At Make Happen, our school contacts are vital to the outreach work that we do with schools and colleges. Without the coordinators we liaise with, we wouldn’t be able to deliver the important work that we do to help young people understand more about higher education.
When working with school contacts it is vital that we build trust and a good relationship with them, as this ensures we have a consistent and reliable point of contact. It also encourages longer-term partnerships with the school, and more successful delivery of our projects and other events. This can also lead to repeat engagement from the school, as the relationship has already been built year on year. It also helps when working with the same coordinator over time, as the outreach officer and coordinator know what works best for the school and can plan accordingly.
School coordinators know the needs of the school, and can therefore give insight into the schools priorities, challenges and values. This means we are able to ensure the work that we do meets the needs of those schools, and will therefore lead to more engagement overall. It also allows us to offer a more tailored approach where possible to focus on what the school’s priorities may be.
When organising Make Happen delivery, it is important that we have this consistent point of contact as the logistics and planning can make such a difference to the successful delivery of our content. Without the organisation and forward planning of coordinators we would not be able to go into schools to deliver our work, or coordinate effective events such as campus visits. When coordinators are well connected in their schools this also ensures it is easier for us to organise events where students may be attending a university campus, or external event.
Overall school contacts are a vital part of the work that we do and enable us to work with young people to understand their future options and make informed decisions for their future. We really look forward to working with our coordinators in 2025-26!
By Jessica Glassock, Outreach Officer at Make Happen