Why it’s a good idea for schools and trusts to have a media page

It’s common for most organisations to have a dedicated media page on their website and yet few schools and small trusts do.

Every organisation wants to be consistent in their messaging and control their narrative. A media page is where you can host positive news stories, whether or not they have had media coverage. It’s also a useful page for journalists, and wider community stakeholders, to find out about your school or trust. They won’t necessarily want to go through your website to find key information, such as how many pupils attend or who the Headteacher is.

Having a media page won’t make positive stories any more likely, but it will reduce the chances of key errors about your school or school trust creeping into an article or broadcast media package. A media page can also be very useful in the case of urgent, unexpected news that you have to tell the media and your wider community.

Perhaps controversially, we think that a media page should have the email address of a school trust’s CEO or a Headteacher. As a minimum, include an email address that is contact@schoolname. Of course, we don’t want the media to misuse this, but most won’t. As a school trust or school, it’s best to make it easy for journalists to get in touch with the Headteacher or CEO. It starts the relationship with the media on the worst possible footing if journalists have to guess the email format for the person they would like to contact, and you will need to know quickly if they are planning to run a story on your organisation. How you respond to a journalist’s email is another matter.

What should your media page include?

• High-quality images of your students engaged in an educational activity

• High-quality headshots of the school leaders and the trust executive team, along with their name, title and a way of contacting them

• Five or six key messages that encapsulate the most important characteristics of your school or trust

• Social media links

• Recent positive stories about your school or trust

A media page doesn’t have to be long, but it should be easy to update. It will increase the likelihood of journalists reporting accurately about your school or school trust, and demonstrates a commitment to transparency and accessibility that will improve relations with your local media organisations, and possibly wider community stakeholders too.  

To talk to us about your website or any of your PR, communications or marketing needs, contact: jessica@sparrowhawkcommunications.com