This term is a key time for schools to sow the seeds for future success. Making sure your actions are spot-on now can have a positive effect on the benefits you reap later.

With the final cut of the season done, last October I vowed to sort out our lawn. It really wasn’t looking good and I feared what it would be like by the following summer. My wife bought me a book* but I was dismayed to discover that I had missed the boat – September was supposed to have been the busiest time of the year for lawncare, the time when most of the preparation for the following season is undertaken.

Gavin's been working on his lawn. It's a good time for schools to work on key marketing and strategies, and our research can inform this.

September is also a good time to be cultivating your school’s catchment area. For many school marketing specialists, now is a great time to have an impact on enquiries for next year’s intake. This might be through advertising, direct mail, local roadshows and impressing feeder school staff.

September’s also the right time for some longer-term strategic planning in schools, to be considering some of the fundamentals of your business. What kind of parents make up your catchment and are you nurturing them with the right kind of marketing message? Why are there bare patches in parts of your catchment and what can you do to encourage growth in them? What are the prospects for growth over the next 5-10 years?

Mandarin is mtm’s school catchment analysis service and can help with your tactics and thinking. We have introduced a number of new features to quantify your prospects, identify the streets on which they live and hone your pitch to them. To discuss how Mandarin can help your school’s growth and development, please contact mtm.

* The Lawn Expert by Dr D G Hessayon – “the world’s best-selling book on lawns”.

Related posts:

1. Blog post – The power of friendship networks, and implications for schools
2. Blog post – Does teacher know best when it comes to free schools?
3. Blog post – Market segmentation and its value

A modern baby boom has been cited in yesterday’s Telegraph as factors leading to a ‘critical’ shortage of primary school places in some areas of England and Wales. We ask if the real issue is more a question of insufficient planning.   

The article, by the paper’s Education Editor Graeme Paton, details an internal Labour party report suggesting that at least 60,000 additional primary places are required this autumn alone, while Professor Smithers of Buckingham University indicates that it is “highly probable” that the number of children educated in classes of over 30 pupils would exceed 500,000 next year.

What, perhaps, is most startling about this shortage of places is the apparent lack of planning, either at Local Authority or Central Government level. As rightly pointed out by Prof Smithers, children entering primary schools this September will be four years old, meaning that authorities have had at least four years to cater for their primary education.

And planning should have  been in place long before this. In almost every commercial market, demographic trends and long term planning for population change forms a crucial part of development strategies. Indeed mtmconsulting’s own ‘Mandarin’ research for schools provides scientific and robust projections for population change, by region, for the next ten years.

Further indicating a lack of proper foresight are figures from the Office for National Statistics, which clearly show that birth-rates for England and Wales have been increasing since as early as 2001, when the rate was as low as 595k.

Birthrates have increased since 2001 - but not so rapidly that school planners should have been caught out

 In 2008 this figure is close to 709k – a significant turnaround, but hardly so fast as to catch anyone unawares (click chart to  enlarge).

In our work, we regularly support clients in understanding their catchment area, likely demand and population changes in the child population. Indeed, for independent schools we can look further than this, identifying numbers of households within a 15 minute or 30 minute drivetime of a school, who have both school-age children and household income above a certain threshold. Similar analysis is carried out by supermarkets, housing developers, shopping and leisure centre planners and a multitude of other commercial groups.

We wonder if a deeper level of analysis within Local Authority and Government education planning departments should not be taking place.  

For more details about our research, strategy and marketing services for education, please contact mtm.

Related posts:

1. Private schools will have to raise class sizes, experts warn
2. Private need not be a middle-class preserve: marketing independent schools
3. Grammar schools attract 25% more pupils than in 1997

Obesity can spread like a virus through social networks. How can this finding be applied for school marketers?

Framingham is a town in Massachusetts where medical researchers have tracked a large segment of the adult population since 1948 – and in doing so revealed many of the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, such as smoking. More recently two researchers have crunched the data and made another remarkable discovery: obesity spreads like a virus.

It's been shown that social networks can cause shared traits - like obesity. Schools should look to utilise the same networking trends to enhance their positioning.

The Framingham data allowed the researchers to construct a map of friendships, and therefore the social network of the town. What they discovered was that if one person became obese, the likelihood that a friend would follow suit increased by 171%. “Your friends who live far away have just as big an impact on your behaviour as friends who live next door… Even if you see a friend only once a year, that friend will still change your sense of what’s appropriate. And that new norm will influence what you do” (said James Fowler, one of the researchers, quoted in Wired Magazine).

I suspect that choice of schools – and particularly whether to use independent schools - also follows this pattern. That is, if somebody knows someone who educates a child privately, then that makes them more likely to at least consider it too. We know from research for schools carried out at mtm that word-of-mouth is the single biggest influencer on choice of school, but this new insight goes back much further in the decision-making process. It influences awareness and consideration of independent education in general and describes the process of people opening themselves to the idea of fee-paying schools.

Here are a couple of thoughts for schools…

1)     If you identify those parts of your catchment where you don’t have pupils and build up recruitment there, over time you should see a snowball effect as more local people consider you.

2)     If your current parent body is socially homogeneous, you might well be missing out on a whole market of people with money but different lifestyles.

mtm’s Mandarin catchment area analysis product can help schools understand their marketplace and parent body, while our strategic and marketing services for schools allow clients to enhance their positioning. For more details please contact mtm.

Related posts:

1. Blog post – Does teacher know best when it comes to free schools?
2. Blog post – Cultivating your school’s catchment area
3. Blog post – Independent schools offer refuge from the storm in state education

With a BBC report earlier this summer stating that about half the 700 or so initial enquiries from groups interested in establishing “free schools” came from groups of teachers, we ask if they are really the best people to run a school…

At first sight, of course, there is nobody better. They are the pedagogical professionals, they know how children learn best and, if they are interested in setting up a school under their own control, they probably know only too well how bureaucracy and poor management get in the way of good teaching and learning. “Just let good teachers get on with the job,” has so often been the response to the seemingly endless procession of Government initiatives and regulation.

But good teaching is not all that is necessary for a healthy school. It is perhaps no coincidence that the free school legislation will require the new institutions to be set up under the same regulations as independent schools and that amongst the first things the Secretary of State will want to see before approving a new free school is a business plan.

Teachers may not always be the best figures to establish and run free schools

Most people in the independent sector understand that, to guarantee the basis for good teaching and learning to take place, a school has first of all to be a sound business, with a clear school strategy. The numbers – particularly in terms of pupil roll – drive everything, and if those numbers aren’t there, there will, sooner or later, be no school. Even though parents won’t pay fees, the same disciplines will apply to the new free schools.

Our experience at mtmconsulting is that teachers, no matter how well intentioned and motivated, do not always understand these business fundamentals and are often not well equipped to ensure their delivery.

What mtm does is provide the strategic, research and marketing services which have underpinned the success of hundreds of successful independent school businesses over more than 20 years.

• Location: We can profile the entire locality and help you find the best site.
• Demand for the new school: We can provide a range of research services from the simplest to the most sophisticated which will provide a detailed profile of your catchment area.
• Marshalling local support: Our PR and media expertise is second to none, gained in both independent and maintained sectors.
• Financial projections: We have long experience in helping schools establish secure business models and financial forecasting .

To discuss our work, please contact mtm.

Related posts:

1. Blog post – The power of friendship networks, and implications for schools
2. Blog post – Independent schools offer refuge from the storm in state education
3. Blog post – Learning to fly – and persuading parents to take the leap

In this  excerpt from the mtmconsulting Missing Million Report, 2008 (follow the link for details) we explore where potential buyers drop out of the decision making process…

The Missing Million Report (based on a parental survey carried out of some 836 households with school-age children and a target income of £50,000+) suggests the following:

• 66% have, at some point, considered sending at least one child to an independent school
• Of those that have considered it, 92% have gone on to conduct research on at least one specific independent school (talking to people about the school, reading up on it or visiting it)
• Of those that have conducted research, 83% visited a school
• Of those visitors, 53% went on to send at least one child to an independent school.

The chart illustrates the high number of potential buyers dropping out at the research / visiting stages

This is reflected in the chart to the left, which shows the crucial stages of decision-making amongst parents. It should reiterated that our research found that little over half of all parents who visited independent schools went on to enrol a place at such a school.

We believe this to be a significant indicator that there is great potential for independent schools’ marketing and communications to be greatly enhanced, particularly around the messages conveyed to prospective parents; the quality of marketing, school websites and promotional material; and the effectiveness of school tours.

In addition:

• Parents in London are much more likely to consider an independent school for their children (79% versus the national average of 66%) and are also more likely to ultimately send them.
• Parents in the South/East of England are less likely to consider it (62% versus 66%) although the proportions subsequently researching, considering and sending are in line with the national average.
• Parents in the Midlands/Wales are slightly less likely to consider and research independent schools and are then moderately less likely to visit and use independent schools.
• Parents in the North/Scotland are only slightly less likely than the national average to undertake most stages in the process.

The chart above also shows the points at which parents drop out of the buying process. Based on an estimated 1.2 million target households with school-age children, an estimated 933,000 of these households are non-buyers of independent education.

These non-buyers can be segmented as follows: 415,000 that have never considered independent schools; 63,000 that have considered but never researched; 123,000 that have researched but never visited; 284,000 that have visited but never bought; and 47,000 that are former buyers.

The implications for independent school marketing teams here are huge, indicating over 300,000 potential (and former) buyers of independent education that have considered it, but decided against it.

mtm helps schools with their brand positioning, marketing, research and strategic thinking. To discuss our services please contact mtm.

Click here for more details about mtm’s Missing Million report.

Related posts:

1. Private need not be a middle-class preserve: marketing independent schools
2. mtm announces survey of how parents pay independent school fees
3. mtmconsulting’s School Marketing Survey shows importance of web design for education groups

The date of the September Proprietorial Schools’ Forum event – the latest in our series of half day seminar and discussion events for owners and heads of proprietorial schools, is confirmed as 13th September.

The draft programme for this event is as follows:

0930 – Coffee and Registration

0945 – The Landscape After the General Election – Opportunities and Threats

1025 – Succession Planning

1105 – Coffee Break

1120 – Marketing – the next ten years

1200 – Proprietors’ Discussion Forum

1245 – Drinks, buffet lunch, networking

1430 – Close

The Proprietorial Schools’ Forum has proved highly popular since its inception in September 2008. The Forum was established in response to demand for an event at which private owners of schools could meet to discuss exclusively the issues which concern them.   

The fee for the forum is £55. This includes drinks and buffet lunch. For more details about the event, and to book a place, please contact mtm.

Related posts:

1. Proprietorial Schools Forum
2. Recession hits preparatory schools, according to schools advice service
3. mtm / Veale Wasbrough Vizards independent schools strategy conference details released

A close look at the 2010 ISC census figures may prompt a bead of sweat to form on the brow of senior school leaders…

The  Independent Schools Council’s (ISC) annual census of school numbers and fees remains the essential benchmark of the health of the independent education sector. Its near 30 year historical sequence permits confident and secure decision-making, both at the sector level and for sub-sectors within it: boarding schools, girls’ schools, and so on.

And, as my colleague Gavin Humphries noted in The mtmconsulting Independent Education Sector Report 2010, its figures demonstrate convincingly that, after a 25 year period in which prolonged steady growth was only briefly interrupted by the recession of the early 1990s, pupil numbers have stagnated for some five years now.

The 2010 ISC Census confirmed this, showing too the early effects of the latest recession with an overall drop in numbers of 0.6%. The ISC, when it published the census, very sensibly put an optimistic spin on the figures, pointing out that the total school population in the United Kingdom is continuing to fall, as it has been since the early years of the century and that, therefore, the sector’s market share is actually still rising.

But it did not attempt to disguise the fact that overall rolls for prep and junior schools have been falling more rapidly (down 2.1% from Reception to Year 6 overall) and even pre-school numbers – the engine of independent school growth in the past – are also falling.

This appeared to confirm a perception general throughout the sector that independent junior schools  have been finding life tougher for some time now – since long before we found ourselves in the current financial tundra.

But look closer. As always in the ISC Census, Table 3 – the age cohort breakdown – is the most revealing. Certainly, numbers of seven, eight and nine- year-olds are well down, by between 3- 4%. But encouragingly, and perhaps in belated response to the rising birthrate, numbers of five- and six-year-olds are actually increasing, suggesting a return to more robust recruitment at these ages.

Do senior schools face a reduction in pupil numbers?

And a look at the 11-year-old cohort, the crucial recruitment year for most independent senior schools, should chill the bones of senior school marketers and registrars: down by nearly two and a half per cent. So are senior schools about to be hit by a recruitment double whammy – lower numbers coming through from prep schools and a tougher recruitment environment from outside?

mtmconsulting has worked with hundreds of schools to help them understand their potential market, their parents and how to position themselves successfully. To discuss how we might be able to help your school please contact mtm.

Related posts:

1. Why school website design is essential for good pupil recruitment and school marketing
2. Blog post – Does teacher know best when it comes to free schools?
3. Blog post – Cultivating your school’s catchment area

Households in Great Britain can be classified into different types – one such classification is the Acorn system  (developed by CACI Ltd) that is used in mtm’s Mandarin (market and area intelligence) catchment area analysis service. The Acorn system divides individual postcodes into one of 17 different groups. What’s particularly striking in looking at independent school buyers is that typical buyers make up just one third of households but four fifths of independent school pupils.

There are five groups (1A-2E in the following list), making up 33% of households, which are particularly relevant to independent schools since they account for an estimated 78% of the sector’s pupils. A sixth group (3H below) is under-represented in independent education, but is important because of its large size. The groups are:

1.A Wealthy Executives – the largest group comprising an estimated 38% of independent school pupils. These are people who live in wealthy, high status suburban, rural and semi-rural areas of the country. Given their wealth, this type of household is over five times as represented in the independent school sector since they comprise only 8% of all UK households.

1.B Affluent Greys – 13% of pupils. These are older, prosperous people often living in rural towns and villages who, if they are employed, are typically in a managerial or professional role.

1.C Flourishing Families – 12% of pupils. These are wealthy families living in established suburbs, new housing developments around commuter towns and rural areas.

2.D Educated Urbanites – 7% of pupils. These are younger city dwellers in professional and managerial roles.

2.E Prosperous Professionals – 8% of pupils. These are the most prosperous people living in the main cities and working in senior managerial and professional occupations.

3.H Secure Families – 9% of pupils. These are families living comfortably in suburban and semi-rural locations and employed in a range of occupations. Incomes are at least of average levels and many earn well above the national average. Within this group, there are also some neighbourhoods with high numbers of comfortably off Asian families. Although Secure Families are under-represented in independent education, they are important because of their large number.

This table shows, for example, how large a proportion of independent school buyers are formed by Wealthy Executives Group, despite a lower proportion in the base population

The table to the left shows how independent school pupils are distributed amongst the key Acorn groups.

The first column shows the estimated number of independent school pupils in each Acorn group, the second column the share of the total that this accounts for. The third column shows how all households in Great Britain are divided between these groups and the fourth column shows how well each Acorn group is represented in independent education compared to its national size.

mtm helps clients throughout the UK with school strategic planning and marketing. Our Mandarin research is the only product available to give schools a thorough and scientific understanding of their potential market. For a conversation about how Mandarin can help you, please contact mtm.

Related posts:

1. White paper shows recession’s impact on independent school markets
2. Marketing independent schools: where do parents drop out?
3. When truly independent education research pays dividends

A number of the report’s core findings relating to the UK independent schools market place are relatively well documented elsewhere, not least by mtm. These include tracking of “long-run decline” in the pupil-teacher ratio in the independent sector, and the growth of academies and free schools.

However, the report also flags up two trends relating to target markets that independent school educational strategies should take notice of.

1) Independent school fee increases have significantly outstripped income, even amongst the top earners.

The IFS research shows that “during the 1980s independent school fees grew rapidly… (but) top incomes amongst families with children grew by a similar amount”. The period from 1992 to 2008, however, is drastically different, with increases amongst top earners of around 35% compared with day school fee increases of 83% and boarding school fee increases of 65%.

This statistic provides some explanation for the observation that ”independent schools have failed to capitalise on long-term growth in their target market” (i.e. social classes 1&2), explored in the mtmconsulting Education Sector Report.  

2) “Children are at least three times more likely to attend a private school if one of their parents attended one”.  

School marketers should take note of this. While the Independent Schools Council commented in The Guardian, quite rightfully, that  this reflects a high level of satisfaction amongst buyers of independent education, it also suggests that independent school marketing is not engaging with ‘first-time buyers’.

School marketing strategies perhaps should thus be amended to appeal more strongly to this market place, through better understanding buyer priorities in school selection, the value of means-tested fees support and promotion activities to alert would-be buyers to their local independent school’s presence.

Anecdotal evidence has suggested that schools who have embarked on radio and television campaigns have been successful in enhancing recruitment from families new to the independent sector, and we might anticipate collaborative efforts from regional groups of schools to better alert first-time buyers to them.

mtmconsulting is the leader in marketing UK colleges and schools. We offer our clients world-class educational research, strategy and marketing advice. For details on how we might be able to support your school please contact mtm.

Related posts:

1. Private need not be a middle-class preserve: marketing independent schools
2. Private schools face cutting fees to survive
3. Private school fees ‘kept down’ in recession

This consultancy takes the form of an initial face-to-face meeting at your offices, with a full and frank discussion about our services and how we may be able to support you in the following areas:

• Enhancing pupil recruitment
• School and college marketing
• Prospectus and web design
• Understanding your school or college’s catchment area and market potential
• Researching your parents, pupils and staff perceptions
• Repositioning your school or college to compete more effectively
• Merging or acquiring another school
• Planning capital development and expansion

Following this initial meeting mtm will produce a full and detailed proposal for a programme of work, at no fee, and with no obligation to you.

With over 25 years of supporting in excess of 500 UK schools and colleges, mtm’s expertise is unrivalled.

Contact mtm here to arrange your free initial consultancy.

Related posts:

1. Blog post – Does teacher know best when it comes to free schools?
2. mtmconsulting presents School Matters free newsletter
3. Gove strives for ‘free’ schools but what impact on independents?