Created through the merger of Leeds Grammar School and Leeds Girls’ High School in 2008, The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) is an all-through independent day school for around 2,100 boys and girls. Once amalgamated, the two original schools immediately shared the same name, but they did not share the same site, with pupils aged 7-18 taught in Alwoodley in north Leeds, and nursery and pre-prep children five miles away at Rose Court in Headingley.
77%
increase from the target postcodes, with 42% overall increase.
The project
Proceeds from the sale of the Rose Court site enabled GSAL to transform its former Junior School into a new Primary School for nursery to year 6 pupils in Alwoodley.
‘This was a significant investment for the school,’ explains Helen Clapham, GSAL’s Director of External Relations, ‘so it was vital to ensure that the project was a success and we achieved the pupil number targets in our business plan by retaining existing Rose Court families and recruiting new families to the primary school in Alwoodley.’
To inform GSAL’s marketing strategy to increase the school’s market share of potential independent school pupils in the catchment area, MTM was commissioned to carry out an MTM 3-60 full demand and supply analysis.
This research set out to:
- Understand the locations and travel times of current families
- Understand the lifestyles of current families
- Define realistic catchment areas
- Assess the market size for target age children within the catchments in the relevant age groups (3-10, 11-15 and 16-17)
- Estimate the market size of the target age children within each Neighbourhood and Postcode Sector within each catchment
- Project the population change of the target markets within each catchment to 2029
- Analyse the roll trends and influence of competitors
Results
MTM 3-60 research showed that GSAL’s day pupils lived closer to the school than would usually be expected. Mapping pupils’ home locations demonstrated that most pupils had a journey to school of 20 minutes or less. Interestingly, it became apparent that there were opportunities to increase the schools’ market share in and around north Leeds, Harrogate and Wetherby. By moving Rose Court to Alwoodley would enable more families to access the school more easily.
Next steps for The Grammar School at Leeds
Using this intelligence as the basis of a marketing strategy, Helen and her team were able to ensure that 99% of existing GSAL families transferred to the new primary school in Alwoodley when it opened in September 2020. On top of that, the school recorded a 42% increase in enrolments, including an impressive 77% increase from the target postcodes.
As well as delivering a significant increase in pupil numbers, the Rose Court relocation was a major contributing factor in GSAL being named the Sunday Times North Independent Secondary School of the Decade.
Thanks to MTM’s analysis we were able to create and deliver a highly effective marketing strategy, which exceeded even our best expectations. The market research was crucial in ensuring that we knew which areas to target, with what messages, and the best channels. The MTM team were great to deal with – knowledgeable, professional and approachable. I have also been grateful for their ongoing support and advice. I would absolutely recommend MTM.
Helen Clapham - The Grammar School at Leeds