BRANCH EDUCATION SUPPORT PACK Part 2: Contacting Schools
Alex Bailey [email protected]
Abstract Considering the context in schools and the ESU Education Strategy, this section is a practical guide on how to contact schools, how to find the right staff member and how to explain the
ESU’s central programmes to teachers.
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Click on any of the section titles below to take you to the corresponding page
Table of Contents
Table of Contents .................................................... 1
Contacting Schools .................................................. 2 Use your fellow Branch members ....................................................... 2 Finding the right person .................................................................. 2 Calling schools and receptionists ........................................................ 2 Cold-calling/emailing schools ............................................................ 3 Email or phone? Making your emails and calls more effective .................... 3 Email guidance .............................................................................. 3 What time of the day? ..................................................................... 4 Using the resources at your disposal ................................................... 4
How to Find and Compare Schools Online – User Guide ..... 5
Speaking to Schools ............................................... 12 Calling a school ........................................................................... 12
Posting to Schools ................................................. 13 Posting to headteachers ................................................................ 13 Layout and headed paper ............................................................... 13 Handwritten letters ...................................................................... 13
Who to Contact: Roles in Primary and Secondary Schools 14 The differences between primary and secondary schools ....................... 14 Head teachers (primary and secondary) ............................................. 14 Head of English (secondary) ............................................................ 14 Head of literacy (primary) .............................................................. 14 Inclusion manager or SENDCO (Special Educational Needs & Disability Coordinator) (primary and secondary) ............................................... 14 Gifted and talented coordinators (sometimes called stretch and challenge – primary and secondary) ................................................................. 14 Pupil Premium (PP) coordinators ...................................................... 15 Headteacher’s Personal Assistant (PA) ............................................... 15 Pastoral care and mental health ...................................................... 15 Curriculum and extra-curricular activities .......................................... 15 Teaching Learning Responsibilities (sometimes called TLR for short) ......... 16 Heads of year and heads of department ............................................. 16 Oracy leads ................................................................................ 16
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Contacting Schools
This section gives you an overview of some methods you might use to contact schools, considering some of the issues raised in the previous section – The Context in Schools Today. There is no ‘one size fits all’ and schools vary hugely in their structure, location and situation. Nonetheless, the following will provide some useful tips to improve your chances of making a successful contact.
Warm contacts
You are far more likely to hear back from an existing contact. Ideally, they will have taken part in an ESU programme or competition so they’ll be familiar with what we do. Otherwise, you or someone else in your Branch may have spoken to them, or exchanged emails with them in the past.
Use your fellow Branch members
If you don’t have a contact at the school, does anyone in your Branch? Perhaps someone knows a teacher at the school or someone at the Local Education Authority. Maybe there’s a grandparent or parent of a pupil at the school who would be willing to mention ESU programmes or take printed ESU flyers to the school on parents’ evening. Any governors amongst your membership could prove very helpful.
If your Branch doesn’t have an immediate relationship with the school, consider the following: Have staff at ESU HQ contacted the school about the Schools Mace or another programme – you can contact Branch Education Officer Alex Bailey to ask. Do you have any strong contacts at other local schools who would be willing to vouch for the ESU? Schools speak and listen most carefully to other schools, especially in their local area.
Finding the right person
The success of public speaking or debating initiatives in schools can often be the result of one enthusiastic teacher. Having an existing contact at the school is a good first step and this will often be the person you need. Schools often list their staff with job roles and responsibilities on their websites. In some cases, they add their phone lines and school email addresses, so you can contact them directly. This can be very useful when you want to get to the right person. Do a little research on the school website to see if you can find the staff member’s name. See Who to contact: roles in primary and secondary schools for more information on roles in schools.
Calling schools and receptionists
To find the right person you can call reception, explain why you’re calling and ask who would be the best person to speak to. Be aware that not all receptionists will be forthcoming with this information as they receive a lot of calls on a daily basis from all kinds of organisations trying to sell them products and offer them services.
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Cold-calling/emailing schools
Where you have no existing contacts at a school, cold-calling is often very ineffective and can be frustrating. Due to the high number of unwelcome calls, receptionists are often trained to screen calls by asking the dialler questions. This can be disheartening when you’re phoning with a genuine offer so it’s important to remain resilient and professional. Always phone with a specific purpose and take a personable approach by finding the correct staff member’s name and email address. If you can’t find the name and email online, phone and ask reception. Have a clear explanation of what you are offering them. See the key messages about the ESU in this guide if you need support.
Schools have general enquiry email addresses like [email protected] or [email protected] for example, which you’ll usually find on their websites. Sending an email to these addresses with a subject like FOR THE ATTENTION OF THE HEADTEACHER will not tend to reach the desired person.
Email or phone? Making your emails and calls more effective
A combination of both is the best option. Ideally, you will email the main contact directly with a short and concise email summarising your offer or request. You can refer to the editable templates supplied in this guide to take the legwork out of writing them yourself.
Email guidance
According to email marketing specialists you have just 4 seconds to capture someone’s attention with an email. So, it’s important the subject and first few lines get straight to the point or aim for familiarity or recognition with the recipient. Make your emails as concise as possible and, where appropriate, put a deadline for the school to respond. The deadline should be around two to three weeks from the date of the first email. This gives you a chance to follow up and the teacher a chance to look in to your offer and respond. A one-week deadline is too short notice for a school to respond. If you wish, you can copy in (cc) the Branch Education Officer, Alex Bailey or request help from him with a draft email. Alex has been appointed to support Branches with education work in schools. He can advise on ESU central programmes and answer any specific questions which the teacher may have. As teachers are so busy it can sometimes take a while for them to read their emails and they may even miss them as they can receive so many each day. The time of year is also an important consideration, as teachers can be very busy at certain points in the school calendar e.g. end of year examinations (May-June). If the teacher responds positively and wants to book a Discover Your Voice Workshop, you can put them directly in touch with the Discover Your Voice team at the ESU by replying and making sure you copy in [email protected]. To do this, you can, if you wish, use or edit the template supplied in this guide by copying and pasting it and sending it to the school. One of the team at ESU HQ will pick up the booking and take it from there. ESU central staff will be sure to keep you up to date on the school’s booking and, if the schools allow, invite you or a fellow Branch member to watch the workshop in action, should you wish to do so.
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If you don’t hear back from the teacher within 4 to 5 days, you can try calling them and leaving a message if they’re unavailable. Send another email after around 12 days reminding the teacher of your offer and the deadline for response.
What time of the day?
Teachers often check their email after the teaching day has finished and they are not preoccupied about their next lesson. Therefore, a good time to send an email to a teacher is around 15:30 – 16:30. Your email will go to the top of their inbox when they check. Surveys have shown that teachers, especially senior leaders, often check their emails on Sunday evening to get slightly ahead for the week. Whilst this is a rather sad indication of some teachers’ work-life balance, it can mean that sending an email early on a Sunday afternoon can be a good way to catch a teacher’s attention.
Using the resources at your disposal
Schools work with businesses, charities and other organisations each with their own logo, branding and professional imagery. Schools are more likely to trust materials which look professionally produced. The ESU has a dedicated communications and marketing team which produces materials with an express intent of ‘selling’ our programmes to schools. Here are some existing resources which you can send to schools (please be careful only to send specific attachments which the teacher has asked for. Attaching multiple documents to an email is not good etiquette and the recipient is unlikely to read them)
• Email templates with hyperlinks in this guide
• Discover Your Voice video – a well-produced two-minute video which can be viewed on the ESU website here. This is a fantastic way of showing teachers what the workshop involves. This is the URL to the video - https://www.esu.org/our-work/discover-your-voice
• Discover Your Voice flyer for schools – designed by ESU’s professional communications department. It includes the pricing.
What if the teacher has retired / is sick / has gone on maternity leave?
Ask who their replacement is. Speak about the successes of the former staff member and the positive impact the ESU programme had on their students.
What if no one answers so you have to put the phone down?
Be persistent and call again later. It can sometimes take a few calls to get through to the person you want. If you leave your number or a message, do not expect a call back promptly. Teachers are incredibly busy and have little time to follow up.
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How to Find and Compare Schools Online – User Guide
How to find target schools in your area
There are some fantastic websites which allow you to easily search for all schools across England and Wales and look at an assortment of data about the school. The following official government websites are recommended:
• https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk - for schools in England
• http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk/ - for schools in Wales This guide will show you how to:
• Search for a school
• Search for a range of schools within an area
• Create a list of schools to compare with one another
User guide (for schools in England. If you require support using mylocalschool.wales, please contact the Branch Education Officer):
Click on the link above and you will see the following home page:
Click one of the three options to search by school name, location or Local Education Authority.
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To search by name simply select ‘Name or reference number’ and type the name of the school you are looking for. A dropdown list of school names will appear with the postcode in brackets. You can select the correct school and you will be led to that school’s information page e.g.:
From this page you have direct access to a range of useful data about the school including the headteacher’s name, a map of its location and a direct link to its most recent Ofsted report.
Scroll down and you can select tabs with more information about the school. IMPORTANT – you will find two key pieces of data which will determine whether the school is a target school under the ESU Education Strategy under the ‘Absence and pupil population’ tab:
…scroll down and you will see two key indicators: the proportion of students eligible for Free School Meals and the proportion who speak English as an Additional Language (see
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The ESU Education Strategy: Free School Meals and English as an Additional Language for more information):
The key figures are circled in the image above. The national average is displayed to their right, so you can compare. In this example, the school has significantly fewer students eligible for free school meals than the national average meaning this would not be a school which we’d prioritise under the Education Strategy. NOTE - the average varies considerably between regions. If you live in a more affluent area, you might consider comparing proportions of free school meals students in a school with others in your region, rather than the national average.
Searching by location
If you want to find all the schools in a specific area, go to the home page: Enter the postcode or town at the centre of where you would like to search for schools and click search. You will see the following screen with your personalised results:
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1. You can now edit your search by changing the controls on the left. You can filter your list of schools by specifying:
a. The radius from the town or postcode you would like to look e.g. within radius of 5 miles
b. The establishment type. For all state schools you will need to tick ‘academy’ AND ‘maintained school’
c. Phase of education – enter ‘Primary’ or ‘Secondary’, or you can tick both 2. As you amend the filters, the list of schools on the right will automatically filter.
Creating a comparison list
A comparison list is a list of schools which you create to compare with one another. Follow the instructions above to ‘search by location’. When you have a list of schools and you’ve filtered the results by radius, phase of education etc., as above, you can add the schools to a comparison list by clicking the green button ‘Add to comparison list’:
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After you’ve added all the schools to your comparison list you can click the button at the top of the screen ‘View comparison list’.
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The comparison list will display the schools you’ve selected. You can compare the schools on key metrics by selecting the tabs and drop-down menus at the top. To arrange the schools by number of students on Free School Meals click ‘Absence and pupil population’.
Next click the drop-down menu and select Pupil Population. On the right-hand side of the screen you will see two columns: ‘Pupils whose first language is not English’ and ‘Pupils eligible for free school meals at any time during the last 6 years’. Click either of the headings to arrange the results in descending order. Click them again to arrange in ascending order.
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You now have a list of schools in your chosen area ordered by their level of disadvantage. You can copy and paste the information in to a spreadsheet to keep a record of your search. At the time of writing this guide you are unable to download your comparison list in a spreadsheet but this capability may be developed in a following stage.
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Speaking to Schools
This section is designed to give you a framework to use when you call a school. It might help guide you if you haven’t called a school before or you’re unsure about how to explain ESU programmes like Discover Your Voice. If you’re calling schools where you don’t have any existing contacts, it can be quite a challenging process. It’s crucial to be organised, resilient and friendly. Receptionists are trained to screen calls and will often question your motives for calling. They may try to guard their colleagues’ contact details and ask you to email the general school enquiries address if they are unsure of your offer. Be conscious of the time of day and put yourself in a busy teacher’s position. They have limited time. Think of your intentions for calling. They may be:
• To speak to a certain staff member (literacy lead, pupil premium coordinator etc.) in the school
• To rouse interest and excitement in an ESU programme
• To gain an email address of the relevant staff member which you can follow up with
Calling a school
It’s often useful to think of suspicions or doubts which the school may have about your call and ways you can immediately dispel them. For example:
School’s suspicion What you can say
You are from a business and trying to sell them something.
Emphasise that you are phoning from a national education charity and that your offer is free (if it is).
Your charity is not offering anything valuable or worthwhile.
Don’t be afraid to mention the usual cost of the workshop or programme and be upfront if your Branch is offering to fund it on their behalf.
They haven’t heard of the ESU before, so it must be a small and unimportant offer.
Emphasise national education charity. We work with schools across the country. It might also be worth emphasising the ESU’s international character.
You are not local and don’t know the area.
Tell them your Branch name or where you are based. Mention other local schools in the area which you work with.
You are cold-calling lots of schools with your offer.
Tell them you only have limited places/funding and the offer is first-come, first-served. You have identified their school specifically.
There is no evidence to demonstrate that oracy skills have an impact.
Say research shows that oracy training through debating and public speaking boosts students' self-esteem and competency in communication. It also impacts positively on student attainment across the curriculum.
If you’d like more advice on this area see FAQs: What Schools may ask you. You will find a script for an ESU pitch and frequently asked questions from teachers.
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Posting to Schools
Posting a letter directly to a staff member can be an effective way of capturing their attention. Ideally, you will not rely on just post but also phone the school and follow up with emails. Consider who you address the letter to. Refer to the sections How to contact a school process guide and Who to contact? Roles in primary and secondary schools for support in this area.
Posting to headteachers
Many Branches have reported sending letters to all the headteachers of the schools within their areas and receiving very limited responses. Heads are exceptionally busy and often inundated with post which may not always find its way to the right member of staff. Debating, public speaking and oracy are rarely the direct responsibility of a headteacher. If a head notices the invitation, they will delegate the responsibility to one of their staff whose remit it falls under. In some cases, headteachers may even dismiss invitations to attend off-timetable or extra-curricular activities so their staff and students can focus on the curriculum. A personalised letter to the Head of English, for example, is more likely to be effective.
Layout and headed paper
Always use official ESU headed paper with our up-to-date logo and branding. You can refer to the Discover Your Voice and Discover Debating email templates section of this pack for advised wording. You can also find the template ESU headed paper on the Branch resources section of the website.
Handwritten letters
In an age of electronic communication and the ease of sending multiple emails, there is something special in receiving a handwritten letter. Whilst very time-consuming, it clearly demonstrates a concerted effort and can have the desired effect. If you would really like a particular school to participate in an ESU activity, and other means of communication have failed, you could try handwriting a letter to them. Branch tip: to save time and add a personal touch, some Branches have hand-written the body of the letter and then made good quality photocopies to send to several schools.
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Who to Contact: Roles in Primary and Secondary Schools Modern school staffing structures can be large and complex consisting of a range of teaching, support, admin, marketing, managerial staff and more. Large state secondary schools can have over 150 staff members, each with different remits and responsibilities. In secondary schools, the ESU’s programmes often fall under the remit of the Head of English who will then likely delegate it to another member of staff who has an interest in that area. In addition to the English department, there are many other staff in schools that may be interested in using ESU programmes to benefit their pupils.
The differences between primary and secondary schools Primary schools do not have heads of department and they are often smaller than secondary schools. The Senior Leadership Teams (SLT or SMT) at primaries are generally easier to get hold of. Many roles are common to both types of school. Here are some of the key roles and their responsibilities:
Head teachers (primary and secondary) Heads are often the first people to approach about issues pertaining to their school. If something has the head’s approval, it can be actioned quickly and given senior oversight which is highly effective. However, heads operate on the most senior level and deal with a high volume of requests, invitations and offers for students. If a matter involves an offer to a small group of students or a speculative opportunity which they aren’t familiar with, they may not engage. Unless you have an established contact or the head has particularly good reason to take note of what you are sending, the chances of them engaging can be low. Be aware that some heads do not like students being taken off curriculum and if you approach them directly about workshops which may involve obstructing the school’s calendar, they could ensure that the opportunity is not taken up.
Head of English (secondary) The Head of English can take decisions about what to include in their curriculum and delegate tasks to other English teachers who would like to pursue opportunities like leading the debate/public speaking team.
Head of literacy (primary) Some primary schools have a head of literacy who will be in charge of the development of reading, writing (and sometimes oracy) skills across the school and is therefore likely to be the person you want to speak to about debating in their school.
Inclusion manager or SENDCO (Special Educational Needs & Disability Coordinator) (primary and secondary) This person’s role is to ensure that students who, for various reasons, find learning challenging are engaging with their studies through a variety of supportive methods. They oversee provision for all identifiable groups who need support; including students on free school meals, who speak English as an additional language and who have special educational needs. You will usually find an inclusion manager or SENDCO on the senior leadership team of a primary school.
More able and talented coordinators (sometimes called stretch and challenge – primary and secondary)
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They are responsible for providing suitable opportunities for ‘more able’ students to fulfil their potential through a variety of teaching and learning methods.
Pupil Premium (PP) coordinators (primary and secondary) Schools in England receive additional ‘Pupil Premium’ funding for each of their students who are eligible for free school meals. Some schools with particularly high levels of PP students (the schools the ESU wants to support under our Education Strategy) appoint a PP coordinator. This role is often given to a teacher as an additional responsibility. Their job is to ensure PP funding is spent appropriately and that suitable opportunities are provided for the PP students in their schools. It is worth noting that in the current financial climate in schools, many headteachers have reported having to use their pupil premium funding to plug gaps in other parts of the school budget; the appeal of a free programme for schools such as the Discover Debating Programme would immediately be appealing in this situation.
Headteacher’s Personal Assistant (PA) (primary and secondary) All heads have a PA who helps them organise their workload, books meetings and responds to requests on their behalf. Contacting the PA can be a good way of contacting a head and bringing something to their attention. Heads’ PAs are mostly office based and easier to get hold of on the phone. Heads’ PAs can also offer advice on which senior leaders at the school it would be most advisable to speak to.
Senior Leadership Team (SLT or SMT, primary and secondary) The SLT are very busy people and difficult to contact but they have the authority to make things happen. Different members of SLT will have different remits and responsibilities. An SLT is generally made up of the head, deputy head(s), business manager and assistant heads. They are responsible for leading the school and are accountable to the schools’ governors for the budget and performance.
Pastoral care and mental health Growing numbers of young people in schools are experiencing mental health issues and, as a result, it is becoming increasingly common to find staff members with expertise and responsibilities in this area. How are the ESU’s programmes relevant to students with mental health issues? The ESU aims to develop: critical thinkers, empowered citizens and confident communicators. Research shows that these are essential skills in supporting young people’s mental health.1 Indeed. the ESU has been involved in a project which trained young people being supported by CAMHS (Children & Adolescent Mental Health Service) providers to debate and the outcomes of this demonstrated a very positive effect on their confidence and self-esteem.
Curriculum and extra-curricular activities The curriculum is of a central importance in any school. Emphasising how the ESU’s programmes fit within the curriculum and complement it is important in order to convince schools of a programme’s worth. Discover Debating for example is designed around the primary curriculum.
1 Alexander, R., (2008) Towards Dialogic Teaching: Rethinking Classroom Talk, Fourth Edition, York: Dialogos
UK (39).
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There will be many staff who are responsible for shaping the curriculum and deciding what extra opportunities might complement it. A debate club is often a prime example of an extra-curricular activity. A fantastic educational and developmental opportunity for any student. Unfortunately, these are less likely to involve the participation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds serving to widen the gap between students from different backgrounds. Moreover, they can often take place outside of school hours which makes it difficult for students from poorer backgrounds to attend. The ESU’s aim is that oracy training and debating is, wherever possible, an integrated part of the school curriculum or normal school timetable so all students can benefit.
Teaching Learning Responsibilities (sometimes called TLR for short) Experiences and fully qualified classroom teachers with experience under their belt may take on Teacher Learning Responsibilities for additional pay. These can involve many different areas which may include Pupil Premium students, Gifted and Talented, Alumni, Debating etc.
Heads of year and heads of department – what’s the difference?
Heads of year are more pastorally focussed and are concerned about students’ welfare and progress. Form tutors often report to the head of year and they nurture the development of crucial soft skills such as oracy. Heads of department are concerned with the curriculum of their subject and all the teachers in the department will report to them.
Oracy leads In recognition of the importance of oracy, some schools are now appointing Oracy Leads. This indicates that a school places a high value on teaching oracy and will likely be very keen to work with the ESU.
