Blog by Melanie Tucker, Principal and Head of Marketing Services
Last month the Daily Telegraph reported that that middle classes are turning back to the state sector. The interest is primarily fee driven but has been spurred by the opportunities for parents to establish their own school free schools and the transformation of comprehensives into academies. But is this an accurate assessment?
Blog by Nicky Adams – School Marketing Consultant
Under the watchful eye of an oil-painted Duke of Wellington, movers and shakers in independent schools met for two seminars hosted by mtmconsulting in the sumptuous Waterloo Room at London’s Cavalry and Guards Club in March. They talked tactics, of course, and armed themselves with some vital intelligence, ready to do battle in the most competitive independent schools sector in British history.
Blog by Christopher Smith, Head of Business Development
Most schools are already somewhere along the social media continuum: between ignoring and prohibiting at one end, and embracing and enabling at the other.
There are of course arguments for both extremes. Social media (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and so forth) continues to be a divisive subject, and a few PR disasters in recent times, namely cyber bullying on Facebook, the use of Twitter in the 2011 riots and most recently the rise of the ‘Troll’, have given the ‘anti’ campaign plenty of fuel.
However you look at social media, it is without a doubt an incredibly successful phenomenon, and has proved not just to be a fad. The fad is in the hype surrounding it.
Your opportunity to shape the future of independent education in London Docklands
mtmconsulting is managing the bidding for investment in two new schools in the heart of London Docklands – the deadline for submissions has now closed, but please contact us if you are interested.
Education investors are being offered a rare opportunity to invest in two brand new schools to be built by The Ballymore Group in creatively regenerated areas of London Docklands.
In this exciting, evolving urban environment, a new nursery and preparatory school is to be constructed on a bend in the River Thames opposite the O2 Arena at The Ballymore Group’s Leamouth Peninsula development in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. In nearby Newham, a school potentially catering for pupils aged four to 18 will be built close to the heart of The Ballymore Group’s new Minoco community, whose design will be faithful to the original Royal Docks neighbourhoods with a network of streets and squares and a mixture of residential and commercial property.
Blog by Jane Davies, Research Analyst
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.
Blog by Nicky Adams, Schools’ Marketing Consultant
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.
The third edition of mtmconsulting’s groundbreaking Sector Report is available to order now.
mtmconsulting’s UK Education Sector; Forecasts, Challenges & Opportunities 2012 – 2020 is the authoritative independent commentary for the charitable, for profit and state-funded independent education markets.
Produced by mtmconsulting biannually, this is an objective review of these fast-changing sectors. It includes statistics, trends, forecasts and scenarios, providing a valuable information source for decision makers or those wishing to enter the sectors.
Following on from another successful conference at the IOD, we have produced a full report of the day. This year’s conference was entitled ‘Practical Strategies for a New Education Market’.
You can read a summary of Sir Ewan Harper’s remarkable account of how the United Learning Trust was transformed from a small and struggling independent school group into a thriving organisation, with more than double the pupil numbers, and went on to become the nation’s biggest sponsor of Academies.
Other topics covered include the opportunities and pitfalls of extending your school age range, a summary of the mtmconsulting UK Education Sector Report 2012 – 2020: Forecasts, Challenges and Opportunities and Tom Packer’s account of his white knuckle ride through the process of opening the West London Free School.
mtmconsulting’s Gavin Humphries, Head of Research takes a look at the latest trends in boarding and how to boost your numbers.
The number of boarders in independent schools has fallen dramatically over the last 30 years, from 120,000 in 1981 to just under 72,000 in 2011. As a proportion of all independent school pupils this represents a fall from 22% to 12%. One of the causes of this long-term decline was the fact that robust boarding regimes (especially for boys) came to be regarded with both distaste and suspicion by many mothers. Negative media comment, particularly during the 1980s, did not help and this has continued, on and off, since (such as the references to ‘Boarding School Syndrome’ during the summer of 2011).
