News

We are VERY excited to announce that EMPRA is a finalist in the 2010 Reputation Online Awards.

We’ll be attending a glittering awards' ceremony in London on the 23rd September; we’d really like to win, so everything is crossed!

Our own Ruth Sparkes said; “I couldn’t quite believe it when the notification came, I know it’s a strong entry and we’ve worked really hard on the project, but when you get a well known and respected organisation recognising your work publicly, well, it’s a surprise!

"We’re listed with some really big hitters in the industry, it’s a fantastic line up, and I’m very excited.”

You can see the Awards' shortlist here, and more info on the Reputation Online Awards here

Harlow College - everywhere! This is a great story, it started out in The Guardian and then went 'global'. It's appeared everywhere from The Daily Star, The Daily Express, MSN, Yahoo!, AOL The Mirrorand regionals from Belfast to Falmouth - click links in the copy and see the regional list below! We'll update as we find more...

Belfast Telegraph
Peterborough Today
Cambridge news
IC Scotland
Bromsgrove Advertiser
Falmouth Packet
Banbury Guardian

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is launching Marine Academy Plymouth In September, the TES reported it in their fab 'Nationwide' pages. Read all about it here The TES

Fab story all about Harlow College's involvement in the unique Essex Apprentices' scheme in today's Guardian

Fab story about AllYearbooks in The Guardian, Jake set up his company after a bad experience at university - read all about AllYearbooks here

Fab story about A-level students in The Daily Telegraph

This is a great story by the Guardian's Louise Tickle, all about high flying students who have turned their backs on university. Read the Guardian story here!

Fab story about Students' Unions written by Jan Murray. Click here to learn more.

SEEVIC College in today's FEFocus (TES). When the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) let them down they found another way to finance their new build...

Our first 'win' for AllYearbooks, a fabulous leavers' yearbook company, read all about them here in Business Weekly

Cornwall College in today's special Guardian Further Education supplement - no online link so please see .pdf below

Everyone is loving the Cornish Creche story, here are links from coverage so far...
Children & Young People Now

BBC

Nursery World

...and again for Nursery World

The Times

The TES

FEFocus

Wales Online

Western Morning News and here (Monday's edition, front page!)

Colleges fear course costs will rise again. As FE has become more expensive, colleges have lost students; now they fear that costs are set to soar again read what Harlow College principal has to say about this in today's Guardian

Another couple of stories on Cornwall College's new Cornish language pre-school, the main TESnews section and FEFocus carried the story this week.

This is a brand new, budget PR service for schools and further education colleges!

As colleges feel the financial squeeze and schools are moaned at for not managing their money, EMPRA launches a brand new service.
Called EMPRA24, it's a low cost, subscription service supporting education establishments with public relations.

EMPRA director Ruth Sparkes explains; “EMPRA24 offers peace of mind to the organisation’s senior management and press office/ marketing function.
We have a small team of highly experienced press and PR specialists, offering expert confidential advice, we’re just a phone call or email away. That means 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”

EMPRA24 is a subscription based service and gives access to the following without any further charges, as frequently as they’re required:
Friendly day-to-day advice on any aspect of PR, Communications and Media Relations.
Press release reviewing and editing by return of email.
Emergency support in the event of unwarranted breaking news.

The monthly charge for this service is just £600, but if organisations subscribe before the end of February 2010, EMPRA is offering a special 12 months for the price of 10. Contact us!!

Senior Tutor Glynis Kelly wishes on a FE star in today's The Guardian!

Helen Mathieson is headteacher at Treviglas Business and Enterprise College in Newquay. She explains to the TES how she has one of the best jobs...

Cornwall College Apprentice Katy, shares her hopes for education over the next 10 years in today's The Guardian

Read about the planned kidnapping of Dave Linnell OBE - don't worry, it was all for charity! Featured in FEFocus' FErret

Read how a community college in Newquay, Cornwall is engaging students to stay in education. Read Liz Lightfoot's story in today's The Independent.

Treviglas' Headteacher offers education policy advice to the Tories, read her thoughts here in The Guardian

Designed to provide you with everything you need for your new school website in one simple, hassle-free package, School-in-a-box is a subscription-based service that combines a feature-rich education website, with full web hosting.

School-in-a-box comes with a set of core features to get the site up and running. You can then add more 'bonus packs' if and when you want them:

Core Features

* Your choice from a selection of website designs that incorporate your logo and colour scheme
* An unlimited number of content pages
* 'Contact us' form
* School News stories (with RSS feed)
* Events Calendar (with RSS feed)
* Photo Gallery
* Easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS)
* Accessibility standards compliant
* Detailed statistics about site visitors
* Website hosting with free software updates

Bonus packs

* Online polls and surveys
* Discussion forums
* Newsletter creation & distribution
* School blog

Contact us now about this fantastic new service!

Treviglas College is the only 'OUTSTANDING' school in Cornwall - read today's feature in The Guardian to find out why this school is so good!
...Or see the .pdf attached (small file)

Three FAB students from the Cornwall College Group (Cornwall College, Duchy College and the Falmouth Marine School) shared hints and tips on how to make their money go further...

Read the story on The Guardian's website

Keep Calm and Carry On: When Dominique Baker's A-levels didn't go according to plan, she took an Access to HE course at Cornwall College.

Read the story on The Independent website

EMPRA founder Ruth Sparkes is in this week’s TES – it’s not quite her job title but she’s loving the 'PR & Communications Supremo' moniker!

Read the story on the TES website

We secured a ½ page story in The Daily Mail to tie with VQ day, quite a coup since we tried to work with Edge’s PR company, but they ‘sniffed’ at the story and told us; “She isn't quite what we’re looking for.” Fortunately we ignored them and it turned out she was perfect for The Daily Mail!

Read the story on The Daily Mail website

A brand new service from EMPRA –

If you need help when something is good or bad, or you need someone to help when there’s a appalling case of ‘indifferent’ at your institution, EMPRA can help.

EMPRA24 is a practical advice service which acts like a ‘virtual’ Press Office or Comms department. It’s subscription based and for a fixed monthly fee you have confidential, 24/7 access to a team of Education PR & Media professionals.

EMPRA24 includes – PR/ Media & Comms advice, Press Release advice & editing, and emergency support for issues and crises.

Ruth Sparkes said; “We all need advice, a sounding board or a second opinion and with the new Support Service, this help is just a phone call away."