Securing positive press coverage can work wonders for a school or college, making it look successful and more attractive to prospective parents and the local community. And a good relationship with local newspapers can also pay dividends with staff and students, says Gareth Davies.

What the papers say

A quick search on Google for our school a few months ago brought up a fairly mixed set of results from the local newspaper. There was the construction of a mobile phone mast on the premises, a languages conference hosted in school and the Facebook-based “Anger at racism by former pupils” (grossly exaggerated).

There was also news of a few netball victories and – the crowning glory – “Pupil fires gun at boy” (not as bad as it sounds).

So what was the overall picture of our school to prospective parents and applicants? Languages college, gun-toting students, good at netball.
Six months later, the situation for Millthorpe is getting better. The netball victories are still there but we also have news of four charity appeals and a selection of stories about visiting speakers and organisations. Our own website is still under construction and we’ve yet to make it on to the television but already the process of thinking about our relationship with the press is having an impact in school as well as out of it.

Behind the headlines

Schools and colleges are not simply businesses that need to advertise and there are many arguments for having a proactive approach with the media. Here are a few we have come up with.

Tell them well done. Feedback from students who have appeared in stories run this year suggest it has been an experience that has boosted their self-esteem. Appearing in the press can be a really powerful reward.

Give thanks. When the school invites an outside organisation, company, or private individual in to work with students, press coverage (for which read ‘free advertising’) can be a very effective way of thanking them.

Ask for help. In the case of charitable events or school appeals, extra coverage has prompted participation from the wider community.

Say hello. Articles in the local media build communication with the local community and help promote cohesion.

Improving a school’s or college’s image on the outside might well be a great way to start improving it from the inside. It prompted us to ask what it is that we should be celebrating in the media. If nothing springs to mind, it is a great reason to create something worth boasting about.

And the very act of seeking to get more stories in the press – and sharing that aim with staff – prompts people to think about positive things they are engaged in.

Making the news

What does it take for a story to be newsworthy? Ask your media studies teachers. Galtung and Ruge’s 1965 study on news values, for example, is a great place to start:

Is it unusual or original? Students raise money for charity by holding sponsored run – OK. Students raise money for charity by holding a sponsored run in silly hats? Better. Is this just a publicity stunt? Yes – but then which would the students prefer to do?

Galtung and Ruge cited patriotic stories as more likely to appear in the press but forget Queen and country – just think local. A story that shows your students interacting with local people and charities is more likely to get in.

Don’t forget pictures. Picture stories are crowd-pleasers and if the photographer doesn’t show up on the day, take your own pictures and email them over with a press release. A story with images and text already written? What more could a busy journalist ask for – chips on the side? Plus if they’re your own pictures then you have good material for your next school newsletter.

Significant achievements are more likely to appear in print. Are your students doing anything impressive outside school? How would you know if they were?

Play the numbers game. If the story features a large number of students, it may be is more likely to be taken up, partly because of the greater impact and also because more participants means more potential purchasers of that edition of the paper.

There is a delicate balance to strike here. Stories that might be amazing for the school or college can make dull reading for those who don’t know it well.

Bad press

The other extreme is more daunting: stories that are bad news for schools and colleges but that sell papers. Tales of drug-taking delinquents in hoodies, issues of student safety and tales of incompetent or abusive teachers are disastrous for the institution and for the teaching profession as a whole but they certainly shift ‘product’.

While coping with bad press is a topic for another day, having first developed a positive relationship with the press can lessen the blow. While stories about bake sales and sponsored runs might not be as tantalising as “Mum’s anger at son’s treatment after fracturing arm” (which featured fairly sympathetic coverage for us recently), a steady and gentle flow of news pieces helps fill pages on slow news days.

If you have created a truly mutually beneficial relationship with the press, it is a partnership that they will also wish to preserve. It may not prevent bad news from getting out but it will certainly help to ensure the coverage is more balanced.

Finally, while the above relates primarily to local press, there are other means of getting the message out there. There’s always radio – though it can lack the permanence of print articles (which are often archived on the internet and therefore appear when someone – that prospective job applicant, parent, or inspector – searches for a name).

Outside your own website there’s YouTube (disable ‘Comments’ though, unless you have someone willing to check it every day) and even downloadable audio podcasts are worth a try.

Then, of course, there’s teaching publications. An article in a union or teaching magazine with the school’s name attached is another way of helping your stock rise.

Gareth Davies is an assistant headteacher at Millthorpe School, York.

Getting into print

Here are some of the strategies we’re trying at Millthorpe:

• Write your own press releases (generate a pro forma for staff to fill in key details to save you the legwork) and send them out to the local press as early as p ossible. Then, even if the stor y is not printed, at leas t you can post them on your website for parents and visitors to read. The similarities between press releases on our website and the final articles in the press suggest that journalists appreciate something to work with when crafting a story.
• Stock pile the press releases up as fodder for the school newsletter – it saves chasing up stories from busy depar tments at the end of each term.
• Give the press as much notice as possible and be patient if the story doesn’t run right away.
• Do what you can to ex tend the event, to give the press a bigger window for sending a photographer over for a picturesque shot.
• The school day can make it difficult to arrange meetings with journalists and photographers but it might be worth using cover to free teachers up to meet the press. It might be expensive to cover a lesson but it is still cheaper than paying for adver tising in the local paper.
• Keep a careful log of who you speak to and learn who the key people are in the different depar tments. That way you know who to approach and who to chase.

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