Modeshift STARS Guidance for Schools

Best Practice Guidance - Promotion What is STARS promotion?

3 easy steps

‘Promotion’ can describe a range of activities in relation to your STARS programme. Everything from posters and newsletter through to assemblies and open days can offer opportunities for you to raise the profile of STARS and your school’s activities.

Here are three things you can do now to promote your STARS programme:

Promotion is an important part of creating a successful STARS programme. Promotion will help to build engagement and enthusiasm in your school’s community. The more you engage with your school’s community, the more impact your promotion of walking and cycling will have.

• Create a STARS noticeboard in order to display information about road safety and school travel • Hold an assembly- talk about the objectives of your STARS programme and the school’s progress • Write an article for the school’s newsletter or letter to parents about STARS

Promotion doesn’t necessarily mean making a song and dance about it; the most successful STARS schools make the programme part of their everyday practice: business as usual. The most effective promotion will make use of existing channels of communication to reach as many people as possible. As always, it’s best to keep things simple! How can promotion help? Promoting your STARS programme will have a range of benefits: • • • • •

Momentum- keeping the programme fresh in people’s minds Inspiration- sharing best practice and encouraging positive change Recognition- highlighting success and making people feel valued Publicity- improving the image and profile of your school and your stakeholders The norm- regular mentions will have parents feel like active travel is an integral part of the schools ethos and that this is the accepted way to travel to school

Promotion within your school You will probably have lots of ways to reach your school’s community already in place. The best promotion will make use of these existing channels: • Newsletters- most schools send regular newsletters to parents. This can be a great opportunity to promote your STARS programme. Simple regular updates will help to keep up your STARS programme’s momentum (ie. cycle training dates, Walk to School Week, WoW results or hands up survey results etc...) • Noticeboards- why not make use of a notice board to display regular updates • and information about STARS. Pick somewhere that visitors to the school (as well as staff and students) will pass through, such as reception, to make sure that your notice board has plenty of exposure • ‘Fronter’ and other electronic systems- many schools use electronic displays, such as ‘Fronter’ to share information. These can be a great way to promote your STARS programme • Letters- your head teacher or other senior staff will probably send letters from time to time. Letters can be a very direct way to communicate with the school’s community about STARS, especially where there are specific transport issues which you want to highlight • Assemblies- assemblies are probably the most common way that your school communicates with your school’s community. An assembly is a great way to raise the profile of the STARS programme. If there’s space you could even invite parents along. Being normal STARS is about trying to encourage people to make small changes to their behaviour by adopting active and safer travel habits; people are most likely to adopt behaviours which seem normal. Regular, low-key updates on school travel issues will help to make STARS feel normal. Normal doesn’t have to mean boring! Promotion beyond your school A successful STARS programme will benefit the wider community, casting your school in a positive light. Once you’ve started to see the positive impact your programme is having, why not promote your programme to the wider community- especially when you have had a particular event or success which you would like to share. Wider promotion will not only support your STARS programme but help to enhance your school’s reputation within the community. The following are some of the more simple ways for your school to promote STARS to the wider community: • Website- your school’s website is a great place to include information about STARS. Visitors and the families of new pupils will look to the website for information about the school’s policies and practice • Prospectus- your school might also produce a printed prospectus. A prospectus gives people a sense of your school’s ethos; the policies and practices which are most important to your school’s community, as well as everything that makes your school special. A prospectus is a perfect place to include some simple information about your STARS programme and the schools commitment to active travel.

• Local press- your area will likely have a number of local newspapers. Stories about schools and especially students making a positive contribution to the community are very often of interest. This is particularly true if there is some specific event or achievement to share. If your school is hosting an event related to STARS, why not invite your local press? • Social media- for many people, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have steadily become one of the main ways to get news and information. Many successful STARS schools are now beginning to use social media as a way of getting information to their community. • Other channels- your school’s partners and stakeholders will have their own ways of communicating with the wider community. Talk to your stakeholders about the channels which they have available to them: 1. Local authorities 2. Partnerships such as Healthy Schools 3. Residents associations and community groups 4. Charities and youth organisations Being creative There are many effective ways to promote your STARS programme. You might have ideas for more creative forms of promotion. Here are some examples of ways that schools have promoted their STARS programme: • Printed items such as wristbands or high-visibility clothing can be produced relatively cheaply. They often prove popular with students and can be customised to include road safety and active travel messages as well as the school’s logo and other branding • Events such as coffee mornings can offer an informal opportunity for the school to engage with parents and other members of the community, this can be a chance to promote your STARS programme and can be an opportunity to launch new policies and initiatives, such as car share schemes. • Competitions are a popular way to promote your STARS programme to students: these can range from walking and cycling challenges to poetry or short story writing; anything with a travel focus! • Students will very often find very engaging ways to promote STARS: producing short films, posters and artwork will help young people to engage in STARS messages and the results can often be used to add further ‘reach’ to your promotion. Case Study: Oakwood Primary School Oakwood Primary Schools Travel committee wanted to support pupils to be safer while travelling about so they created their own ‘green cross code’ competition – pupils had a set amount of time to memorise the green cross code in order to win a special Strider badge. The team made a video to promote the green cross code and their competition. Their video was posted to the blog on the schools website along with a green cross code flier that pupils could download and use to learn the code. See the video on line at: http://oakwoodlive.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/green-cross-code.html

Finding a story As you begin to promote your STARS programme within your school and to the wider community, you will likely want to produce articles for newsletters or information for ‘Fronter’. The ‘little and often’ approach is often the best. You might want to include updates on your school’s regular policies and practice: • • • • • • • • •

Walking and cycling figures or ‘WoW’ badge schemes Walking or cycling class of the month Walking, scooting or cycling buses Car share schemes Cycle, scooter or pedestrian training Road safety assemblies Competitions Pupil volunteering schemes such as JRSO, school travel teams and School Travel Ambassadors

Small, regular updates will help keep your STARS programme fresh in everyone’s minds. However, it is important to add some variety to your promotion. Try to find the ‘story’ in order to make your promotion more engaging. Know your audience It is crucial to consider who you are promoting to- different messages will be more suited to different stakeholder groups. For example, there is no point in promoting cycling to students if their parents will not allow them to cycle to school. Think about who the main audience you want to reach is going to be and how best to reach them: • Students- student will have lots of exposure to promotion within your school, posters, notice boards and talks or assemblies will all be effective at reaching students. • Staff- like students, staff will have a lot of exposure to internal promotion but do consider the time pressures staff will be under- shorter announcements might be most effective. • Parents- word of mouth can play an important part in promoting STARS to parents. Children will often tell their parents about initiatives and activities within the school. Letters, newsletters and online communication channels might also be effective ways of reaching parents. • Other stakeholders- it is often hardest for schools to reach out to the wider community. Letters and newsletters can also be a way of reaching these other groups, as can local press coverage of your school’s STARS initiatives or inviting local residents to school events (summer fayres, Dr Bikes etc.) can be a good way to build a relationship with the local community. As well as considering how to reach your target audience, also consider the style of communication which will best reach them. Vary the tone of your promotion To make your promotion more engaging, consider varying the perspective and tone of your communication. Very often, promoting your STARS programme is about trying to persuade your school’s community to make positive changes. You may wish to consider the three modes of persuasive writing: Ethical (ethos), logical (logos) and emotional (pathos). Different readers will respond more strongly to different approaches:

• Ethical- writing from an ethical perspective might focus on the benefits of your STARS programme to students, families, the community and the environment. For instance, you might focus on the health benefits of walking or cycling to school. It’s the right thing to do! Some readers will find it engaging to feel that they can make a positive contribution. It may also be persuasive if the reader feels that the article is coming from someone who they see as credible or authoritative- perhaps get a quote from the head teacher or some other respected figure in your school’s community. • Logical- it can be very persuasive to know the facts of an issue or to hear about the data your STARS programme has collected. Consider including some key facts and figures. For example, the fact that it is often faster to cycle than to drive in urban areas or that walking can be quicker than the bus for short journeys. You might include survey data from your school. It just makes more sense! Some readers will respond most strongly to an objective, factual writing style. It may also help to acknowledge the range of opinions, to show that you have taken in all sides of the argument as this will make your promotion feel more balanced. • Emotional- another way to engage readers is to make stories personal. To do this, you could include quotes from students or parents who have taken part in a particular activity. For instance, quotes from students on what they enjoy about walking to school. Walking to school is fun! Some readers will find it easiest to engage and relate to things from a personal or social perspective. It might be more engaging if your promotion feels sincere and passionate- show the reader that you genuinely care about the issue. No single approach is best. Different readers will respond better to different styles and tones. If you are struggling to find ways to make your promotional activities engaging, consider trying out these different approaches. Normally, it will be most effective to use a variety of approaches. Using only one approach exclusively can have down sides: • If your promotion constantly uses the ethical approach, readers will probably feel they are being lectured or preached to • If your promotion takes the logical approach exclusively, things can end up seeming too dry and boring • If your promotion uses an emotional approach too much, you might end up sounding soppy and overly sentimental Good promotion will make a clear argument and include a few strong facts but will keep the tone friendly and personal. Timing of promotion It is important to consider the timing of your promotions. Research suggests that people are more likely to change their habits and behaviours while they are undergoing periods of change. This might include starting at a new school or even moving from one class to another. For this reason, it might be most effective to promote walking or cycling to school at the start of the academic year, and particularly in your communication to new students and families. Another thing to consider is the weather. It might seem obvious but people are far less likely to want to start walking or cycling to school in the winter months. Conversely, it might be a great time to promote some ‘Be Safe; Be Seen’ road safety messages when the clocks change for the winter.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, make sure you consider the school’s calendar and commitments when promoting your STARS programme. Exams, school holidays, trips and school plays will all have an impact on your school’s community. Try to avoid battling for people’s time and attention by working around your school’s other activities and recognising people’s pressures. Recognising success An important part of promoting your STARS programme is making sure you take the time to recognise your school’s achievements. Sometimes those achievements can appear small at firstslightly fewer car trips, a couple more regular cyclists- but these small changes can soon add up to a big impact! Make sure you take the time to recognise the progress your school makes towards its goals, as well as the people who have contributed to it. This will help to keep your STARS programme relevant and meaningful. Often students and families, as well as school staff, will have made an effort to get involved in STARS initiatives. It is important to recognise these efforts and to make sure that people feel that they are valued- this will encourage further involvement in the programme and help to keep the momentum of your STARS programme high. Small (and not so small) victories Here are some examples of small victories which your STARS promotion could recognise and promote: What to promote Positive results to a hands-up or modes of travel survey

Cycle, scooter or pedestrian training

A student-led competition or project A visit or assembly from one of your stakeholders

Approaches to promotion • Celebration event– have some active travel fun! Invite your school community to take part in some travel related activities. • Pupils could use bikes / scooter at play time perhaps or carry out bling your bike activities in lesson time. Write an article to tell parents what the celebration day is about and report your hands up survey results. • Create a display to show off your positive results- pupils could do this in maths or art, to go on display in the school foyer or on a notice board at the school entrance. • Report how many children took part on your website or in the schools newsletter. • Invite parents to a Demonstration event to show off newly acquired skills- offer refreshments as a way to draw in the school’s community • Present pupils with certificates at a special ceremony • Pupils involved could write a report to be shared with the local mayor / MP’s / Councillors and local press • Use the schools newsletter and website / Fronter to promote this. Take photos and add to your website after the event. • Invite parents to the assembly or other local schools travel champions to share best practice

And some bigger successes: STARS/ Modeshift accreditation or awards Healthy schools or Sustainable schools status Successful applications for grant funding New facilities such as cycle parking

• School newsletter • School website • Letter to parent

• Hold a ‘grand opening’ event- inviting pupils and parents to cycle to school together to celebrate the achievement. Try to include as many cycling focussed activities as you can: 1. Offer a Bikers’ Breakfast for cyclists on the day 2. Contact your local authority about cycle training and see if you can promote this at your event. 3. Offer a Dr Bike session Positive contribution of STARS to • Include the contribution of STARS in newsletters, website OFSTED inspection etc • Invite parents to an assembly to talk about STARS and how all this contributes to making the school a better school. Pupils could lead on the assembly. • Include STARS in your School’s improvement plan Promoting and publicising the progress of your STARS programme can be a simple and effective way to make the most of STARS at your school.