We are all aware that the British population is expanding and the fact that we have an increasing population should be good news for all education providers, including the independent education sector.  There will indeed be more children but factoring this in to planning your future school strategy should be done with care.

How will population growth affect your catchment? What does your mtm 'Mandarin' say?

As a proportion of the population, children are not increasing as rapidly as the number of people retiring, and growth is projected to be very regional. Some areas are even projected to experience declining populations in the short term. Even if there is projected to be an increase in the child population in your area, the raw data will not be able to tell you whether they will be from the types of families most likely to consider independent education.

There are, however, tools which can combine projected changes in child population with socio-economic indicators. Here at mtmconsulting we have data on population change, household incomes and lifestyles, allowing us to accurately predict the likely effect of this population growth on your recruitment at our fingertips and the expertise to fine tune the information to your individual circumstances. Our ‘Mandarin’ Market and Catchment Area Analysis reports go one step further, factoring in the relative competition from other similar establishments in your area, giving you the most detailed picture of your catchment available today.

If this sounds interesting, give us a buzz and we’ll do our best to help.

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There’s sometimes an odd symmetry in historical coincidences. 2012 will mark the centenary of the most celebrated nautical disaster of modern times, the loss of the Titanic. The Titanic had a sister ship, named the Olympic. And this year will also bring, of course, the Olympic Games to London.

So – Titanic or Olympic – which will prove to be a more apt epithet for the year? A year of celebration and renewed confidence in the future? Or a year when all our confident assumptions about progress and growth hit an iceberg?

We asked an assortment of experts – heads, bursars, journalists, entrepreneurs – for their own forecasts and published their responses in this term’s issue of School Matters, which should have reached schools’ in trays in the last few days.

Unsurprisingly, most took a bleak view of the immediate future for both the economy and for independent schools. Here’s Richard Cairns, headmaster of Brighton College:  “Continued economic gloom in 2012 will see a further flight to quality in the independent sector. Leading schools will  take an ever increasing share of the diminishing pool of parents able to afford independent education while those that fail to innovate and adapt will be forced to merge or go out of business altogether.”

Other heads joined Cairns in foreseeing a “flight to quality”, as did IAPS chief executive David Hanson, who added: “Good schools and in particular, those that are known as a centre for excellence (arts, sport languages, boarding) will buck the recession as report modest growth.  At the same time, schools that are perceived as being less good will experience accelerating decline.”

Wellington’s Master Anthony Seldon and Good School Guide publisher Ralph Lucas both linked their pessimistic outlook for independent schools with a prediction that the best state schools would leap ahead.

“2012 will be hard for the independent sector … The state sector in contrast will forge ahead, with more Academies and Free Schools, putting the independent sector under further pressure,” said Seldon, cheerleader-in-chief for the Government’s Academy project.

Lucas forecast: “There will be growing confidence in the qualities of the best new Free Schools and Academies, and a growing consciousness of the disadvantages that independent schools face in UK university access. Independent schools will need to find new ways to convince parents that they are worth the fees.”

For Mark Semmence, assistant head of Rugby School, “2012 could bring the ‘perfect storm’ for the independent education sector, pushed from one side by an ever worsening economic climate and squeezed from the other by the fast pace of structural change within the state sector.” Independent schools needed to respond, he said, by being more strategically focused with their offer and controlled costs efficiently.

But others took an altogether brighter view.

Andrew Maiden, editor, Funding for Independent Schools magazine, and organiser of the Independent School Awards, said: “The fee-paying independent school sector will be the one bright spark in British education in 2012: the recession has culled the weaker performing schools and the rest of the sector is embracing strategic and financial change,” adding: “Academies/free schools will begin to realise that ‘independence’ also means freedom to fail.”

Taking inspiration from the Olympic theme, Alice Phillips, headmistress of St Catherine’s, Bramley, acknowledged that the challenging economic climate would persist, but “in its midst we must make the most of an international celebration of sport as the UK hosts the Olympics and inspires our wonderful young athletes to achieve PBs of all kinds:  sporting, academic, musical, career, and so on.”

But let’s give the last words to headmaster of The Dragon School, Oxford, John Baugh, whose tour d’horizon took : “Olympic bubble; recession (again); Manchester City; droughts, floods, earthquakes; euro collapse; Andy Murray; Syria; Libya (again); Apple iTV; space tourists; first prep school academy; Orang Utan technically extinct; Iran goes nuclear; honeybee population collapse; the world won’t come to an end on December 21 and 2013 will be a great year.”

Read the predictions in full in mtmconsulting’s School Matters. And make sure your school is ready to face anything by reviewing your strategic plans for the future. Contact us for the most expert help available in the independent sector.

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3. Sector Report 2012 trend 2: recession and the flight to quality

It’s a new year and schools’ marketers’ thoughts turn to the Open Day season, and how to encourage potential students through your doors and onto your roll for the coming September.

This is your chance to really sell your school – the pay-off for the past year’s promotional activity (and budget) that has made sure your school’s name is familiar to those families you are most keen to attract. Now is the time to convert that raised awareness into full classrooms, and the open day is a vital step that warrants careful planning.

It’s not an easy task, but the aim of the open day is to give visiting families a snapshot of your school – its ethos, its approach to the academic and co-curricular programmes and extra activities, as well as a feel for the school campus, the learning areas and resources, dining hall, boarding if applicable, outside space and even the drop-off and car parking arrangements. Parents’ eyes and ears are open and in fact Mtm’s parental research shows that most parents make up their minds about the suitability of a school for their son or daughter on the strength of their own first-hand experience of the school. The key is to be co-ordinated and to plan well in advance.

Booking ahead to shout about your open day to the general public in the local press is of course essential, but it’s also worthwhile dropping a personalised line in plenty of time to the parents who are already on the school’s radar – those who may have requested a prospectus over the past year, whose child may have come along to an activity day held at your school, or the members of clubs and societies with whom your school has established a tie. Keeping good contact information throughout the year is crucial as these families are likely to be your school’s target market.

Ads and invitations must always make clear the schedule for your open day. If you’re planning a welcome by the head perhaps, or talks by members of staff and pupils throughout the day, then the timings for these must be publicised well in advance so that parents do not miss out. Alternatively, a less structured day should also be flagged up – parents may be disenchanted to find that they have made an early start for no reason.

It’s likely that a certain amount of orchestration will be necessary if visitors are to leave your open day with the desired impression of your school. Changes to the timetable might be required to avoid the less spectator-friendly activities and perhaps substitute for those your school is known for, or ideally offers uniquely in the area.

Briefing the main players in your open day is vital. Speakers, young and old, may benefit from guidance and ideally your approval of their script to make sure they are all ‘on message’. Student tour guides should be thoroughly prepared, not just with recommended routes, but also the answers to any questions parents are likely to pose, as well as information on your school’s particular areas of pride to drop into the conversation whenever appropriate. Presentation is also an important matter to parents – your older students are a peek into their younger child’s future, so make sure every pupil looks like a young person a parent could be proud of.

Vitally, all involved must know the arrangements for recording visiting parents’ contact details, so that their positive impression at open day can lead to the registration of their child to join your school.

To find out how mtm can help your school plan for an effective open day, just call 0843 308 7548

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3. Part 1: Seven Stages of Marketing Planning in your School

Last week I was invited to take part in the All-Party Group for Education debate – ‘The changing schools landscape: what can maintained schools, free schools and academies learn from one another?’ It looked like a great opportunity to identify ways in which educationalists could co-operate and exchange expertise, but sadly it turned into an argument between those who want to give comprehensive education more time to succeed and those who run free schools.

The battle between 'comprehensive' and 'free' education continues. . .

Fiona Millar, co-founder (with Melissa Benn and others) of the Local Schools Network, led the attack on free schools, and Adam Dawson, co-founder of the Etz Jewish Primary Free School, responded. Fiona presented the usual arguments questioning the balance of intake into free schools, what she sees as a secretive process of application and lack of accountability.  She wants to see a middle tier, and perhaps a move back towards School Boards, as advocated by Melissa Benn in her recent book ‘School Wars’. Adam Dawson responded, saying that application is a carefully structured process laid down by Government, that free schools have to adhere to the admissions process, and that they are responding to demand for more school places.

Sadly, free schools are political. There are real concerns on the part of those who think that market forces are detrimental, and would prefer some form of control and see free schools as a threat. But there are indications that free schools are raising the game and prompting improvements in areas where they are being established. 

In our region alone, innovative new free schools have started, like the Norwich Free School, which is open 51 weeks of the year with PE facilities provided by Norwich City Football Club. There are also dynamic new schools that have approval to open in Saxmundham and Beccles in 2012, with the aim of raising standards in an area of low aspirations and mediocre academic outcomes.  The free school debate has turned into a battle, but there is an element of detractors protesting too much. However, there is evidence of a groundswell of support for free schools on the part of parents, teachers and pupils. One London free school Head tells me that 5,000 people came to his open day last month, and that he has 400 applications for every teaching post advertised.

The new market in education is here to stay and it looks as if there is no going back. There is certainly much debate, but as Lady Howe said on Wednesday, these are exciting times, and she is much encouraged by the greater involvement by parents, teachers and pupils.

For more information on how mtmconsulting can help your free school, contact us. 

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2. mtm/vwv Autumn Conference Report 2011 – Practical Strategies for a New Education Market
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With the UK heading inexorably, it seems, for another recession and the economic news unremittingly gloomy, we all need a bit of good news.

So full marks to Andrew Maiden, publisher of Funding for Independent Schools (http://www.fismagazine.co.uk), who had the good idea a couple of years ago of launching the sector’s own awards event to give some recognition to enterprise, imagination, energy and leadership in independent schools.

Andrew Maiden's Independent School Awards recognised some key achievements

The second annual Independent School Awards event was held a couple of weeks ago, at the National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, and a very upbeat affair it was, celebrating some remarkable achievements.

Like Kilgraston School in Perthshire, for example. Ten years ago Kilgraston, one of that apparently endangered species, the small, rural girls’ boarding school, would have been high on most people’s lists of schools unlikely to survive. When the current principal, Michael Farmer, took over in 2004, the roll stood at an all-time low of just over 200 and the boarding was barely half-full.

Seven years later, low-cost adaptation of existing plant has given the school new facilities, the school is full, with 340 pupils, and has seen an 80% increase in boarding numbers to 150. A worthy winner of the night’s top award, independent school of the year.

Or take New Hall School, in Essex, reported to be the fastest-growing independent school in the country. The first girls’ school to adopt the ‘diamond’ model in admitting boys, New Hall has doubled its roll from 580 to 1,150 in five years – and doubled its boarding numbers too.

What these and the other award-winners have in common is outstanding leadership, vision and the courage to take the long, strategic view when others are content simply to repeat the annual routine. If you are thinking about how to ensure your school survives the next difficult few years, or believe it should be re-shaping itself in response to new demands and expectations, mtmconsulting’s strategic advice can help. We have been supporting schools making these sort of decisions for over a quarter of a century now.

Oh, and an Oscar for Andrew for having such a good idea.

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2. Is your school in a ‘Nappy Valley’?
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It’s vital to assess the status quo before your school can even think about moving forward, and at mtmconsulting we believe so passionately in the value of incisive market research that we spend much of our time and energy carrying out bespoke survey projects on behalf of schools that are serious about unlocking their future business potential.
But how to ensure that market research really answers those burning questions?

Effictive research requires effective planning

1) Know your objectives at the outset

Identifying the key aims of the market research before the project begins is time well spent. This ensures that the survey can be tailored to meet your school’s needs exactly, and that the results will provide all the information required to make decisions on those anticipated next steps. Once the project has begun it is not possible to add or amend questions without skewing the outcome and rendering it more or less useless.

2) Decide on your sample

Knowing who is to be surveyed is essential if the research is to be formulated to elicit the most useful response. Appropriate phrasing of the questions, the sequence of questions and even whether an incentive might be appreciated all depends on the type of people being asked for their opinions. It’s worth bearing in mind that a school’s current parents are always more willing to share their views than parents who elected for their children not to join the school. Typically response rates of online surveys are around 40% for current parents while non-joiner levels hover around 10%.

3) Keep it brief

Avoid the over-long questionnaire, which is likely to bore your respondent and perhaps discourage them from sticking it out to the bitter the end. Once the objectives and the sample are set, it’s possible to keep the number of questions to the bare minimum. Fewer than 50 questions is recommended to ensure your respondent remains engaged and willing to share throughout.

4) Keep it relevant

Potential parents are not likely to know about the quality of teaching at your school, nor how good the catering is, so don’t ask them. Similarly, the parents of pupils who have left or are leaving the school after seven or 14 years are unlikely to remember their specific reasons for choosing the school, or why they opted for yours over the competition.

5) Know who will use the output

We regularly undertake research on behalf of one department, only to hear that the output has been used by another. For example, mandarin catchment areas analysis is often commissioned by the marketing department, however the bursar finds it most helpful when planning budgets. It is useful to identify which departments are likely to benefit from the results of your school’s market research, as this may inform the way we formulate our report and analyse the issues that arise. Our aim is to make sure that the market research proves to be of the utmost value to your school and will form the basis of its future success.

I’d love to hear how your school makes the most of its market research – please email me on jleggett@mtmconsulting.co.uk

Contact mtmconsulting to find out more about our how our extensive research services can benefit you.

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It’s easy to dismiss it as schoolgate tittle-tattle, but word-of-mouth is a very powerful marketing tool among parents – and schools ignore it at their peril.

All the glossy prospectuses and snappy websites in the world might not make up for the fact that Auntie Pat’s hairdresser’s niece had a terrible time at St Griselda’s, or nice little Freddie down the road left Newtown College with a crack habit and no GCSEs.

And the education watchdog Ofsted has just brought home-time gossip into the 21st century by launching a website that invites parents to share opinions on their child’s state school with the entire online world. Independent schools are not ‘currently’ included, but once it gets established, the pressure may mount on ISI to follow suit.

Contributions to the Parent View site are anonymous and the parents taking part are asked to choose their responses, ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’, to 12 statements on the issues that keep parents awake at night when choosing the right school for their offspring. These include ‘my child is happy at this school’, ‘my child feels safe at this school’, ‘my child is taught well at this school’, ‘this school deals effectively with bullying’ and, crucially, ‘I would recommend this school to another parent’.

There is no space for free text (or griping) and the simple answers can be collated and evaluated easily to help parents using the site to compare levels of satisfaction between the schools they’re considering. The results will also be used to prompt Ofsted into action if any school seems to be getting more than its fair share of negative feedback.

Some teaching bodies are greeting news of the site’s launch with trepidation, however, their main concern being that it could be open to abuse by parents with an educational axe to grind. Ofsted insists though that its aim is to give parents a stronger voice and to pool their collective experience, which is undoubtedly something they are already adept at doing, if not quite so efficiently.

Indeed, at mtm, we carry out more than 40 parental surveys each year, and every parent interviewed admits to asking friends, colleagues, neighbours or family members for their opinion on the schools they have in mind for their son or daughter. One less than favourable word can make them think twice about applying.

So how to keep your current parents close? Communication is the key to the retention and satisfaction of parents and their children. Make sure they’re in the loop with regular and engaging correspondence and newsletters, swift responses to their enquiries and respectful and sensitive handling of any issues that may arise – and today’s parents may well put in a good word for your school with the parents of tomorrow, whether at the schoolgate, the village shop, the water cooler or in cyberspace.

For bespoke advice on keeping your school’s current and prospective parents happy, contact mtmconsulting.

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It is one of the most remarkable transformations to take place in the independent sector in the last 20 years. How did a dwindling group of seven mainly girls’ independent schools, some of them near the brink of closure, turn itself into a flourishing powerhouse, with ten independent schools (and more than double the number of pupils) and, with 20 Academies, the largest single sponsor in the Government’s Academy programme?

The story of the then Church Schools Company’s metamorphosis into the United Church Schools’ Trust and its sister United Learning Trust has not been told fully in public before. But the man who is more than anyone responsible for the transformation, Sir Ewan Harper, outlined the vision and the strategy which underpinned it in the keynote address at the annual strategy conference hosted in London by mtmconsulting and Veale Wasbrough Vizards.

What emerged was a compelling blend of hard-headed business planning and a mission informed by firm Christian principle, which should inspire any school leader trying to square the circle of public benefit and a viable business model.

The Church Schools Company was turned round by an unsentimental approach to viable mergers, creating strong new schools in areas where the market was robust, but the existing schools either wrongly configured or unable to expand. The involvement in the Academy programme came later and sprang from an initial chance encounter and the need to answer the question, which Sir Ewan urged all the delegates to address: “If our founders were alive today, what would they do?”

Sir Ewan’s was just one of a series of informative sessions which kept nearly 150 delegates from schools of all kinds in rapt attention throughout the “Practical Strategies for the Changing Education Market” conference at the Institute of Directors. A panel comprising Christopher Ray, High Master of Manchester Grammar School, Frances King, Headmistress of Roedean, Adrian Richardson, Principal of the Cothill Educational Trust, and Richard Fenwick, Headmaster of Hazlegrove, debated differing approaches to the increasingly important issue of changing a school’s age range.

And Gavin Humphries, mtmconsulting’s head of research, unveiled the third edition of The mtmconsulting Independent Sector Report, with its combination of comprehensive analysis of sector trends and future forecasts. Add to that a range of practical seminar sessions of legal, marketing and strategic issues – including a vibrant and challenging workshop on digital and social media marketing for schools – and you will know that it’s well worth looking out for the conference report, which will soon be sent to schools.

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mtmconsulting has undertaken around 100 online parental satisfaction surveys for independent schools over the past three years, and close to 40 so far this year. Almost all reports had a single common theme running though. Communication.

Parents who are paying up to £30,000 a year on their children’s education want to know what their child is being taught and how well they are progressing. They also want easy lines of contact in the event of a problem or a query. Occasional letters through ‘blazer’ or ‘satchel’ post are simply not enough. The once a year parents’ evening melee where they see little Johnny’s teachers for 4 minutes each may give parents an insight, but realistically there is not a lot they can glean from them.

Communication through text, email and social media is growing massively, so make sure your school is keeping up. Keeping a good database of how your parents would prefer to be contacted not only makes sure nothing is wasted, it ensures information gets to the right place at the right time. Almost all parents have a mobile phone, so if the mini bus back from the U16s’ cricket match is running late, send a text. The cost is low and one of the teachers on the trip could send them. 

Your school's parents highly value communication, so don't leave them in the dark.

Parents also want to be involved in structural changes to the school, be it the addition of a prep school or the removal of Saturday school, parents want to feel they are at least consulted and are given the opportunity to give their views. Running a few focus groups in school during the planning process will help parents feel that the school cares about them, sending positive vibes that the school communicates.

mtm regularly runs focus groups for all kinds of schools and when participants leave they always comment on how great it was to be asked. Most understand that not everything will happen exactly how they want it to, but at least they have had the opportunity to give their opinion. Similarly, online parental surveys or telephone interviews give parents a platform to communicate with the school. If this is though a third party they are more likely to be candid, giving their honest opinion rather than what they think they ought to say.

Increasingly, more than ever before, word of mouth is key to a school’s reputation. Keeping parents involved and onside will keep them talking about you in (generally!) positive terms. With an army of parents advocating your school, the competition will have no choice but to up their game…

To discuss our consulting, research and strategic services for schools, please contact mtm.

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Ahead of the launch of our 2012 Education Sector Report in September (available to order now with advance discount rate), over the Summer we will be looking at several of the key trends the report will explore. In this second trending article, our Head of Strategy,  Dick Davison looks at a flight to quality in education in the wake of recession.

As the British economy bumps and scrapes along the bottom of what might or might not be a recovery from the longest and deepest recession in living memory, everyone is looking for signs and portents to indicate the way things really are going.

So when that touchstone of the High Street, Marks & Spencer reported its second quarter figures recently, the pundits fell on them with unusual zeal. And what they showed did seem to be genuinely interesting. While like-for-like sales growth in general merchandise remained flat, food sales were up 3.3%.

The significance of that, for some commentators, is that M&S occupies two different market segments: for general merchandise, especially clothing, it is firmly rooted in the middle of the market but its food retailing is nearer the top of the range. So, they seemed to suggest, conditions remain pretty bleak for the general consumer, but the more affluent are more confident.

There are, of course, different interpretations. One is that, even in a recession, our taste for an occasional treat remains undiminished and M&S, with its successful “dine-in” offers, had tapped very successfully into that demand.

Be that as it may, something similar seemed to be indicated by the 2011 ISC Census of independent schools. While overall numbers were slightly down, by 0.2% – and the fact that the reduction was so slight, despite the economic turbulence of the last three years, might be taken as another illustration of the “rich are still spending” interpretation – there were some significant differences between types of schools.

Numbers were actually slightly UP in HMC schools, which include many of those schools which are regarded as market leaders in their locality or market segment, whether it be the most prominent academic day school in town or a national-brand leading boarding school. This is often taken as evidence of the “flight to quality” which seems to be one of the characteristics of hard times – when people feel they have to spend, despite the economic circumstances, they make more sure than usual that they are buying the best quality.

Sharpening the pencil? With the impact of recession focusing families' minds and budgets, it appears that schools that can demonstrate real value and quality are proving more successful.

But what is “quality” in the independent sector? Because the highest percentage rise in numbers – 0.5% – was in SHMIS schools, many of them less glamorous and less well-known schools, often of modest size and often flourishing alongside bigger and more prominent neighbours.

This emphasises that what consumers – in this case parents – are looking for is not just prestige, but real value for money. There is no sign yet of parents turning away from the real advantages that an independent education offers their children but more and more indications that they are becoming ever more pragmatic and critical.

Our next trending article will look at the national birthrate and the opportunities and threats this may pose to all schools.

To view details of the forthcoming 2012 Sector Report please click here.  

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