So you’ve put a lot of time and energy into securing your September in-take and your numbers look good, but what about in-year transfers?
With the right plan in place you could potentially on-board 5 or 6 new students – we know, we’ve done it.
Once you’re all set with your new Year 7s or 12s depending on whether you’re a school or college/sixth form, start looking at who you can appeal to in the next couple of months.
All you have to do is consider what catchment areas you’d like to target and think about what would make a student want to move?
Once you’ve agreed this with your senior team put a simple campaign together. Make sure you’re visible everywhere and you’re portrayed as a nurturing but appropriately challenging environment where students can learn, have fun and feel safe.
If you have a decent database send out an email which conveys all of your key messages and will strike a chord with unhappy students.
Set up a targeted Facebook campaign – a little bit of spend here goes a long way. Back it all up with excellent images, graphics and video content which will really engage with your young audience.
Do some basic PR. Sending out press releases with good quality images of anything interesting or fun happening at your school or college is a great way to raise awareness and get your messages across. Local newspapers are always looking for genuine content and love school stories. Don’t be afraid to try it, the worst they can do is not publish your story.
Build a portfolio of case studies to use on the website and social media. These can be print, video or a combination so that other students can hear from a genuine student’s point of view what it’s like being at your school or college. This content can be used on social media too and will encourage sharing amongst students on their own social media.
Put on another open day about a month after term has started so that those who aren’t happy can see what their other options are and don’t feel like that have to make a rash decision.
All the collateral mentioned above should be linked to the open day, you can use it as your call to action. Everything you put out ideally will link back to the open day so you can get attendance up there and hopefully, convert students when they come along.
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