In houses all across the northern hemisphere, people are starting their annual spring clean to ensure that their home is in tip-top shape. More importantly than cleaning, they are subconsciously reviewing how they live their day to day lives and discovering changes they want to make, to make life that bit easier. I believe that schools should take a similar approach too.
With the change of season in the air, schools should seek to mirror this by making changes in the way that they communicate with parents, carers and students. Although this can seem like a chore, it is vital to ensure that they do not start to fall below what is expected from them. This potential slip in standards is only sped up further by the constant advancement of technology and the ways that it can be implemented within the school ecosystem.
If you look back to just ten years ago, most schools relied purely on letters and physical paper forms that had to be relayed back and forth, and always tended to ‘go missing’ in students bags during the walk home. It was only in the years following that schools started to evaluate how they communicated and sought to make changes. Worryingly, there are still many schools that have not yet reviewed how they communicate and made relevant changes to their strategies. As a result of this, parents are becoming increasingly frustrated with their children’s schools, leading to a lack of engagement and overall satisfaction.
Before any major changes are made, it is important to gain feedback from parents to establish how they feel about existing communication methods. After evaluating the data, the brutal reality of current policies becomes clear and a route forward can be established. For many schools, this might be the first change they have made to school communication in several years, but it should be viewed as an exciting opportunity to re-affirm your connection with parents.
It is worth highlighting that EdUnity offers a free and no-obligation consultation session for schools looking to revise their school communication policies and systems. Headteachers and admin managers can book a free session via the EdUnity Events page.
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