Consider whether any of the following statements might be true:
- Sport can be a factor in people choosing independent education
- Sport can be a factor in choosing which independent school
- Sport is important to parents and pupils who are not outstanding performers
- The website is a first impression of a school
If there is any uncertainty, then the following might be helpful in reaching a decision
"For many parents, the quality of the sports is a defining factor when choosing a school
Janette Wallis, Senior Editor at "The Good Schools Guide"
There are many factors which contribute to the cocktail of reasons for this. However, the principal ones revolve around emotion and democracy. Unlike many areas of school life, sports opportunity and achievement inspires considerable pupil and parent emotion. These can range from delight to outrage, something which is not helped by the very public environment in which sports usually take place. Secondly, school sport can be as un-democratic as North Korea. Opportunities are not evenly distributed, whether they involve coaching, facilities, or, especially, team places and matches against other schools. Or even places in the batting order. Many schools cite this as a major source of parental dissatisfaction.
Marketing through sport should therefore appeal to the emotions. Delighting parents involves much softer experiences than exam results. The child who rushes home to tell her mother about having swum her first length, or scored a first goal is the best marketing a school can have. It has more impact than any advertisement or exhibition stand - an impact which is compounded when those parents can be guaranteed to boast to friends about their child's achievements. Equally, a child in tears at the fearful prospect of compulsory rugby lessons, or a teacher who shouts at him, is the worst marketing a school can have, and nullifies the impact of expensive adverts.
What is the answer?
The first factor is an agreement between the providers and promoters of school sport. The teachers and the marketers. This should clarify the school's success criteria for its sports programme, and therefore define the messages that the school puts into the wider world.
Secondly, these messages should have an appeal to parents of all children, regardless of ability. If the pictures and stories are dominated by high achievement and team results, the unintended consequence is to suggest that these are the only pupils whose achievements a school values. Finding the participation messages, and pictures that show all kinds of children finding joy in activity, is important to suggest that the school is concerned about the quality of experience of all
Thirdly, the messages should be emotional. They should emphasise the benefits of sports participation to both children and parents, rather than simply list the features of the programme. They should show the facilities allowing children to have wonderful experiences, rather than list what the facilities are. The visual nature of sport is perfect for this. Creating the National Lottery conclusion: that "it could be you" in these attractive experiences. The biggest emotion should be delight, but clearly identifying that smiles and achievement are not the preserve of a small number of children in traditional team games. Smiles on red faces can be entirely democratic. Video is an essential part of this, and technology makes this easily achievable. Yet few school websites feature sport in a moving form. There is a reason why Sky Sports is so popular.
And finally, it should be constantly changing. Listing the features at the start of a year and leaving it at that is a clear message of indifference. And yet the only thing that changes are the competitive results. Listing scores and glorying winning suggests much about what a school values, and will be of little appeal to parents whose children are not team games enthusiasts. There is a difference between the aims of a school website and the Daily Telegraph.
All schools claim to recognise the importance of the website as a first window on the world: most acknowledge the capacity of sports provision to delight parents and children. It is therefore enduringly surprising that website coverage of sport is so inconsistent, and frequently uninspiring.
