Communitas was hired by Oasis Community Learning (OCL) to conduct a six-month profile-raising programme (May to October 2008) to coincide with the opening of its six new Academies in September 2008.

Our brief was to work proactively with the media – specifically national education journalists and broadcasters - both nationally and regionally. We developed a communications plan for OCL as well as mini PR plans for each Academy. We also developed a PR toolkit so that in the long-term each Academy is able to conduct its own day-to-day PR in a co-ordinated way.

During the project period we secured appearances for OCL’s founder Steve Chalke on BBC One’s Politics Show; BBC Radio 4’s Learning Curve; BBC One’s The ONE Show and BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze.

In print we secured Steve and OCL coverage in The Financial Times, The Evening Standard, The Guardian and The Times Educational Supplement.

We supported Academies in Bristol, Grimsby, Manchester, Coulsdon and Southampton demonstrating our capacity to work in different locations while being a London-based organisation and achieved coverage in all the daily papers covering those areas.

Reputation management has also been a central part of the support we have provided over the six-month period.