Rick Newman, Senior PR & Marketing Executive:

• Engaging with your school community during summer break
• Topics to post on social media 
• School media relations strategy

If you’re anything like me, you’ll still be processing the fact that it is actually 2024, but summer is just around the corner, and schools will soon be preparing for their well-deserved summer breaks. Educators and other school staff work incredibly hard throughout the academic year to deliver a robust, well-rounded and enjoyable learning experience for their students, and there are few who would argue that they aren’t deserving of a restful and relaxing summer break! 

However, it is important for schools to remember that even though the academic year has come to a close, they should continue to communicate regularly with their community. Effective communication throughout the summer months can help to maintain the sense of belonging amongst learners, their families and the surrounding community, and ensure a smooth transition into the new academic year for new and returning students alike.  

Here are my top tips for educators to maximise school communications through the summer break:

Plan ahead

While it may seem obvious, planning your summer holiday communications in the months leading up to the break is key to keeping your community engaged. Ensure that you capture photos, videos and student quotes from results days and utilise the period between examinations and results days to compile case studies and testimonials. Inform parents and carers of students of important dates for the upcoming school year by sending out email newsletters and reminders, and take the opportunity to share valuable resources for summer learning activities that can be developed throughout the school year. Importantly, remind parents that it is likely that your school office will be closed during the summer break and that they can expect slower responses to their enquiries than usual. 

Utilise your social media platforms

Social media is now one of the first places that many people visit when seeking information on a product, service or organisation. The same is true for schools. If you haven’t already, your school should at least have a Facebook and Instagram page set up so you can share important updates and recent highlights with your audience. In general, you will be talking to parents on Facebook, and a mixture of parents and students via Instagram. Remember this while drafting your content and tailor your posts to each specific audience. 

During the summer months, maintaining an active presence on social media is vital to keeping your audience engaged, but it can be a challenge to know what to post when your school doors are closed. I would recommend sharing key highlights from across the school year, posting reminders of upcoming important dates, providing tips for transitioning back into the school environment, and sharing any exciting activities available in the local area for parents and carers to participate in during the holidays. 

Stay front of mind

Much like social media, it can be a challenge to figure out how to maintain your presence in the media while seemingly newsworthy activities at the school are limited. However, with some creative thinking and some pre-planning, you can still achieve positive media relations activities while in the midst of the summer break. Keep an eye out for stories within the media that might present reactive commentary opportunities. While the academic year stops, the academic news cycle does not, and this can be a fantastic time to establish yourself and your staff as thought leaders in the space.

Consider also banking positive news stories that aren’t particularly time sensitive from throughout the academic year. This will allow you to disseminate positive news stories about the incredible things that your students achieve and ensure that parents and carers consider your school as one of the top destinations to send their children to.

Another potential activity to consider is offering ‘top tips’ style features to publications. Your expertise could assist a parent or carer to help their child to continue their learning throughout the summer break, or could support a parent or carer to smoothly facilitate their child’s transition back into school.

School summer holidays are, and should, be a time for well earned relaxation and rejuvenation, but it is possible to achieve this while maintaining strong and positive communication with your school community. By implementing an effective communication strategy, you can use the summer holidays to further strengthen your position within the community, celebrate your students’ achievements, and ensure parents and carers and students are all well prepared to begin the upcoming academic year.