Covid-19 Advice for School Leaders: Pt3 - Communications Strategy
Maintaining regular lines of communication with parents and staff is key when facing long-term school closures. Our Comms strategy at Kellett has been by no means perfect, but here’s some ideas and some lessons which we have learned along the way.
Regular Messaging
Our regular parental communication strategy is to send out a weekly events calendar and to produce a “Kellett Dragon” newsletter twice a term which includes features and pictures etc.
In light of the Covid-19 crisis we decided to produce a “Kellett Kommunity” newsletter on a weekly basis. This gave us the opportunity to consolidate our messaging so that parents weren’t bombarded from lots of different directions. It also allowed us to centralise the message.
At first the newsletter was whole school, but we soon realised that we needed to separate Prep and Secondary as they were very different audiences and faced different challenges.
- 6 Feb Whole School Newsletter:
- 12 Feb Senior School Newsletter and Prep School Newsletter
- 19 Feb Senior School Newsletter and Prep School Newsletter
- 26 Feb Senior School Newsletter and Prep School Newsletter
- 4 Mar Senior School Newsletter and Prep School Newsletter
- 11 Mar Senior School Newsletter and Prep School Newsletter
- 18 Mar Senior School Newsletter and Prep School Newsletter
- 25 Mar Senior School Newsletter and Prep School Newsletter
- 1 Apr Senior School Newsletter and Prep School Newsletter
Pupil Communications
We weren't able to have an End of Term Assembly - instead we went online.
- 3 Apr End of Term Assembly
Covid-19 Communication Guidelines
From the outset we decided the following guidelines;
- we would not provide general information on the virus (medical advice, travel info etc), parents needed to go to other official sources for that info (same with the protests and transport info)
- we aimed to be understanding, grateful and motivational for parents delivering home learning, practical advice (well being, home learning);
- wanted to showcase home-learning to motivate participation;
- we would use a lot of video so parents and kids could watch together as much of the content was really aimed at both.
Managing Questions and Complaints
A lengthy closure is likely to generate a number of questions and complaints. For example,
- Will there be a refund for busing costs?
- Will there be a refund for Extra Curricular Activity costs?
- Will the school term dates change?
- Will I get a discount on school fees?
- Am I still liable for Fees in Lieu of Notice, if I leave early?
In these times, it is really important to give a consistent and clear message to parents. To do this we established a (Google) document that is shared with the Senior Leadership Team where we can capture and refine the responses to questions. That way when an email comes in from a parent we are able to have a standard response.
Collating these answers meant that we are able to include answers to popular questions in the weekly Kellett Kommunity newsletter.
Managing the Media
Schools need to be prepared to manage inquiries from the Media. It is important that the School has designated spokespeople who are fully briefed on school policy. More importantly, the people in the front line – the people on the Front desk and the people who answer the phone need to know not to comment and who to pass the inquiry on to. Beware we have had callers from the media pretending to be current parents.
Staff Communications
It is really important to communicate well with the staff. This is necessary in order to build team spirit and a sense of camaraderie within both the teaching and support staff community.
Done well it can provide a vehicle for the school to acknowledge the personal stress that the staff are working under at this time (balancing working at school with providing home learning for one's own children, the inevitable concerns from family back in the UK etc).
It is vital that the staff are informed of any communication before it goes out to parents. This is both a matter of courtesy and respect, but it is also practical - because it means that staff aren't taken by surprise when a parent contacts them.
Messaging Changes
We used video messaging to communicate complex issues and changes. For example, here's how we informed the school community how we changing the structure of our school day for the secondary school:
Responsive Messaging
The fast-changing nature of the Covid-19 crisis has meant that, at times, we have had to respond very rapidly to the situation. For example, at 12 noon on Tuesday 25th February we learned from a contact in the media that the HK Government were about to announce the suspension of schools would be extended from Monday 16th March to Monday 20th April after the Easter vacation. This was very bad news for the whole community.
Although the extension came as no surprise, the announcement did because up until then every announcement had been made on a Thursday afternoon. This was circulating in the Hong Press within minutes and the inquiries from parents came in immediately. At 1230, the Education Bureau announced that there would be a Press Conference at 1400. We parried the immediate responses and quickly made two videos, one for the staff and one for parents, announcing the extension. This meant that when the Secretary of State for Education announced the closure in the Press Conference we were able to publish the videos, first to the staff, and 10 minutes later to the parents. (This is very important - staff always must be informed in advance of any public announcement - however stressful the situation.)
We took the view that making videos to deliver the (bad) news would be more effective, because a simple statement doesn’t always manage to convey the tone and sincerity of the human voice – I’ll leave you to judge this was the case.
In dealing with the Covid-19 closure, the senior management team at Kellett has had earnest internal debates as we grapple to make tough decisions in fast-changing, even volatile, circumstances. Decision made, we then agonise over every word we write, conscious that it is important to strike the right tone in our communication to parents in order to carry the community with us. I suspect that we will only know if we have managed to do and say the right thing when it’s firmly in the rear-view mirror, and that may not be for a few months yet.
With thanks to the amazing Communications team at Kellett.
Headmistress at Walthamstow Hall School
4 年Thanks for this Mark - very useful comments.? It's so important that we are communicating clearly, transparently and calmly with our parents and staff and taking proportionate measures to keep our communities well.
Headmaster at Westfield School, Independent Day School For Girls, Newcastle upon Tyne
4 年Thanks Mark for this and the preceding articles. It's really useful to hear sound advice (on what went well and what didn't) for a situation that we are still preparing for in the UK.
Teacher/Head of Year 11/12 Atakamul International School
4 年Thank you for sharing
Headmaster at The Childrens Academy
4 年I really appreciate this - thank you for sharing.
Founder & CEO
4 年If anyone needs help with setup virtual classrooms, please contact me.