News posts and blog articles are a great way to communicate with your school community, from teachers and parents to students themselves.
Parents are always keen to get an insight on what their children are up to at school and it’s also beneficial for teachers and parents of prospective pupils as well as generally creating a positive impression of your school.
But how do you write an article that’s effective and has the ability to capture the reader’s attention? Here at edu | websites we often write blog posts and understand that for someone who isn’t used to writing in a blog-style it can be a bit of a challenge. But do not fear! We have come up with some simple ways to ace blog writing for perfect communication with students and parents.
Involve staff & teachers
Get in touch with teachers & school staff at the beginning or end of each month to see if they have any stories they’d like to submit for news posts – what work have their students done? What events have they participated in? Are there any other notable achievements or any other events inside or outside of the curriculum? This means you’ll only need to read through and adapt them slightly.
Have a topic in mind
If teachers haven’t come forth with stories or ideas, it will be simple enough to find things to write about – so don’t panic! It could include events at the school including; fetes, non-uniform days, school trips, fundraisers, Harvest Festival, Easter, Christmas etc.
Perhaps it’s a quiet time of the year, so this would be the perfect opportunity to bring some of the children’s work to light or focus on some of the extra-curricular and afterschool club activities. The posting potential is limitless!
Headline & content
The best way to draw people into reading your news post is a short, friendly and simple headline that conveys what you plan to mention within the post. By keeping the headline short, website visitors will be able to scroll through the posts without losing interest along the way.
With regards to the content of your post, it’s best to keep it brief and relevant making sure you cover all of the key points – think of who, what, when, why, how and what applies to the story you are covering.
Keep the post reasonably sized and use paragraphs to provide easy reading, remember not to write too much as this will also cause people to lose interest or skip parts.
Pictures also aid the reader, adding a bit of visual stimulation, so it’s good to add one or two to break up paragraphs of text.
As long as you keep the mood of the posts light-hearted and fun, most parents and teachers will be happy to read the news as it is updated!