enhancing our schools visibility, reputation & community engagement.

Media Support Helpdesk Guidance

Your guide to getting things looking good.

Need a poster? Social media graphic? Event artwork? Photo & video support? Something that needs to look considerably better than something knocked up in 7 minutes on Powerpoint?

That’s what we’re here for.

The Media Support Helpdesk is here to help schools and the Trust create professional, engaging content that reflects who we are and, importantly, looks like it belongs to Matrix Academy Trust.

Before you reach for the AI button…we need to have a little chat.

We know AI can create a poster in approximately 14 seconds. It can also create a picture of a teacher with six fingers, spell Wednesday as Wensday and give your school a logo that looks suspiciously like a squashed potato.

More importantly, AI-generated graphics often don’t follow our Trust or school branding.

We are seeing more and more school and Trust social media feeds flooded with generic AI graphics. They can look repetitive, inconsistent and, if we’re honest, a little bit “I made this five minutes before posting it.”

We can do better than that.

So, please don’t create the finished graphic yourself using AI.

Instead…

Have the idea. Send us the idea. Let us make it ‘Matrix’.

If you’ve created something with AI that you really like, that’s absolutely fine to send to us as inspiration. We’ll use it as a starting point or visual reference, not as the finished artwork.

If using AI for internal displays: NEVER ask AI to create or include the school or Trust logo. AI can distort, alter or incorrectly reproduce logos. Add the official logo separately using the original approved artwork.

How to submit a request?​​

Please send your request by email to mediasupport@matrixacademytrust.co.uk with the below information.

Please give us some time. We deliberately don’t put fixed turnaround times on Media Support requests, as our workload can change quickly throughout the year. We’re a small team supporting a growing number of schools, alongside Trust-wide projects, campaigns, events and day-to-day work.

Please give us as much notice as possible. The more time you can give us, the more time we have to give your request the care and creativity it deserves.

In short: if you know you’ll need it, send it early!

01.

Your Wording

Put all of the wording you want included in a Word document.

This gives us one clear, approved source of truth.

Please don’t send a screenshot of your wording or scatter different versions across multiple emails.

One Word document = one source of truth.

02.

Your images

Attach any photographs, logos or other images you’d like us to use.

Please send the original/highest-quality versions you have rather than screenshots or images downloaded from social media.

03.

Your idea

Simply tell us what you’re trying to achieve.

For example:

“We want this to promote our Open Evening and appeal to prospective Year 7 parents.”

That’s enough for us to get started.

When AI is OK.

We aren’t saying “AI is evil”.

AI can be really useful, particularly for quick, internal resources.

AI-generated graphics are fine when appropriate for:

  • Classroom resources and lesson materials
  • Worksheets and presentations
  • Small internal activities
  • Smaller events that aren’t being advertised externally
  • One-off materials that won’t be used beyond the immediate activity

The rule of thumb is simple:

If it’s going outside the building, being seen by the public or going to be around for a long time, send it through the Helpdesk.

That includes: Social media, Websites, public advertising, Newsletters and publications, Major events and campaigns, Permanent or long-term displays around school and anything representing the Trust or school publicly.

If using AI for internal displays: NEVER ask AI to create or include the school or Trust logo. AI can distort, alter or incorrectly reproduce logos. Add the official logo separately using the original approved artwork.

Why does this matter?

Every piece of content we put out represents our schools and our Trust.

We want our social media, websites, publications, displays and communications to look:

Professional. Consistent. Creative. Recognisable.

We don’t want our schools to look like every other school using the same AI template, the same generic stock image and the same strangely enthusiastic AI-generated teacher.

We’re better than that.

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