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Integrated PR, marketing and social media strategy for a pioneer in health and safety, environmental and quality management for the commercial vehicle and logistics sectors.
alvaston moor academy
the challenge
The Eden team works with Archway Learning Trust, one of the largest secondary multi-academy trusts in the Midlands, to share and consolidate Archway’s values of excellence, collaboration and inclusion through a strategic PR plan aimed at boosting pupil numbers, as well as boosting parental and community engagement.
In early 2026, one of the Trust’s Derby schools, Alvaston Moor Academy, worked in partnership with its community to deliver a major shift. It understood that the current school uniform was not best serving the needs of its students and after a long consultation, gathering feedback from all corners, the school announced to parents, students and staff that it would be switching its current uniform, comprising a blazer, shirt and tie, for a more practical, comfortable and durable option – a polo shirt and all-weather jacket with the academy logo. The change was led by the community feedback and was focused wholly on implementing a solution that the school hoped would improve engagement and outcomes for students.
Our brief was to position Alvaston Moor as an academy which listens and responds to the community voice, keeping the needs of students and parents at the core of key decisions. From the outset, we advised the academy that this change would peak the local and national media’s interest, and could very quickly become a major story.
the solution
Eden embarked on a proactive regional PR campaign for Alvaston Moor, initially securing online coverage in a key target publication, Derbyshire Live, as well at its print title the Derby Telegraph.
Through continued proactive pitching to our strong regional media contacts, our team invited BBC East Midlands to the academy to speak to Principal Gemma Tyers and students about the recent decisions and to produce content for online, radio, TV and socials.
We understand the importance and value of face-to-face interaction with both our clients and our media contacts, which is why our team was able to manage the process end-to-end and was also on site to support with journalist liaison on the day.
Initially, we secured coverage across BBC East Midlands Today, BBC Radio Derby and BBC Derby socials – but we knew the story had the potential to make national headlines.
The campaign gained traction, sparking a national debate around whether the current traditional uniform adopted by most schools is outdated, and whether more schools should follow Alvaston Moor’s example. In the space of a few hours, it was a viral story that couldn’t be missed on FYPs and newsfeeds across the country.
results
Our campaign not only successfully engaged the school’s regional stakeholders, communicating directly with current and prospective students and parents, but also sparked a national discussion and generated a viral social media response.
With just one press release, we achieved:
- More than 60 pieces of coverage across online, print and broadcast outlets
- Generated over 180 million impressions across traditional media and social media
- Coverage across key regional publications, including Derbyshire Live, the Derby Telegraph, Derbyshire Times and BBC East Midlands
- 9 pieces of national coverage across titles including BBC News, Daily Mail, GB News
- Featured in the BBC’s Top 10 Most Read stories nationally
- Sparked a national discussion, with our story debated on Loose Women and discussed across more than 35 regional BBC stations.
- A viral social media response generating more than 30 million impressions, with several posts including a BBC TikTok with more than 2 million likes and a feature on the BBC’s national and international Instagram page.
