Social media is a minefield for schools, best avoided at all costs. That’s how I felt when I started my first headship. There seemed to be so many hazards associated with it: parental consent for photographs, the question of who would run feeds and, most importantly, safeguarding concerns.

The worlds of Facebook, Twitter and the like can be toxic, and I had seen how friends and colleagues had been treated by some parents who were using it as an inappropriate platform to air grievances, with little thought for the consequences.

But then circumstances forced me to change my mind. A survey of our families showed that they wanted better communication from the school and, as one parent said: “We only see things if we get it on our phones.”

At the same time, I felt that the profile of the school needed to be raised; I was sending press releases off left, right and centre but to no avail. Our website also needed a revamp, as it didn’t really showcase the best of the school or celebrate the things we were most proud of, but we couldn’t afford it.

Social media seemed to be the answer to all these issues. So, two terms after I joined the school, we started our Twitter feed. It had two aims: to share information, and to celebrate the work and special events of the school.

After speaking to fellow headteachers who had put procedures and guidelines in place to use social media successfully, I took responsibility for running it.

We tweeted almost daily and, gradually, our followers grew, as did our profile. Now - five years, 500 followers and almost 4,000 tweets on - it is one of the best decisions that we ever made.

Communication is rated highly by our parents; we are able to showcase the wonderful things that happen in school each day for free and we regularly receive phone calls from journalists saying that they want to know more about something they have seen on our Twitter feed.

During lockdown, we were able to post video messages for parents and carers, which they really liked, as they felt they were being addressed directly.

Our nursery, which had been at risk of closure owing to lack of numbers, began its own Facebook page to help spread word of mouth and, 18 months later, it is now full and turning people away.

It seems that what I once thought of as a minefield is not so hard to navigate safely after all. One parent has had to be blocked but, that aside, social media has been a real force for good and I’m glad we decided to embrace it.

Daniel Woodrow is headteacher of St Gregory CEVC Primary School in Suffolk

This article originally appeared in the 7 May 2021 issue under the headline “The tweet smell of success”