Engage with your MP

Taking the time to meet with your MP is a powerful way to show them that you care passionately about school funding, and will encourage your MP to think deeply about how this issue impacts their constituents.

Here’s what you can do to meet with your MP.

👉 Arranging a meeting

You could arrange a formal meeting with the MPs that represent your town or area or just focus on the MP that represents your school community. It depends on your town and who you have involved. If you would like support on this email campaigns@schoolcuts.org.uk.

The best way to do this is to contact them, either by phone or email. As you might imagine, MPs receive a very large amount of emails and phone calls, so it may take a few weeks to hear back from your MP’s office. Feel free to follow up with them if you haven’t heard from them, either by email or by phone.

Because you are contacting several MPs, you might want to divide up the responsibility of scheduling and meeting the MPs between your team members.

Find out how to contact your MPs

Most meetings will last 15-30 minutes. Decide where you would like to meet your MP. We recommend the following:

At their constituency office
At one of their advice surgeries (most MPs hold these at least once a month, in local places in your constituency. You can find your MP’s surgery times on their website or by calling the constituency office.)
Meet your MP on a trip to Parliament (this is best done with your pupils, if you are a teacher)
By inviting them to your school

As a note, Fridays are usually the best day to meet your MP in your constituency. Parliament rarely sits on a Friday and MPs will usually spend the day in their constituency, holding their drop-in surgery, attending events, and meeting constituents.

📨 Template letter to request a meeting

Dear {{MP name}},

My name is {{name}}, and I am a {{profession}} in your constituency. Along with {{number of members of your delegation}} others, I would like to request a meeting with you at {{location}}. I am available on {{available dates}}, but can also be flexible to your schedule.

I am writing to you out of great concern for the future of our schools.

[If you have done work on an open letter, you can include that information here.] We wrote an open letter signed by {{ABC}} people in our community, asking you to take action.

We would like to share our stories as {{headteachers, parents, teachers, etc}}, and hear your thoughts on school funding.

Do let me know when you would be available.

Best,

☎️ Phone script to request a meeting

Hello,

I would like to discuss school funding.

I’d like to share my story as a {{role}}, and hear your thoughts on school funding.

Would you be willing to meet with me?

🏫 Template email to invite them to your school

Dear {{MP name}},

My name is {{name}}, and I am a {{profession}} at {{school}} in your constituency.

I would love to invite you to our school to speak with our staff and students. We are available on {{available dates}}, but can also be flexible to your schedule.

I’d like to share my story as a {{role}} at {{school}}, hear your thoughts on school funding, and discuss ways forward for schools to be properly funded.

Do let me know when you would be available.

Best,

{{name}}.

👉 Preparing for your meeting

It’s important to set the right expectations for your meeting.

Your MP isn’t likely to commit to your delegation’s ask immediately during your meeting — but it’s still valuable to push them in the right direction, and inform them about what this decision would mean for their constituents. And the more that they feel this pressure, the more they’ll feel motivated to act.

Research your MP.

Learn more about their background. What motivates them? Do they have a background in education? What were their election commitments?

Decide who’s attending the meeting.

It might be more effective if you bring a small team with you. Your team might include a headteacher, parent, teacher and support staff. Consider representation across gender, age, race, ethnicity, and disability.

Prepare an agenda.

It might be helpful to plan 3 messages you want to land. For example, this might include sharing your group’s personal experiences, sharing numbers from schoolcuts.org.uk, and expressing what you want your MP to do about it.

Prepare your materials.

Make sure you bring the MP pack that we send you, and look up your school and/or community’s statistics on schoolcuts.org.uk. Bring notes on paper or on a phone app, if it’s helpful. If your community has an open letter to your MP, print it and bring it to the meeting.

Do a practice run with your team.

Make sure you:

1. Share your personal stories
2. Are concise
3. Make a clear request

Let us know how it went

You can ask for support at any point using the WhatsApp community or through the campaign inbox: campaigns@schoolcuts.org.uk. Let us know how you get on.