Edward Feild Primary School
Communications Strategy and Plan
June 2015
Version 4.0
Communications Working Group
1.
Communication Vision
Our vision is that all parents, staff and other stakeholders are always kept informed about the activities and
developments at Edward Feild Primary School.
The following key areas for communications are:
 Organisational and policy changes or developments
 Curriculum updates
 Activities within school
 Extra Curricular activities
Our mission is to have clear communication channels with all our stakeholders that are engaging, accessible and
accurate.
One of our objectives is to have a clear communication strategy that we can work with to ensure it is inclusive
for all audiences we need to reach, in a timely manner.
The benefits of this change are to have well informed and happy stakeholders of our school.
Communications to date have been;
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2.
Friday yellow paper newletters
Website updates
Letters from governors
Letters from school office/Head
Noticeboards
Twitter Feed @edwardfeild (since early 2015)
Friends of Edward Feild facebook page
Communications objectives (SMART)
The purpose of the communications activity is to:
 Inform parents about the school events and activities
 Promote the school events and activities externally where applicable
 To ensure curriculum details and developments are more widely accessible.
 Ensure end-users are engaged and kept well informed of changes to planned activities
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Communications Strategy and Plan Template
3.
Stakeholders
Key players, those who are helping to make the communication changes are categorised as follows:
High power, low impact. The following people must be kept satisfied and be agreeable to this change:
 Parents
 School Children
High power, high impact. The following areas will have a powerful influence and high involvement in making this
change:
 Head Teacher
 Business Manager
 Governors
 Staff
4.
Key messages
This follows the KNOW/FEEL(THINK)/DO model, taking the holistic approach of taking people through the
transition to changing their behaviour rather than just informing them of top-level change decisions without
prior consultation.
 RAISE AWARENESS (KNOW)
o Staff: Inform of communication changes and gather their input to requirements.
o School Children: Inform the school children and school council and get their input to
requirements.
o Parents: Inform parents of a plan to make changes to the current communications and ensure
they are happy with the plans.
 PROMOTE … (FEEL/THINK)
o Staff: Think about what communications they would like to have in place, especially to promote
curriculum activities.
o Parents: Ask new and current parents to sign up to email mailing list for school, will be used for
sounding board as well as general school communications.
o All: Promote the school activities open to the local community (school fete, Xmas shopping
evening etc)
 ENCOURAGE … (DO)
o Parents: Ask parents to tell us their thoughts on the school through a number of different
channels: Suggestion box, governors email, office email, face to face governor meeting, parents
evening meet & greet sessions, regular parent surveys on different topics.
o School Children: Ask the school children about how we can improve/change the school. The
school council could lead on this and feed into the regular newsletters on their views.
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Communications Strategy and Plan Template
5.
Channels and tools
We will be communicating to audiences via the following channels:
 Email (Parent Mail facility for parents to subscribe to)
 Text Messages (Parent Mail facility for parents to subscribe to)
 Paper newsletter (for unsubscribed parents of to Parent Mail). Parent mail helps also facilitates the
paper copies to be distrbuted to help save administration time and enable either an electronic or paper
copy is distributed to all parents.
 Website including twitter feed (soft launch planned for July 2015, full launch September 2015)
 Parent/Teacher Meetings
 Parent Information Evenings
 Noticeboards
 Letters out to parents
 Twitter feed
 Governors email address for feedback and actions
 Friends of Edward Feild closed facebook page (this is managed by Friends)
 Young Reporters, children in school feeding into communications.
See 8. Action Plan for a timetable of the activites.
6.
Evaluation
We will regularly monitor:
 Feedback on the newsletter in person or by email governors@efs.oxon.sch.uk
 Parent survey responses and distribute findings and actions
 General communication feedback from all
We will ensure that we:
 hold regular reviews in governor meetings
 offer school staff the opportunity to provide feedback
 engage with staff in face to face meetings
 engage with children to review website and other communications channels they contribute to
We plan to carry out a parents survey and lessons learned exercise at the end of the new website launch in
October 2015, to ensure all communications channels are delivering on our vision and mission.
All communications will be undertaken by the school staff team, except in the cases of governor
communications where this will be managed by lead governor for communication currently Heidi Hunt with
direct report into to the full governing body. All key communications will be agreed with the Head Teacher,
Business Manager or Chair of Governors and in all cases at least two out of the three will review and sign off
before distribution.
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Communications Strategy and Plan Template
8.
Action Plan
The following timeline illustrates the key communication activities.
Target groups
Message and purpose
Who
Target date
Status
(delete as
applicable)
Parents & School
children
Informs parents and
children of events and
updates happening at the
school. Used for children
achieivement comments.
School office to draft, Head Teacher
to approve.
Every Friday,
(comms cut
off TBC)
In progess
Parents
Updates to parents from
the governing body, who
they are, what they do,
latest action updates, how
to contact governors.
Governors to draft, Chair and Head
Teacher to approve.
Termly
In progess
Parents
Enables parents feedback
to school governors
Govornor representatives, Chair,
Vice, Communications Lead
Adhocy
In progess
Head Teacher Letters
Parents & School
children
Extra messages about
events or activites
concerning the school.
Head Teacher & Office
Adhoc
In progess
Email Parent Sounding Board
Parents
To ask for feedback on key
school decision and
actions.
Head Teacher & Office
Adhoc
Planned
Parents
To gather feedback on all
aspects of school life
Governors to draft, Head Teacher to
approve.
Adhoc but at
least once a
year in April
In progess
Parents, School
Children, Other
visitors to school.
To inform people of events
and actitivites.
School Office
Every Friday
morning
In progress
Channel or method
Newletter updates
Governor Letters
Governor Email
governors@efs.oxon.sch.uk
(Linked to Parent Mail as by email)
Parent Surveys
School Noticeboard(s)
Located:
1. School Main Reception
2. Foundation Stage
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Communications Strategy and Plan Template
Channel or method
Target groups
Message and purpose
Who
Target date
Status
(delete as
applicable)
Parents, School
Children, Other
visitors to school.
To inform all on who the
governors are, what the
role of a governor is,
updates from the
governors meetings. When
the meetings are held. How
to contact the governors.
Governors
Adhoc
Planned
Prospective parents,
parents, staff,
propective staff,
school children,
school visitors,
community.
To cover the wide range of
information available
about our school in a clear
navigation format.
Provides current and up to
date information with
regular new feeds.
3. KS1 playground
4. KS2 playground
Governor Noticeboard
Located:
TBC
Website
new
http://www.efs.oxon.sch.uk/
Twitter Feed
@edwardfeildps
Fundraising Updates
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Prospective parents,
parents, staff,
propective staff,
school children,
school visitors.
Parents, Staff
To advertise activities at
the school in a short quick
and easy feed.
To inform about fund
raising events and where
the funds will be spent.
News – as
often as
possible
School office, Staff, Head Teacher
School office, Staff, Head Teacher
Curriculum
update Every three
weeks
In progress
(New website
soft launch
July 2015,
Live Sep
2015)
As often as
possible
(weekly
ideally if not
more
frequent)
In progress
TBC
Planned
Friends of Edward Feild, Staff, Office,
Head Teacher, Lead Governor of
Fundraising working group.
Communications Strategy and Plan Template
Channel or method
Target groups
Message and purpose
Friends Noticeboard(s)
Located:
Friends (End of main driveway)
Parents, Staff
Friends (KS2 playground next to path
near exit gate)
To inform about fund
raising events and where
the funds will be spent.
Target date
Status
(delete as
applicable)
TBC
Planned
School Office
TBC budget
implications
on this as
need to have
a facility
bought in and
collection of
staff and
parents
mobile
numbers.
Launch
planned for
June 2015
(Parent Mail)
School Office, Governors, Head
Teacher
Each long
Termly (3
times a year)
Planned next
meeting for
June/July
2015
Planned
In progess
Who
Friends of Edward Feild, Staff, Office,
Head Teacher, Lead Governor of
Fundraising working group.
To inform of urgent school
closure, snow days etc.
SMS text alerts
Parents, Staff
Last minute change of
plans, events etc.
Parents Information Evenings
Teacher information evenings
Telephone
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Parents, Staff
To inform about progress
made on the School
development plan and how
the children’s results are
compared to last term.
Parents
To information parents on
topics, curriculum changes,
moving up etc.
Staff
As and when
required but
minimum of
once a year
Parents
To inform parents of key
information relating to
individual child.
Office
Adhoc as
necessary
Communications Strategy and Plan Template
Channel or method
Young Reporters
Target groups
ALL
Message and purpose
Who
Target date
Status
(delete as
applicable)
Key messages from the
school children
perspective.
Volunteers school children who
would like to know more about
writing articles, taking pictures and
getting them published on various
channels (web, twitter, Email, SMS,
Paper)
September
2015
Planned
History
Version 4.0 Created by Heidi Hunt.
Reviewed by Simon Jackson.
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Communications Strategy and Plan Template