How To Reinvent Your School’s Brand

Building a uniquely strong brand

Branding plays a crucial role in shaping perceptions of a school and attracting potential candidates. A strong brand can address recruitment challenges and improve a Trust’s appeal to prospective staff.

Our own brand strategy is rooted in our origins as a special educational needs (SEN) school. The Trust’s branding emphasises inclusivity, high achievement and a commitment to inspiring young minds. Our clear and consistent messaging is reflected in our website, job adverts and social media presence. By showcasing the Trust’s values and vision, we have successfully attracted a diverse pool of candidates passionate about education.

The website is the first place people visit when wanting to learn more about the school. For new talent, we have a dedicated careers section on our website which covers everything about life as an employee at Shaw Education Trust. Prospective staff can find a YouTube video that covers all the benefits for staff at the Trust embedded on the careers page, as well as a digital brochure.

There is also a quote from our CEO that speaks directly to potential applicants about the Trust. We are committed to valuing our staff as highly as we value our pupils; this is a central principle of our branding. Often, schools build their brand for parents and students and might forget staff. Ensuring that our brand speaks to all of these audiences has been really beneficial in helping us to recruit top talent.

We place real value in social media when trying to reach new talent. Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and X have been instrumental in this. We encourage our academies to shout about their achievements, events and even list new roles on our channels.

We prioritise organic and transparent content – what we do is about people, so what we share should be about people too. We also try to make our visuals colourful and engaging, using GIFs and branded posters. Our staff are always thinking of innovative ways to engage our students, so we try to reflect this through our content and branding.

Finally, to solidify our branding strategy, we have integrated our branding principles into the job advertisements that we place. We do this by using consistent messaging and language that aligns with the copy across our own channels. In addition to this, we place QR codes with all our job ads that take applicants to our careers page, where they can find out exactly who we are, what we do and who we are looking for.

This feature also enhances accessibility and helps us stay true to our core value of inclusivity by making information readily available for prospective staff. Our job adverts are intentionally crafted to appeal to potential staff, emphasising our values, inclusivity and commitment to professional growth. A strong brand can help your roles stand out on when listing vacancies on recruitment sites.

Attracting new talent to the sector

Our recruitment strategy focuses on attracting candidates who have not worked in the education sector before. By emphasising the softer skills and qualities we seek in candidates such as good communication, resilience and authenticity, we have reached a wider audience.

This has been particularly effective in attracting candidates for pastoral and support roles who may not have considered a career in education otherwise. Previously, the main requirement for candidates was having worked in a school before; now, however we recognise that a good candidate is much more than that.

We also try and build relationships with fresh graduates and newly qualified teachers. We visit university campuses and introduce ourselves to potential talent. Again, the importance of having an appealing brand is paramount when competing with other sectors vying for graduate applicants. It’s also important to be vocal about the rewards and opportunities within the teaching profession, which we do by sharing our schools’ success stories.

Overcoming recruitment barriers

Recruitment can pose several challenges for schools, including costs, limited advertisement reach and time constraints. At Shaw Education Trust, we tackle these challenges head-on through strategic branding and innovative recruitment practices.

Based on our own experience and discussions with peers at other Trusts, one significant challenge schools face in teacher recruitment is the associated costs, which impose a substantial financial burden on schools. However, Shaw Education Trust has managed to halve these costs by both leveraging effective branding and using the Department for Education’s (DfE) Teaching Vacancies, which is a free and easy-to-use service from the government helping schools to recruit the best staff.

With school budgets under pressure, this totally free service means money can be put back where it’s needed most: in the classroom. We use Teaching Vacancies to advertise every position across our schools, from leadership to teaching, and support staff enabling us to maximise the platform’s potential to connect us with the right candidates.

Advice for other schools

Improving your school’s branding and attracting top teaching talent requires a strategic approach. Here are some key steps based on Shaw Education Trust’s experience:

• Develop a multi-strand brand strategy: Ensure your brand reflects your school’s values and commitment to inclusivity, with clear and consistent messaging across all platforms.
• Use social media effectively: Engage with potential candidates by sharing achievements, events and job openings on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
• Highlight employee benefits: Create a dedicated careers section on your website with comprehensive information about working at your school, including testimonials and videos.
• Focus on soft skills: Emphasise the soft skills and qualities you seek in candidates to attract a broader talent pool.
• Build relationships with universities: Visit university campuses to introduce your school to fresh graduates and newly qualified teachers.
• Embrace change: The sector is evolving, so adapt your recruitment strategies to stay current or risk falling behind.
• Leverage free recruitment tools: Use free tools like Teaching Vacancies to list job openings, saving on recruitment costs and reaching a wider audience.

By following these steps, schools can create a strong, engaging brand that attracts top teaching talent, reduces recruitment costs and reinvests savings into the classroom. Shaw Education Trust’s experience demonstrates the effectiveness of a well-planned branding strategy in overcoming recruitment challenges and attracting the best candidates.

Natalie Turner is Recruitment Manager at Shaw Education Trust.