Active Lives Survey Engagement Plan

Introduction

We have redesigned the way we approach the Active Lives Survey for Tees Valley in an attempt to increase engagement of schools and improve the completion rates for the area. 

To do this we reviewed other Active Partnership approches nationally and attended Active Lives communities of practice to establish what may work best for our area taking into account the learning from other areas.

We took the successful methods from other areas and adapted them to suit our needs in Tees Valley. Our approach was very simply but based on relationships with schools and key contacts. 

What We Did.

1. Resources: We created an online resource on our website for all schools to access their survey links and any resources they needed. This is accessible to everyone at any time so they dont have to rely on sharing or saving documents or links across emails. The web pages were designed so Schools can get to what they need in no more than 3 clicks, easy to navigate and download the resources needed.
2. Contact: We emailed the key contacts and heads of school with an informal letter making initial contact explaing their school had been selected to take part in the survey. This letter included key information with links to the webpages. These letters were personal to each person, making sure that the receipient knew that they were the person we wished to speak with. In close of the letter we requested an action from them. Regardless of whether they wanted to take part or not we required a reply.
3. Follow ups: We gave the schools 2 weeks from initial contact to respond. If they had not replied to our initial contact we followed up with an additional email, again personal to the required person, and requested they reply by a specific date. We gave them a furhter 3 weeks before following up a final time, reiterating the importance or a response and or a committment. 
4. Support: Throughout the process we have offered additional support to all schools invited to complete. This included video calls to go through the process, face to face visits if required and email correspondance and trouble shooting. 

 

Was it Successful.

This approach has proved very successful in term 1 where we have reached 60% participation. This is a 22% increase from the previous term and twice the national guidance requirement. 

When monitoring our web traffic we can clearly see the website is being used by a number of schools to process their survey completions so we can safely say that the introduction of this resource has had a positive impact on participation rates.

 

Evaluation and Review.

We will continue to utililse the web resource and the email process. However, we will be reviewing the content and volume of information in these emails to ensure they are succint and easier for schools to engage with and ultimatley respond to. 

 

Related Documents

Useful Links

• TVS Active Lives Page