The client and situation

Hamilton Community College is a secondary school in Leicester. Pupil numbers had been declining due to the poor perception of the college with local residents. They believed the college’s academic performance was poor and the students ill behaved. Many parents were choosing to send their children to other schools.

The reality is that improvements have been made for the last four years in GCSE results and the school had a favourable Ofsted report.

The college’s catchment area is a mix of council estates and private housing including a major new development with aspirational young families who often have a negative view of city schools.

The objectives

To increase pupil intake by changing perceptions of the college in the catchment area by:

• Raising awareness of improving GCSE results
• Positioning the college as a safe, well disciplined environment
• Increasing positive coverage in local media.

The research

Research was undertaken in the college’s catchment area. Focus groups and door-to-door surveys and were carried out.

Parents were asked how they would decide/had decided which secondary school their children would attend and for their overall impressions of the college, its pupils and staff and how these compared to other schools in Leicester. Respondents were asked how they had come to these conclusions. The clear perception was that the pupils were badly behaved with this view coming from peers rather than personal experience.

Local media coverage of Hamilton Community College and other city schools was compared. It was receiving negative coverage and had a difficult relationship with the education correspondent on the influential Leicester Mercury, a well-read daily in the catchment area.

The planning

The plan focussed on the two strands of:

• academic performance and
• behaviour.

The academic strand would be executed by demonstrating both the headline and (more positive) underlying GCSE statistics at Hamilton. The behaviour strand would be addressed by focusing on the traditional values of discipline and responsible citizenship encouraged at the college.

Media to be used would be the Leicester Mercury (via the education correspondent and other portals such as the letters page), local weeklies and local radio.

Two, full colour special editions of the school newspaper would be produced, each focusing on one of the campaign strands, and delivered to every household in the catchment area.

The implementation

The agency already had an effective working relationship with the Mercury’s education correspondent from work with other education related campaigns. A series of briefings focused on the college’s improving performance and good citizenship curriculum. A calendar of events at the college was created and used throughout the campaign to plan proactive releases.

A programme of releases, reactive comments and newsletters highlighting the two strands of the campaign included a piece on the real story of the GCSE results – that pupils who attended the college for the full five years performed significantly better than those who attended for less time. Two newsletters were produced showcasing the good citizenship and academic successes of the college.

Reactive pieces were generated in response to items of national news, for example when Patricia Amos was jailed for allowing her daughter to truant. Following a fight between two premiership teams the principal’s comments on how this related to behaviour in schools were run on the local commercial radio station on every news bulletin that day. He has also appeared on the radio regularly, commenting on the college’s gifted and talented pupils, as well as anti-bullying and truancy policies.

The Leicester Mercury now approaches Hamilton rather than other colleges for comment and pictures to enhance general education stories.

The PR budget

£9,000

The results, evaluation

The major objective of the campaign was to raise student numbers at Hamilton. Preliminary figures from the local education authority show a 25 per cent increase in the number of parents and pupils making Hamilton their first choice of secondary school.

The amount of positive coverage the college has received has risen over the campaign. Since September 2003 there were more than 11 million potential readers/listeners for the Hamilton coverage. All the coverage received by the college during the campaign has been positive.

A side effect of the campaign has been a rising reputation for Hamilton in the education sector, with coverage in the Times Educational Supplement. The local MP has also noticed the shift in perceptions of Hamilton and is keen to be associated with the college.