Communications professional community

Our Communications professional community will be focusing on strategic communications for community engagement this academic year.  By better understanding and encouraging two-way dialogue with our communities we can increase the effectiveness of our everyday communications and foster deeper support for trusts work supporting pupils.

Our professional communities provide support and development opportunities, through a blend of expert input on key practice challenges, facilitated discussion, and networking.

The community offers a safe and supportive environment in which to develop your understanding of some of the key challenges related to communications in schools, to access expertise from across the sector and beyond, and to build a professional network.

By joining, you will open up opportunities to engage through:

• Half-termly online community meetings
• Networking with colleagues across our sector
• Access to CST briefings and guidance.

You will also gain exclusive access to our community platform, which connects you with a community of information, resources and support, that you can access anytime and anywhere. On the platform you'll find an ever-growing collection of resources, containing information about key knowledge areas needed in our profession, as well as a space to connect, learn and interact with your peers from across the country.

Membership of the community is included for employees of member trusts as a benefit of CST membership. Join using the button below with your MyCST membership details.

Session Overview 

Session One
Speakers: Ed Dorrell, Public First 
Tuesday 17 September 2024, 10:00 - 11:00 (online)

In this meeting, we will begin exploring our theme, starting with a key stakeholder group for trusts: parents. We will be joined by Ed Dorrell from Public First to explore research looking at parents' changing attitudes to schools and how that can inform our approaches. We will also open discussions on what trusts might want from a CST communications toolkit for community engagement.

Session Two: Digital tools for school trust communicators 
Speakers: TBC
Thursday 30 January 2025, 10:00 - 11:00 (online)

Session Three: How communication leaders can support retention and recruitment
Speakers: TBC
Tuesday 13 May 2025, 10:00 - 11:00 (online)

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