Hello, and welcome to this episode of approaching schools. Today I'm going to be talking all about how you can communicate with educators effectively. Having worked with over 3000 children's activity providers on the five day get your business into schools and nurseries challenge. And having worked with hundreds more in the approaching schools Academy, I know that you often worry about how you come across, you often worry about how you come across on email or in a letter, and whether you sound professional or not, particularly if you've never worked within a school or a nursery context. But the good news is there are some simple tweaks that you can make to really see a difference in your email and letter writing, and really start communicating effectively with head teachers and nursery managers. So they can see that you really are the solution to their problem, and that you're going to be able to help them with their needs and wants for their school or their setting. So one of the things we can really do is think about the educational language we use, and make sure that we are speaking the lingo.
So there are some really simple swaps that you can start to make, first of all, which will make a dramatic difference to the way in which you approach your local head teachers and nursery managers. First of all, we can swap some of the terminology that we would normally use for the sorts of terminology that we would typically see within a written lesson plan or government educational document, report writing things that teachers are used to seeing written down. So first and foremost, you are no longer a coach or an instructor, you are now a teacher and that is how you are going to refer to yourself. Next, you are not delivering a demonstration session or a taster session or a class, you are providing a lesson, a demo lesson and taster lesson, a dance lesson, a drama lesson, you are not working with children anymore, you're actually working with pupils. And you're not providing a programme you're providing a scheme of work. Now I often say that working in education, there are more acronyms than an episode of line of duty. And you might have seen some of these written down and wondered what they mean, EYFS, that's the Early Years Foundation Stage. And your Early Years Foundation Stage framework is what is being taught in nursery and in reception. And you may also hear nursery or reception being referred to as Fs one or even Fs two sometimes, and that stands for foundation stage one and foundation stage two which is in nursery and your reception. Similarly, instead of infants and juniors, we have key stage one and we have key stage two.
So you might see this written down as ks one or ks two. And of course, if you're working with secondary schools, you may see ks three, KS four, etc. You may be asked or you will be asked for your DBS from the disclosure and barring service. This was formerly known as a CRB typically a criminal record check. So if you see dBs, you're going to want to make sure you've got one and an enhanced one as at that, for working in your local schools and nurseries, you might see the term send, you might have known it as Sen. But previously it was Sen. Now it's send because of the addition of disability, so special educational needs, and disabilities. So those are some of the acronyms that you might come across as a children's activity provider, liaising with your local schools or nurseries, and there are so many more as well. And I want you to really think about your outcome based terminology. Whenever we offer a free demonstration lesson or a free taster in our local schools or nurseries, we really want to think about why the head teacher or the nursery manager will want us in their school over and above the fact that this is something we are offering for free.
Where does it fit in to their curriculum?
What are the benefits of getting you in?
So there are some words and phrases that you could pick out from for example, the national curriculum programmes or study for your subject, you can find them online. The early learning goals from the EYFS, or various Department for Education, funding documents, and other publications. Literally use the words and phrases from these documents because then a head teacher or a nursery manager can easily see how your activity or service is aligning with the curriculum and where you would fit in to the school day. What they can also potentially see is where you are aligning with some funding that may be available for them to spend on your activity or service later down the line. And you'll find these tips particularly useful if you want to do curriculum lessons and workshops, so that you really aligning with what head teachers and nursery managers want and need. And it will even help you with how you come across when you're pitching or extracurricular clubs to start making some of these simple changes to the way in which you communicate with educators. And what's your email or letter writing transform.
Another way you can align your language with that of a key decision maker in schools or nurseries, is to look at the feedback you've received from other teachers in schools. What key words and phrases did they use? Now this may be in a testimonial or review you've received, it may simply be in a conversation you had with somebody the first time you visited their school, or their setting.
Are there any words you found or phrases you found? that have come up time and time again? When you compare the recent reviews you've received with the work you've delivered in schools or nurseries? Are they constantly using the same words? Those are the words and phrases you definitely want to be using.
If you want to attract more head teachers or more nursery managers that are just like them, who are thinking just like them, who need a provider, just like you. Have they given you the reason they used your services? Could you start using those reasons, words and phrases in your future communications with schools, I want to tell you the story about a time where I received some feedback from a school. And they told me the reason they wanted more dance on the timetable was to appeal to the girls who were less engaged in PE. And they also told me they would be using PE premium money to fund it. So they could also help their teachers feel more confident in teaching dance as part of the curriculum. So I assess about using this feedback in my marketing to other schools in the area, not as a testimonial, but by asking other schools if they needed to engage more girls in PE. And I looked at their PE premium documents. And I use the terminology from there.
For example, one of the phrases they were using and the PE premium document as a condition for grant was supporting and involving least active pupils. Another one was upskilling class teachers in their confidence, knowledge and skills.
So guess what, when I offered a demonstration lesson to another school in the area, I mentioned that the outcomes and the benefits of booking this lesson was that it would support and involve the least active pupils, and that it would upscale class teachers in their confidence, knowledge and skills. Sure enough, I soon got another school wanting curriculum dance, who will be using their PE premium to fund it. So how can you use the feedback you've received from other schools or nurseries to inform your marketing message in future campaigns? Has a school or nursery ever told you why they wanted to get you in? If not, could you ask them? What funding were they using? Could you check the requirements for spending this funding on gov.uk and use some words and phrases from that document in your future campaigns? Which subject is your activity or service officially fall under? What terminology is being used to describe the outcomes you deliver for that subject in the national curriculum, or in the early years framework?
One of my approaching schools Academy members was continually being asked for clubs. And what she really wanted was daytime work for her team. So she made this switch to aligning her work with the national curriculum. And the booking started coming in. We've even actually got a curriculum expert joining our members now inside the approaching schools Academy to really help you make those all important curriculum links. So you can inform your lesson planning and your future marketing to schools. So wherever you're looking to get clubs, workshops, curriculum lessons, or even staff training into a school or a nursery, focusing on the language you use, and tweaking it to align with how teachers really speak, and the documentation they read and write day in and day out, can really start to help you to communicate with educators effectively.
AD:
Hello, my name is Milena Cruz director of Elric rail. We run a Spanish in person and online classes for children of all ages, from babies children from primary school and secondary school age. I have recently launched the franchise opportunity so I'm constantly looking into ways to help others start a growing and successful business. What I love about the approaching schools Academy is the support that carries provides to the community. The modules are well structured, easy to follow, and I like the way she guides us through creating our campaigns, taking into account every little detail that makes a big difference when contacting schools and nurseries. I now feel more confident in approaching schools. And last week we started our first after school clap, and I'm looking forward to what is coming up for our next campaign.