Awareness, Retention & Growth

Running an independent school is difficult, running an independent school as a business is a necessity. Now, I do appreciate that is anathema to many that work within the Education sector, but to be able to provide a top-class education to your students, you must have a solid business underfoot. This allows for investment in equipment, facilities, teaching & innovation and above all else will enable you to provide the education you want to deliver to the customer who expects it to be delivered for the fee they are paying.

The profile of the fee-paying parent has changed and is continuing to evolve, whereas before independent schooling was a tradition and was expected amongst certain families there are now many first-time buyers – Aspirational parents who make numerous sacrifices to send their child to your school and as such want to see a return on that investment.

As our most recent research shows the top four reasons why these families would choose a fee-paying school is better academic results, better quality of teaching, smaller class sizes & greater all-round education.

There are three key sections/points in which you need to consider.

Awareness – an understanding of how the business is in its current position; be that,

• occupancy
• financial situation
• standing within the local marketplace
• operational structure

Retention –

• Why do you have the pupils you have?
• Why have they stayed loyal?
• Why have pupils left before their natural time with the school has finished?
• Why did those that toured your school go elsewhere?
• Why were you not considered in the first place?

Growth – This is a natural progression of having examined Awareness & Retention.  Understanding the points above allows you to look at your options for growth such as attracting more pupils, possibly expanding in to prep, pre-prep or secondary, or even considering co-ed.

What we do at MTM is to guide you through this journey. All our products fit into those three categories and are designed to enable you to make your business decisions that much easier and allow you to continue providing an excellent education to your pupils.

By Daniel Cohen, Head of Business Development