Client: Royal Grammar School (RGS) High Wycombe
Service: Public Relations (PR)
Background: Royal Grammar School (RGS) High Wycombe is a prestigious independent grammar school located in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. It is an academically selective school for boys, with a strong tradition dating back to its founding in 1562.
RGS High Wycombe is well-known for its academic excellence, offering a wide range of subjects and extracurricular activities, and has a reputation for producing high-achieving students who go on to attend top universities. The school is also known for its modern facilities, strong pastoral care system, and a wide range of sports and cultural opportunities.
The school offers education for students from the ages of 11 to 18, including a Sixth Form for post-16 education, and for the first time in its history it is admitting girls to the college from September 2025. RGS HW planned to hold its very first co-educational Sixth Form Open Evening for parents and students and required support from a public relations agency to handle this historic announcement.
Objectives: The overall aim of the PR campaign was to raise awareness amongst parents and students about RGS’s decision to make the Sixth Form co-educational, explain why this decision had been made, and its benefits, while ultimately increasing interest and footfall to the Open Day. The school also required support to handle all its comms to existing parents of students that may have been considering sending their sons to the Sixth Form about the new changes and reinforce the message that the secondary school would continue to be boys-only.
The Solution: SCS worked with RGS HW on establishing what key messages needed to be included in communications to the press about why the school had decided to make this ‘transformative’ decision to admit girls to the Sixth Form for the first time, while re-instating the fact that the secondary school would remain a traditional boys- only school. The SCS PR team achieved this by creating a media release which was distributed to the local and regional press in Buckinghamshire and the surrounding areas, as well as TV and radio stations.
Results: The outcome of the PR programme was extremely positive and resulted in national press coverage on the BBC and local and regional press in the Bucks Free Press, Bucks Herald and Wycombe Today and BBC Radio Buckinghamshire, which included a live interview with RGS HW’s headmaster Philip Wayne. RGS HW received more than 450 applications and 50 per cent were from female students.
Contact Us – If you would like to find out more about how SCS Marketing & PR can enhance your Public Relations efforts, we would love to speak with you on 01252 621293.
