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"Welcome back to school" videos don’t have to be long; they just have to be meaningful—and fun

Last year, my school started sending “welcome back to school” videos to our families to generate excitement among students before they came to campus for Open House. Even though they didn’t necessarily know who their teacher was going to be, the kids fell in love with every single teacher in those videos, because there’s power in seeing people’s faces and hearing their voices.

The other purpose for the “welcome back to school” videos was to share some major changes in school procedures that we made last year. We wanted a lighthearted way to prepare students and parents for what they were going to walk into, so it didn’t just hit them in the face.

To share the videos, we sent a postcard with a QR code to every family. Scanning the code gave them access to three videos: an introduction from the admin team, a greeting from the teachers at their grade level, and a special message from me. Here’s how each of those “welcome back to school” videos made our school a happier place to be.

Nuts and bolts from the admin team

Our admin videos are about a minute or so long. Last year, the admin message focused on the car rider line. We have 1,100 students in the building, so during pick-ups we run 375 cars through our parking lot in 25 minutes. We have very specific rules about where you park and when you can get out of your car. In the video, the admin team and I reminded parents about these rules, and then together we all said our little joke: “Or you could put them on the bus.” Because the video needs to be fun, even if it deals with a serious subject.

In this year’s admin video, we highlight our mindset for the year, which is “Live to Give.” We mention the different ways we’ll learn how to give as well as receive, including how to stretch ourselves, create a legacy, and receive gracefully.