How to Get in Your Local Media:Top 10 Tips

Press pack: withtop tips andtemplate press releases

How to get in your local media:top 10 tips

If your school is taking part in Send ALL My Friends to School, do let your local media know; it’s a great opportunity to get publicity both for your school and the campaign!

1. Find out details of your local media – your school marketing officer may have a list or you could find details on the internet. Include local papers, BBC and independent radio stations, and any other local magazines. Find out who is the most appropriate journalist, this is often the News Editor.

2. Use one of the two press release templatesbelow- ‘Local school supports Send ALL My Friends to School’…or…‘MP supports Send ALL My Friends to School’. Adapt the press release and add contact details so that journalists can easily contact you or someone involved.

3. Photo-call. Make a time when photographers can come and take pictures of the most photogenic moment, such as a display of your teacher figures or when your local MP or a local celebrity is coming in – a half an hour slot should be enough.

4. Send the press release to your chosen local media. The easiest way to send it is by email. Paste the press release directly into an email rather than as an attachment. Send it out about 1-2 weeks in advance.

5. Follow up each contact. Phone them to check that they have received the press release. If they haven’t, send it through again and tell them a little bit about the event.

6. Invite the journalist/photographer along. If you are holding a special assembly or other event with a VIP, journalists and photographers may wish to come along. Check that the VIP is happy with any journalists or photographers being there by sending their office a copy of the press release.

7. Publicise your activities at school and to everyone you know! Use the images at to make the most of your displays, websites, blogs, newsletters and Twitter feeds, and link to the campaign website

8. Identify a spokesperson. Make sure this person is well briefed on the event and its aims so that they can give an informed and entertaining interview to media.

9. Find your own good photographer to take pictures on the day. If a newspaper can’t send a photographer along, they may still print the story afterwards if you send them some good images. Be imaginative with the picture – large groups of children holding their teacher figures or shots of the VIP getting creative too! Take a look at our action ideas gallery for some inspiration:

10. And don’t forget to use social media too! Connect to @sendmyfriend on Twitter so we can retweet your news! Or send us a message via Facebook:

Good Luck!

TEMPLATE MEDIA RELEASE 1

‘Local school supports Send ALL My Friends to School’

(tailor the release where marked in red)

(X school) in (X town) highlights that education for children with disabilities must not be forgotten

Schoolchildren at [insert name of school] are taking part in the Send ALL My Friends to School campaign to remind world leaders that it is children with disabilities that are missing out most on their right to an education.

In 2000 world leaders promised universal primary education by 2015, but with only a year to go 57 million children are still out of school and over a third of them have a disability.

To support Send ALL My Friends to School, [Insert the name of your school] [Include some of the following information to describe what your school is doing]ismaking [how many? Hundreds?]ofcolourful ‘buddy’figures to represent the estimated 24 million children with disabilities that are missing out on school. Pupils from [Class x/the whole school] are speaking out for the right of all children, regardless of disabilities, to realise their right to an education. They have added their voices by covering the ‘buddy’ figures in messages. Pupils are sending them to [x MP for x constituency] to pass onto the Prime Minister to remind the UK government of their promise to make sure all children have access to primary education by 2015.

[X school] is also holding a [insert type of event; special assembly/event] on [insert date] [attended by VIP/celeb] to make sure that as many people as possible get to hear children’s stories and the challenges they face in getting a quality education.

(X Name), Teacher at the (X school) said: [Insert a quote here - suggested questions to help you draft a quote:

How have your pupils benefitted from taking part in the campaign?
What has engaged/motivated them most?
Why do you - and they - feel it is an important campaign to be part of?”]

Ade Adepitan, broadcaster and Paralympian is supporting the 2014 campaign, which aims to have thousands of schools taking part.

Ade presents the campaign film which links to his own story.

Ade says: “If world leaders are serious about getting EVERY child into education, they must prioritise the needs of children with disabilities now.”

Ade was born in Nigeria where he contracted polio at 15 months old. Ade moved to London before he started primary school but knows that if he had stayed in Nigeria his life would have been very different. Nigeria is the country with the largest number of out of school children, currently at over 10 million.

The Send My Friend to School campaign has been running since 2005 – each year with a different theme – and millions of young people have taken part in the UK and in 100 countries around the world. Last year the campaign focused on the global shortage of professional teachers. Half a million young people from over 5,000 schools took part and 99% of MPs were sent colourful paper messages about the vital role of teachers in realising education for all.

To get a free pack and get your school involved visit

ENDS

Notes to editors:

For more information about the campaign at [X school]please contact [insert name and details of main contact for the campaign at your school]

For information on the campaign, photos of Ade Adepitanplease contact:

Karen Garvin 020 8442 1362 / 07971 576917

1. Facts and figures on education & disability

57 million children are still missing out on school
24 million of these children (more than a third) have a disability
A persons income can increase by as much as 10% for each additional year of schooling
1 billion people (15% of world’s pop) have a disability.
In several countries children with disabilities make up the vast majority of those out of school. For example, in Nepal 6% of school age children are out of school (nearly a million children) and of these an estimated 85% are children with disabilities.

2. The Send My Friend to School campaign is a schools based campaign organised by the Global Campaign for Education UK . For a free pack, news, films and learning resources visit

3. The Global Campaign for Education is a coalition of international aid agencies, teachers unions and civil rights groups. It was formed in 2000 to hold world leaders to the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) of Education for All by 2015. This network is now active in over 100 countries.

4. The GCE UK partners are: ActionAid UK, Action on Disability and Development, Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), CAFOD, CAMFED, CBM, Christian Aid, Consortium for Street Children, Comic Relief, Deaf Child Worldwide, Handicap International UK, Leonard Cheshire Disability, National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), National Union of Teachers (NUT), Oxfam GB, Plan UK, RESULTS UK, Save the Children UK, Sense International, Sightsavers, Steve Sinnott Foundation, University and College Union, Voluntary Service Overseas

TEMPLATE MEDIA RELEASE 2

‘MP event for Send ALL My Friends to School’

(tailor the release where marked in red)

(X MP) for (X town) goes back to school to highlight that education for children with disabilities must not be forgotten

[insert name of MP] is going back to school at [insert name of school] on [insert date and time] to hear from pupils about the urgent need for education for children with disabilities. Hundreds of MPs are expected to take part in the Send ALL My Friends to School campaign during 2014, which will involve thousands of young people across the UK.

In 2000 world leaders promised universal primary education by 2015, but with only a year to go 57 million children are still out of school and over a third of them have a disability.

Send ALL My Friends to School, organised by the Global Campaign for Education UK, is asking teachers and their pupils to get creative and remind world leaders that every child has an equal right to learn.

(X Name), Teacher at the (X school) said: [Insert a quote here - suggested questions to help you draft a quote:

How have your pupils benefitted from taking part in the campaign?
What has engaged/motivated them most?
Why do you - and they - feel it is an important campaign to be part of?]

[Insert name of MP]will be supporting [name of school] efforts by [give details of what the MP will be doing, e.g making a ‘buddy’/collecting the paper chains of ‘buddy’ figures which represent the estimated 24 million children with disabilities missing out on school/answering the pupils questions]. [X MP]will deliver the ‘buddy’ figures to the Prime Minister to remind the UK government of their promise to make sure all children, regardless of disabilities, have access to primary education by 2015.

[Ask your MPs office if they will supply a quote - insert here]

[Insert name, MP for x] said: ”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….”

To get a free pack and get your school involved visit

ENDS

Notes to editors :

For press passes to the school call [insert main contact name and mobile number for event]

For information on the campaign, photos and interviews please contact:

Karen Garvin 020 8442 1362 / 07971 576917

1. Facts and figures on education & disability

57 million children are still missing out on school
24 million of these children (more than a third) have a disability
A persons income can increase by as much as 10% for each additional year of schooling
1 billion people (15% of world’s pop) have a disability.
In several countries children with disabilities make up the vast majority of those out of school. For example, in Nepal 6% of school age children are out of school (nearly a million children) and of these an estimated 85% are children with disabilities.

2. The Send My Friend to School campaign is a schools based campaign organised by the Global Campaign for Education UK . For a free pack, news, films and learning resources visit