A highlight of my working year is exam results season.
Working as PR manager for school and sixth form clients, it is a time of year that takes a lot of planning to ensure my clients elbow their way to the front when it comes to glowing publicity.
Gone are the days when schools all released one key figure – the percentage of students achieving five or more A* to C grades in their GCSEs. Back then, it was easy to see which schools were thriving and which were standing still or, worse, going backwards. It was a figure parents used to compare schools – to differentiate what seemed to be the “best” and “worst” schools.
In the days since the grading system changed – and the likes of A* was replaced with Grade 9, etc – schools in Essex have had an agreement in place to no longer release comparable figures, because it was no longer simple to compare like for like.
That meant my PR strategy around exam results changed. No longer was I shouting about the highest achieving of my client schools and coming up with a communications strategy for those who were not having their best year. Instead, I switched my focus to the young people – to the individual success stories.
Every year, I tell my client schools that I don’t purely want a list of their straight-9 students. Every school has those students. Every school could put forward the stories of their highest achievers. But, my job is to show what my schools can do. Often, the students getting all top grades would have got those no matter which school they attended – so, that tells the audience nothing about the school.
So, in the weeks leading up to the summer results, I prep my school clients to find me the human interest stories; the stories where young people have overcome adversity or some kind of barrier to achieve what they have. Show me where the school has made a difference to these students’ lives.
On the other side, I have media contacts who rely on me to make their job easier, by lining up case studies for their radio and TV coverage. They know I will always have a bank of schools ready, willing and able to appear in their annual round-up of exam results.
And that, right there, is what earns my schools such wonderful publicity at this time. Of course, my schools feature in the newspaper round-ups. But, you will also find my stories standing alone, capturing readers’, listeners’ and viewers’ attention and putting my client schools’ names front and centre.
That is the beauty of having a journalist of almost 30 years on your team.
Take a look at the online, newspaper, radio and TV coverage I secured for my clients and contacts this summer…
Moulsham High School – ITV News Anglia
Mayflower High School – Brentwood Gazette
St Martin’s School – Brentwood Gazette
Mayflower High School – InYourArea
Chase High School – InYourArea
St Martin’s School – InYourArea
St Martin’s School – InYourArea
Mayflower High School – InYourArea
St Martin’s School – Romford Recorder
Mayflower High School – InYourArea
Chase High School – InYourArea
Chase High School – InYourArea
St Martin’s School – Romford Recorder
St Martin’s School – Romford Recorder
St Martin’s School – InYourArea
Chase High School – InYourArea
Chase High School – InYourArea
St Martin’s School – InYourArea
Mayflower High School – InYourArea
Mayflower High School – InYourArea
St Martin’s School – Romford Recorder
Mayflower High School – Yellow Advertiser
Chase High School – Yellow Advertiser
Mayflower High School – Brentwood Gazette
St Martin’s School – Brentwood Gazette
St Martin’s School – Romford Recorder
If you struggled to get your school and students the recognition they deserved this summer, get in touch on words@kellylouiseclark.co.uk to discuss my PR services.
