Student Voice in the Principal Newsletter: Why It Works and How to Do It

The most engaging section of many principal newsletters is not written by the principal. It is a student quote, a student-written paragraph, or a student reflection that gives families a direct window into what their child's peers are experiencing. This is not a complicated feature to add. It is a simple decision to include one voice that is not the principal's.

What student voice communicates that you cannot

When a principal says 'our students are engaged and excited about learning,' families register it as institutional language. When a seventh grader says 'we got to design our own history projects this semester and I chose to research the Harlem Renaissance because I wanted to and not because I had to,' families believe it.

Student voice carries a credibility that administrative communication cannot achieve on its own. It is not a replacement for your voice. It is a supplement that makes the whole newsletter more trustworthy.

Simple approaches for including student voice

You do not need a student journalism program to include student voice in your newsletter. These approaches work at any school size:

• One student quote per newsletter.Ask a different student each month to answer one question in two to three sentences. Questions like 'What is something you learned this month that surprised you?' or 'If you could change one thing about our school, what would it be?' produce authentic responses.
• Student council update. Ask student council to contribute one paragraph each month on what they are working on. This gives students ownership of a section of the newsletter and provides authentic community content.
• Student work samples. A quote from a student essay or a brief summary of a student research project, attributed with first name and grade, shows families what students are actually producing.
• Student Q&A. Pick a question a family might have about the school and ask two or three students to answer it. The variation in responses is often the most revealing and engaging part.

What to do with imperfect answers

Students do not always give the answers that make the school look its best. Resist the urge to edit their responses into something more polished. A student who says 'Lunch is the best part of the day and I wish it was longer' is being authentic. That answer is fine in the newsletter. It signals that you are not curating student voice into a brochure. That honesty builds family trust.

The line is between authenticity and content that is inappropriate, disrespectful, or involves private information about other students. Review before publishing, but review lightly.

Permission and attribution

Check your school's media release policy for students. For students with signed releases, first name and grade is typically appropriate attribution. For students without releases, the content can still appear attributed as 'a fifth-grade student' or 'a member of the student council.'

Daystage makes student voice sections easy to place consistently in each newsletter. Set up the section once in your template and it anchors the format for the full year. You just need to fill it with a new voice each month.