ways to let the world know about the great things happening at your school. But for many schools, it’s hard to know where to begin.

That is why our latest blog provides five examples of good news stories that your school should look out for and start talking about.

Collaborative Activities

Any time your school, a class, or even individual students take part in activities alongside members of, or organisations within the wider local community, it provides a great opportunity for a good news story.

Schools today are tasked with educating children to be good all round citizens with as much focus on developing life skills and giving back to the local community as is placed on academic success.

Any story, no matter the size of the event, that shows your school’s integration in the local community also demonstrates this important part of your school’s pedagogical remit.

As a great example of this, check out this article we wrote for The Croft Primary School in Swindon, when they were invited to take part in the local christmas lights switch on: https://thecroft.swindon.sch.uk/school-news/the-croft-to-turn-on-the-christmas-lights.

Pupil Achievements

All parents want to see their children do well at school. Highlighting examples of your pupils’ achievements demonstrates that your school is a place where this happens and make it a more desirable choice for prospective parents and potential new recruits.

Even if the pupil has achieved something outside of school, make sure you publicise it to show how much you support every child’s success inside and outside of the school environment. Just make sure you get permission!

Recently, our client Rodbourne Cheney Primary School received a lot of positive engagement for this story about their pupil persuading Waitrose to design a new cookie for sale!

Teacher Achievements

CPD developments or individual awards for teachers are fantastic subjects for school good news stories. Stories of this nature speak to two important audiences. Firstly, you show parents that their child will be in competent hands, and secondly, potential recruits can clearly see your school or Trust is invested in staff development.

We recently published this article for Devizes School about how one of their teachers has made the top 100 Guardian Inspirational Leaders List.

Classroom Initiatives

Teachers put a lot of effort into making learning fun and engaging for their pupils. While these efforts may feel commonplace to teachers, they are often of great interest to current and prospective parents.

For every fun activity your teachers organise, you should be considering if and how it can be shared externally so parents hear all about it.

If you’re not sure what sort of thing you could talk about, take a look at this piece we wrote for Drove Primary School about a fishkeeping initiative undertook by their year 3 class: https://drove-pri.swindon.sch.uk/school-news/taking-part-in-fishkeeper-fry-2020.

Annual Events

World Book Day, Red Nose Day, and Christmas Jumper Day are just a few events celebrated by schools every year, and most will plan lessons or other supporting activities supporting these events.

Communications covering events of this nature can be planned for right at the beginning of each year to give you a headstart. Every year, we publish hundreds of pre-planned editorial content for our clients. Take a look at this example here: https://www.themanor-school.co.uk/school-news/red-nose-day-2021.

At Eduprise, we know what good news looks like. That’s why we work with schools every day identifying opportunities to shout about the fantastic things taking place. We create editorial calendars in advance, produce content on behalf of schools, and also work with each school to identify any bespoke or opportunistic content we can leverage to boost the school’s reputation in the local community.

If you would like to find out more, get in touch with us today for an informal chat.