Fix Falling School Pupil Numbers 📈

Today we're gonna take a practical look at what you can do to fix falling pupil numbers.

Members in your school.

So thank you so much for making the time to be here today.

So it was about 2 and a half years ago, it was a nice spring day, and I remember my daughter Matilda coming home in tears because her 2 best friends had both decided that week that they were kind of leaving and going to another school.

And it wasn't just them.

One family, then another, then another were all choosing to make a change.

And just one week after that, the school held a meeting for parents where it became clear just how challenging the situation was at the school.

So we'd been invited in by Sarah, who was the the new headteacher.

She had been deputy the year before and she'd just stepped up.

She stood in front of us, in that hall full of parents, and she spoke plainly about the challenge.

A few years ago, Reception had been full at 30, then it slipped to 21, and that September the new intake had come in at just half full, so just 15 children.

And it meant that Sarah was now having to completely rethink how she staffed and ran Key Stage 1.

So it was something the school had never had to face before.

But what none of us sitting in that hall could see was the pressure that she was feeling behind it—the staff she might have to let go, the budget that was already in the red, and the Trust who were above her, waiting to see whether this new head could actually turn things around.

But what struck me was how Sarah addressed the challenge.

So she stood up in front of us and she reminded us as parents exactly what made the school special.

And she was certain that those numbers would start to go back up if only more families could see what it was really like inside those gates.

And you could you could feel how hard she was working for it, the effort she was putting in.

And that day she said she had a plan, she just needed the help getting the word out.

So it was at that point that I put my hand up and I volunteered to help.

So my name is Chris Norfield.

My my background isn't in schools actually, it's in local marketing.

So for 15 years I've helped small businesses, sports clubs, charities, the NHS, all get themselves seen in their local community.

And when I was sitting in that hall, I thought, maybe some of the tactics that I've used to help those organisations could work in a primary school as well.

So, over the next 3 weeks, Sarah and I worked together to create a simple 3-step pupil numbers recovery plan.

And here's what happened.

So she went from running open days where hardly anyone showed up to having 3 fully booked open days plus regular weekly school tours.

Her reception intake went from 15 in September to 27 the following year, and in that year she had 39 extra children join across other year groups.

And this wasn't done by us bringing in a fancy agency campaign, we weren't rebranding, we didn't do a complicated marketing setup, we definitely didn't do a brand new website.

What we did was create a system that is easy for a busy school leader to implement and roll out, and because of that, it's a system I believe that any school can use.

Now, Sarah wrote about this in the Headteacher Update magazine last year, where she talked about the 3 steps that we focused on and the impact.

And I'll just bring Sarah in now to say a little bit about what the challenge she was facing, what the school situation was, and while you listen, I'd love to know Does this resonate?

Does this sound like your school?

And if it does, let me know in the chat.

We are a wonderful school, Catholic school, which has had historically a very good reputation, but we have got lots of competition from neighbouring schools in our surrounding.

So parents do have lots of choice locally in terms of which school they expect for their child.

So the overall situation in school this time last year was that we had suffered a loss of quite a significant number of pupils.

That was through various reasons going on internally in school the year that preceded that.

Which meant that we were starting the school year far under plan.

We should be at 210 children and we started the year with 105.

I think for me the first and the biggest barrier was capacity within school to market the school in a way that would be profitable for Mount Winifred in terms of reaching out to the local family and beyond.

And also the knowledge and expertise, you know, I lead a team of teachers and as a professionalist we don't come from necessarily a marketing background, so knowing where to begin and how to capture that.

We had a very basic idea, we didn't have any flyers out or try and get it more visible within the local community, but have a strategic approach to that.

That's like a big obstacle as to what we should do next to make big dents into the number that needs to be filled.

So let's have a look at the chat.

Pop in there what your situation is.

I'm gonna just look there.

Can I see?

Debbie says, I can't see your screen and can't hear the recording.

Can anyone else pop in the chat?

Did you hear that recording okay from Sarah?

It sounds like it went a bit fast.

Okay, Victoria heard it, so okay, I'll check on the other ones, make sure we can get that going.

Just a bit too too fast.

But yeah, tell me about your situation.

Are you feeling those similar challenges?

Have you got lots of competition in your area?

Are you struggling to actually know what to do, what to focus on?

Let's see, Sarah's saying Ditto, yeah.

Nicola's saying you've got a pan of 210 and you've got 178, so but yeah, reception having only having 17, it's its lowest it's ever been, and yeah, lots of local schools that are good, so it's making it really difficult.

Debbie's saying lots of competition, dropping numbers.

Katie's saying, yep, familiar story, pan of 210 but down to 140, so that's a lot of empty seats there.

Nicola, lots of competition and actually a lower than even predicted birth rate.

Jo, Francis, yep, Dave, okay, lots of similar situations.

Now let's just dig in a little bit to that particular environment you're working in.

So there are the 3 things that I think here that really make it particularly difficult for primary schools at the moment.

So one, I know you just don't have enough time in your day.

The amount of stuff that you have to do and the priorities that you have mean that squeezing in the promotion of your school and trying to make sure you're getting enough families to turn up at open days, at school visits, is really difficult and it falls to the bottom of your list.

Secondly, as Sarah said, you're an educator, you lead a team of educators, you're not a designer, a copywriter, or a Facebook ad expert, so actually having to spend the time to figure these things out and then fit that time into that already busy day is really challenging.

And as many of you said in the comments, that underlying demographic challenge of a significant fall in birth rates means fewer children, fiercer competition amongst those all-local good schools.

And let's look at those birth rates.

So here is the births in England over kind of a 10-year period, and you might see this playing out in your school.

So with your current Year 6 up here, who are broadly many of them born in sort of 2016 or so, often we see that actually Year 6, Year 5 might be slightly higher in terms of numbers, and there's been this gradual fall.

There was a little kind of peak around COVID, but your current Year R, if that's looking smaller than it was before, that's because actually birth rates have dropped off, and when you're looking at the September 2027 intake it's a drop again.

And I still hear a bit of a troubling misconception from some schools that the local authority have said, well, this is the low birth year, hopefully it'll pick up.

But when you actually look at those local authority pupil forecasts for the years going forward, so 2027 is a fall, 2028-29 is another fall, and 2029-30 is another fall.

Those numbers are falling, and over the next few years there are gonna be significantly less children.

So that is gonna mean that there is a significant increase in competition.

And then as those numbers fall, that translates to your budget and in terms of the decisions that you have to make around potentially cutting staff or merging classes that you've never had to do before.

And the real, real challenge comes when you get to the point where actually there starts to be talk in a local area of potentially merging a couple of schools or your school may be up for closure.

And as soon as that happens and that talk starts, that negative spiral just is going to accelerate because then parents start- the current parents who are there start thinking, "Actually, maybe we should move." So we need to get ahead of that because that direct impact on your budget- if you've got a pound of 210 and you've got 10 spaces, that's £50,000.

If you've got 30 empty spaces, you're looking at £150,000 every year.

If you think about Reception, each new child who comes into Reception being worth £5,000 a year over the 7 years that they're there, again, that is just going to compound and it's gonna be a significant impact on your resourcing, your staffing.

But there is good news, and that is it is not completely inevitable because primary schools of all kinds across the country have been using exactly the same approach as St.

Augustine's to fix those falling pupil numbers.

So, Hollingwood Primary up in Derbyshire, they had had a pan of 45, they'd had an intake of 28 one year, 35 another year.

They implemented the 3-step system that I'm gonna talk you through now and they had 56 first choice applications that year.

St.

Mary's in Dorset, they went from 18 up to 80 first choice applications.

I genuinely couldn't believe it when when Laura told me about it.

She had jumped by 62 applications by implementing this system.

Paulsbrook in the kind of Midlands, they were a tiny village school, 4 or 5 on the intake each year.

They jumped up to fill their pan of 15.

And then St Paul's, another primary school who had a pan of 45, implementing the system jumped by 8 first choice applications.

So what I want to share with you today are the 2 main factors that are holding back pupil numbers in most primary schools.

And I'll ask you to think about your situation and see which of these actually really resonates.

I'll talk through the 3 steps that actually move first choice applications, and I'll tell you exactly what we did at St.

Augustine's to implement those.

And then at the end, I'll talk about how I help schools implement this system in the most time-efficient way while teaching you and your colleagues to do it yourselves going forward.

And that program is called the 90-day pupil numbers fix.

It is my support with a small cohort of school leaders who are implementing this system, and that program costs 3.5K.

It's a one-off fee, and it is significantly less than if you can get even one extra child in.

So I'm gonna post in the chat the link to that program.

If you want to have a look at it now, you can.

I'll refer to it at the end, and I'll show you exactly how it's will help you implement the system that I'm gonna give you today.

So let's start with the question, which is: if we have a smaller pool of families to reach, you have limited time and expertise in marketing and promotion, what can you actually do to reach those local families and help them see what makes your school special?

Well, here's what we did at St.

Augustine's to do this.

So When Sarah was talking to us in that meeting, she was saying, "I've got an idea.

We've got slightly smaller classes, so actually we're gonna invest our last little kind of bit of budget, rather than trying to keep the classes the same size, we're gonna invest in new Forest School provision.

We're gonna make it the big feature that will attract families going forward." And I was really excited when I heard that.

I knew that Matilda would love it.

My son Harrison was just about to join reception.

I knew that he would thrive in that and it would be an incredible experience.

But genuinely, I actually just felt more worried.

I could see the effort that she was gonna put into this in terms of resources and budget and time, and I knew that this is where she was making quite a big mistake.

Because the big mistake is assuming that parents will actually see and value what's going on within the school.

You would be surprised how little current parents know about what day-to-day life is like inside the school, and so when it comes to prospective parents, it is even less.

So in fact, when I work with schools and I help them get lots of new families visiting, the number one comment they get is, "We didn't even realise your school was here." So particularly if your school is tucked away in a cul-de-sac or it's not on a main road or it's maybe you've got a faith school, then you will find that there are lots of families near you who actually will come in and they'll see you and they'll say, "Didn't even know you were here." So unless you are being really proactive, then there are local families who could choose you but they are currently they're not even considering you.

So that's the first challenge.

And so it's visibility: getting prospective parents who who genuinely don't know about you to first consider your school.

So hold that in your mind, visibility, as one challenge you may have.

The second challenge is perception.

So for those parents, those families who do know about you, they will already have an existing perception, and that perception will not be based on facts.

It will have been formed by what they've heard from others, the conversations they've had at a barbecue, the little stories they've seen on Facebook about the school.

So, just to bring this to life, when when we were first looking for a school for Matilda, my wife and I were going around looking at schools.

It was it was during COVID so actually we didn't get to go in properly to to most of the schools.

There was one school that we didn't go to, but I have a really clear story set in my mind, and it's based on a few interactions with friends and and and family.

We'd heard that, all the parents there, they're a bit cliquey, and separately we'd heard that, well, that's that's the school that's only focused on academic performance.

Now, this was coming up to like 6 years ago now that I heard this.

I still have that in my head.

I still hear it coming out when my wife talks when we're with friends.

I went into that school with Matilda for a football match the other day, and I genuinely felt surprised when I saw some of the activities that they were doing because in my head They were all just doing sitting at desks doing academic work.

So if you think about that for a second, there are local families who are actively deciding against your school without ever even seeing it.

And it's not because of facts, it's because of these assumptions and these snap judgments based on hearsay, outdated perceptions, maybe an old Ofsted report.

They're quietly steering away families.

Before they've had a chance to see what makes your school special.

So, thinking about your your school, I'd love you to go back to the chat and let me know: do you think is your biggest challenge here- is it visibility?

Are you the school that actually you think there's a big number of parents who don't even know about you?

Is it perception?

Or do you think both of those are significant challenges for your school?

Let's have a look.

Okay, Abi's saying perception, Francis on both, perception, visibility.

Okay, a bit of a split at the moment.

Alex saying visibility and historical perception, both, perception, visibility.

Okay, so I'm saying about half are saying both, and then the rest are split.

So yeah, we're kind of going sort of Actually 50/50.

A couple in there around perception of it being a Catholic school, a couple are saying about old Ofsted.

OK.

Well, let's have a look what we can do because if you can overcome the challenges of visibility and perception, then many of those families would actually choose your school if they visited and they saw what makes you special.

So therefore, your biggest opportunity to increase pupil numbers is we need to maximize the number of families that come in and visit, so you get that opportunity to really reinforce what makes you special.

So we take that and we put that as the goal of our plan, and we're gonna build this plan out now, but we're starting with the goal that everything we do needs to maximize the number of local families who come in and visit the school.

And then when they do, we're gonna show them what makes us special.

So, quick confidence check: on a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you if I said to you, next week I want you to try and get 20 parents to come in and see the school?

How confident do you feel that you could do something that would mean that they actually turned up?

So 1 means no idea, I'm not sure what I would do to get parents to come in.

A 10 means, yep, I know for sure I could get those 20 parents in.

I'll do this and we'll get them in to see the school.

Let's have a look, where is where is the rating at the moment?

So we've got some 3s and 4s, Sam's a 5, Alison 3, 4, Victoria 3.

Yeah, new parents, so any new parents coming in, we've got 3s and 5s.

Nicola's an 8, that's nice to see, but yeah, mainly under 4s, sort of 5s.

Okay, which again is what I tend to see is actually you've got maybe a little bit of an idea of what to do, but you're just not sure what would definitely get people to come in.

Well, this is the plan that I work with schools on to make that happen.

So, we've got the goal, we know that we want to maximize the number of local families who come in and visit us.

The outcome that we're aiming for is more of those families will choose our school as a first-choice application or join as an in-year transfer.

So the steps that we then work through to make that happen are Stand Out, Outreach, and Support, so SOS, and I'm gonna work through each of those and show you what we did at St.

Augustine's.

So Stand Out.

This is about giving parents a clear reason to come in and visit you.

It is all about uncovering what your school genuinely does better than any other locally.

And then you have to explain it clearly in language that parents instantly understand.

So it's what I call is what is your standout story?

You might think of it as what is your USP?

What is it that you do uniquely well that is valuable to parents?

This can then become the reason that parents book a visit.

It can become the story that they tell themselves about why they've chosen you.

It can be what they then tell to families and friends when they speak to them.

It is ultimately the way that your school can become talked about locally.

Because if parents can't clearly understand why your school is special, then you're not giving them a reason to choose you.

You just look like every other school.

Often when I look on a school website, you will talk about, "We prioritise academic excellence," or "We have great pastoral care," or "We've had staff who've been here a long time and every child is known," and often school websites look very, very similar to each other.

And if you're the school in the area who is not currently the one who is oversubscribed and the one that is the top choice, then a website that looks generic and doesn't really say anything different means that there's no reason for a parent to choose you.

In fact, lots of the websites I see, lots of the communication about what they do in a school, looks like it was written for Ofsted.

And parents scrolling through a website on their phone, trying to understand, should I go and look at this school, should I put this on my shortlist—you've gotta be able to stand out.

You've gotta give them a reason to come in and see you.

So one of the things we did when we worked with St Augustine's was we looked at Actually, what is it that you do that is valuable to parents?

And we centered on one aspect of that, which was around how they deliver a hands-on curriculum.

So we wanted to show that, well, actually we do deliver strong academic results, but we achieve that through active learning and experiments and memorable experiences that bring learning to life.

And by being able to focus in on that one particular thing, we could then use stories and videos and photos that brought that to life for a parent so they could really understand, actually, that's the school where they do loads of hands-on learning.

They're always out and about, they're out learning in nature, they're doing science experiments, they're bringing things to life.

when I work with schools, we do this through a workshop because it takes a bit of work to go, here's all the great stuff that we do, here's what we know about our competitors, so therefore we can probably cross off some of the things that we do because they also do those.

Now we've got a shortlist of things that we do really well.

What we need to then do is make sure how do those things be relevant to parents?

What are the things that we do that are valuable to parents and how do we communicate that in a way that they instantly understand?

So in the workshop when I work with schools, we work through this, you come out of that session and you have one or two things that are gonna be your standout story.

And that you can use to go out there and get parents to come in and see you.

This is James from Newark Flying High.

So we did his workshop, he then had a session with prospective parents that week.

He was able to then clearly communicate to them what it was that he believes about primary education, what he's prioritised at the school, and what that looks like and how that delivers for the children and their families.

And those families were able to go away with a really clear picture in their head of exactly what it would be like if they chose Newark Phelang High Academy.

Once you've got your standout story, we need to make sure that those local families actually see that.

So we need to get out in front of those parents and we need to get them to actually know about you and get them to come in.

So, at St.

Augustine's, what we did was I I went into the office and had a meeting with Sarah, with Joe the deputy, and Ellen who works in the office.

And I came in with a big long list of all my outreach marketing tactics that I'd used in other settings.

I was gonna say, "Let's do some SEO on your website, let's do some local partnerships, maybe we'll get a press release out there, let's do posters and a prospectus and a video," and it became obvious within like 5 minutes of being there that this was not gonna work for a busy primary school team.

Sarah and Joe were squeezing their marketing into evenings and weekends.

I can't tell you how many times Sarah replied to me at like 9:30 on a Thursday night, because that was just when she was getting around to doing a little bit of marketing.

And I sat with Ellen in the office, and in the 20 minutes that we were there, genuinely we were interrupted 15 times with the buzzer going, someone coming in to do photocopying, someone needed an ice pack.

It was so clear that they didn't have time to work on a big, long, complicated marketing campaign.

So I literally threw that list in the bin and said, "What can we do which is the most simple, most efficient marketing activities that I could give the team the tools and templates for doing, that would guarantee we would actually get in front of those local parents, and we would actually get those local parents to come in and see us.

So the things we focused on: we instantly looked at improving the posters that they were using, whether they were printed posters or digital.

They need to do two things.

One is be really eye-catching.

That's the the primary purpose of these is you have to first off catch the eye of a prospective family, and second, they have to drive the action you want.

Which is parents actually coming in and visiting the school.

You might have seen this year, you might have done it yourself, AI-generated posters with full of text and icons and images and lots of information.

And if you've ever seen something like that, it is not eye-catching.

So improving the assets you use to promote these events so they are eye-catching and drive action is the first step that we worked on.

And I literally just put together the pi- the tw- I put together templates for them, they could drop in their logo and drop in their details of the next open event and start using them straight away.

Then we used targeted Facebook ads to get in front of hundreds of families in the local area.

So not going around kind of sticking up posters, not printing stuff out, not going to events in the high street and hoping that someone walks by and sees us and thinks about us.

It was running adverts that were proactively shown into the mobile phone feeds of lots and lots of families in the local area, with a clear offer to those families to come in and see us.

And finally, we made a couple of tweaks to the website and to our kind of digital places online, so that families could more easily discover us, and as soon as they discovered us, we could get them to actually book on.

Because the key to all of these 3 steps, the things that we were focusing on, the absolute key was picking approaches that are efficient at getting in front of the eyeballs of prospective parents.

So Facebook ads being a way that you can, within 15 minutes of setting it up, be starting to show it to hundreds of people in your local area, and making sure that anyone who sees that, it is easy for them to book a visit.

They have to be able to book on, and you'll come on to the next step to see why booking is so important.

When I work with schools on the the 90-day program, what I do is help you set up those outreach channels, so I provide you the step-by-step guidance on how to set them up so that you don't waste time trying to figure it all out, and you've got the tools and the templates that you can use for those posters, for the posts, for the ads to get it going.

this is Michael from St.

Paul's who used the outreach steps and significantly increased attendance at his open days and added 8 first-choice applications, so he's looking at, yeah, more than kind of 40K in terms of into the budget compared to last year.

So if we've got a standout story, which is the S, we've got the outreach system, the O, how we're gonna get in front of those parents, the final step is support.

And this is all about shifting how you work.

We no longer can just expect that parents will discover us, they'll come in and see us, and they'll choose us.

We have to be proactive, and we have to make it easy for them to book a visit, and we need to be proactive in supporting them at every step of the journey.

So, when they hear about us, when they see our advert, when they see our poster, it is easy for them to book on.

When they've booked on, it is really simple for them to actually turn up because we send them reminders, we send them confirmation emails.

We think about all of the practical barriers that might get in the way of them actually turning up on that Thursday open morning in November, and we proactively support and reassure them so that once they come in, we can then showcase what makes us special, we can follow up afterwards, and we can continue to reassure them from the first time they ever express an interest right through to the first day so that they feel guided, they feel supported, they feel confident to choose your school.

When I work with schools, what I find is often there's been quite a relaxed approach to contact from new parents.

Maybe it was, "We're doing an open morning, no need to book, just turn up." Maybe parents were booking, but then there was no communication from the office, there was no follow-ups if you didn't turn up.

So I help with optimising your website pages to increase those booking visits, give you the templates for email or phone scripts for your office team.

When you're communicating with prospective parents and tactics that help convert those who are sort of considering you, you're kind of maybe second on the list, to actually bump you up to that first choice.

This is Helen from Appletree First and Junior School.

She started the programme and within 2 weeks had got 2 new starters in the door just by thinking about her support approach and what she could do differently to actually reach out to those prospective families who were considering you.

So let's look at the whole plan on one page, and this is your kind of key takeaway from today.

So, the big idea that we talked about at the start was that there are local families who could choose your school, but they aren't at the moment because either they don't know you exist or they have a perception about you that needs changing.

So if we can get those people through the door, you have a real chance to change that.

And your plan is gonna be to work through Stand Out—what is our unique differentiator?—your Outreach—what is our way of getting in front of those families in the most efficient way possible?—and Support—how do we make sure that actually anyone who is expressing an interest actually turns up and we get the chance to show them what makes us special?

And the outcome of working through that plan is that we'll get more families in, this term who are considering your school, and more of those families go on to choose you on January the 15th on that application deadline, or join us in year transfers.

And if you put this 3-step system in place now, then next year you can do the same, exactly the same process, but you can refine it, you can add to it.

So Sarah at St.

Augustine's, year 1, she installed the basics.

So we had one standout story, we used one outreach channel, so basically Facebook ads, and she did the basics Facebook, so the basic parental support.

That alone took her from 15 to 27 applications for reception.

The second year she ran this, we could upskill her team a bit more so that she could add more standout messaging, she could capture some photos and videos that brought it to life, she could do some more outreach, so she looked at maybe Google My Business and increasing that.

And more parental support.

That resulted in 36 first-choice applications, so her pan of 30 was full.

She was the only school in the whole trust who had a waiting list, and it happened because she took action.

She was proactive in implementing these 3 steps.

Let's have a look at what Sarah said about why she thinks this didn't just result in more in-year- sorry, more reception uptake.

Actually, it involved increasing the in-year transfers as well.

Let's make sure she's not too fast.

Since October census, when we were 155, we have gained nearly 40 children.

I think 39 children have joined in-year transfers, which is a huge amount when you think that's the equivalent of a class or over a class worth of children.

That we were missing.

I think when people came to the school to look potentially for a Reception and Primary, they said, we've actually got children already at other local schools, and they realise what we have to offer here and didn't want them to wait.

So that's been a huge turnaround.

And a lot of parents just said, we sent our child by proxy to our nearest primary school, even though we are only down the road, because there's so many primaries in the area, and we just didn't know you existed.

So we've managed to get ourselves on the map, which I think historically was something that was a real barrier for our school.

What we really like is a plan, and I think what you've enabled me to have is a really clear understanding of what the plan needs to be.

And working alongside you has enabled me to think very strategically from a marketing point of view rather than an educational point of view.

Then to marry that up with what I know goes on within a school year and what key markers are through the school year educationally has enabled me to think, okay, this needs to happen in a particular order, and to fit that in within what we would call a normal education environment.

So for me, I think often, I think what you've done is put it into a small packet which is easily accessible and almost marks out what we need to do when.

So I think following that might be an extra bit of work initially, but then it's actually quite a manageable approach to harnessing the whole school, which I think otherwise can feel quite daunting in a process where you've got everything else going on in the school and you've gotta think about how you're going to analyse.

So I think following the basic step, keeping to the structure that you've offered me this year, has made me feel that I can do it with no background in marketing.

If I can do it, I think anyone can.

So there's a mindset shift to have here.

We talked at the start about how difficult the environment is, but I want you to come away from this session feeling confident that you can actually take action to influence those numbers.

There are gonna be less families, and there's gonna be less families next year and the year after that, but you can make a difference.

This is Chris at Holywood, I talked about him, he went from the sort of 35 up to to 56 applications.

He said to me, 'I was looking for an approach which meant I could just do something different this year.' He said, 'If you keep doing the same thing then you're not gonna see an improvement, you've gotta work at it, but if you can work at it and you can have an impact then it can be absolutely transformational for the school.' And I'll share a video from him later.

But let's just look at that potential for your school.

If you can get more parents in to visit you, and some of those parents then choose you, that each extra pupil is gonna be worth over £5,000 into your budget.

And it isn't that your school is good enough, it's just the right families just aren't seeing what makes it special at the moment.

So now, in November, the 3rd of November, is absolutely the time when prospective families for 2027 intake are looking, are making their decisions.

January is gonna be too late because you get into December, you've got an awful lot of stuff going on that's gonna make it very difficult.

This month now is the absolute time to make an impact and get more families coming in to visit you.

So in the chat, please tell me if you have seen this and you've thought that this looks relevant to me, this looks like a plan I could follow, then please put in the chat and say yes if you are ready to take action this term and get more families coming in and seeing you.

We've got some people saying yes.

Rachel saying yes.

Joe's a yes.

Francis says yes.

Debbie, Alison, yes.

Yep, Debbie, Alison's ready to take action this term.

Yes, okay, good.

If you are ready to take action, then here's what I've seen.

Primary school leaders I've worked with have said, "I need a clear plan, I want someone to keep me on track, and I want to stop feeling like I'm doing this alone." And that's what the 90-day Pupil Numbers Fix program is for.

So this is my hands-on support to help you put this simple, repeatable admission system in place now and teach you and your team how to do it so that you can do it in future years.

Going forward.

And these are just some of the schools that I've been working with.

I'm working with over 30 schools at the moment, and we help school leaders who are all struggling with some version of the same challenge.

What you get when you join the program is you immediately can stop guessing.

I'll tell you exactly what to do each week in the right order, so no more wondering whether the banner that you've kind of put outside or the leaflet or doing another Facebook post will be the thing that makes a difference.

We're gonna shrink the amount of time you need to spend on doing this.

So everything is ready for you to adapt, not create.

So I've got templates for the posters, for the Facebook ads, step-by-step guides on how to do it, video walkthroughs showing you exactly what to do.

Much of it can be then actually given to a colleague to implement.

Once you know the basic strategy, you know what to focus on, then you can spread that across your team.

Thirdly, it's gonna get done because you're investing in doing this, you're putting your time and resources to say this is important, therefore I'm gonna check in to see how you're getting on with it.

I'm gonna run a weekly session where we're gonna see what have you done this week, what's your plan for next week, and you're gonna hear from other school leaders who are going through a similar situation.

And that really helps because it makes you understand that you're not on your own with this.

This is a common challenge and it can be solved.

And it's gonna keep working after we finish, so you and 2 colleagues can go through the whole system, and then next year you can run it again.

So, if you're ready to get started, then inside the 90-day Pupil Numbers Fix programme, we've got clarity on what to do.

So you've got the plan, the basic plan here today, you'll get the exact steps that sit underneath that.

So not just do a standout story or set up your outreach, but actually These are the exact actions to follow to get parents booking on and coming into the school.

You'll get that weekly call where we check in with you and the other school leaders who are joining, and we'll find out where are you at, what's stopping you, and what are you gonna get done next week to make sure more families are coming in.

And then as you go through this, this is about making it work for your school.

So we'll look at changing one page on your website.

You'll make that change.

I'll tell you what to do, you'll make the change.

I'll then review it and give you custom feedback and any tweaks you need to do.

When you're creating your Facebook post, when you're doing your Facebook story, we'll give you direct support to do that.

So, the core program is 90 days of support.

If we get started now, there is time to implement this and have an impact before January the 15th, but we do have to start quick.

By the end of that, you'll have figured out your standout story, so what makes you special.

You'll have your outreach working, so you'll be running advertisements for school visits that will drive parents to come in and see you, and you'll have your support system running so you can actually get more of those parents to choose you.

You get all the templates and tools to adapt for your school, and you get the implementation sessions on Zoom with me.

It's training for you plus 2 additional staff members.

You also get, to kick this off, an action plan.

So I'll do some research on your school, I'll look at your competitors, your pupil number trends.

We'll meet for a 30-minute call and we'll map out exactly what should you focus on and how are we going to implement this plan together.

And I'll review your website and your social media to give you a quick list of wins that you can do.

So we're not redeveloping them all, we are focusing on just the high-impact changes.

So if you are committed to doing this and taking action this term, the investment is 3,495 plus VAT, so less than 1 extra pupil coming in.

And I guarantee that if you fully participate and implement the system, you do all the work, and if you get to the end and you don't feel that this has helped you increase first-choice applications, I'll continue working with you for another 3 months after that.

So here is the link.

It's got all the details on the program, and I'm just gonna post it in the chat again.

Here we go.

If you click on this link, it will open a page that looks like this.

I've got a really simple application form.

I have a November program that starts this week and my deadline for signing up is Friday.

If you're interested, then you would just need to fill out this, so it's name, email, your school name and postcode, and then you have two options about getting started.

So one, I just want the action plan first.

If you click that, then what I'll do is I'll do the research on your school, we will book in a one-to-one call we'll look through the plan for your school and on that call you can decide, "Yep, I'm gonna go for it," or "Actually, no, this isn't right for me," and you can give back your place.

That's what lots of schools do.

They sign up and we meet, we chat it through, we work out if it's right for you and then we can get started.

But because it is now the 3rd of November, and you have a very short time to make an impact.

If you are ready, then what I suggest you do is, if you want to get started, then tick that "I'm ready to get started," and that will mean your place is secured on the programme.

It will mean I'll get you set up within 24 hours so you can get started literally tomorrow.

You can get started working on it, and when we meet for that one-to-one call, then actually it will just be more about getting you to your next step and getting you going.

So the key at the moment is, if you are interested in the program, all I need you to do is fill out the short application form here and then choose, yep, are you ready to go?

If so, tick this.

When you click the next button here, then we'll go and book a one-to-one call.

So you'll just fill this out, and on the next page you'll get a calendar come up, and on there you can then pick a time that works for you where we'll meet on a call and we'll discuss what happens next.

If you're not quite sure, you're thinking, "This could be, this could be something I want to do," then fill out the form anyway and just choose action plan first.

Then we'll book the call, we'll meet, we'll discuss it, we'll go through any issues or questions you have, and at that point you can decide whether to take it up.

I'm just gonna look in the chat and see if there's any questions.

On that as we go.

Let's have a look.

Sarah says, "If we have the call and after the action plan we feel it's not for us, what is the cost please?" So yeah, the the program is 3,495.

We'll have the action plan call, there's no commitment.

So if we get to the end of that call and you say, "Actually, this doesn't look quite right," or I might say, "Actually, I'm not sure your school is the right fit for this," then we'll just give you the action plan you can go off and do it yourself.

So there is no cost to the action plan call.

Sally says, "Is it the same cost whatever the plan?" Yep, so it's the same cost.

So the only difference here is if you're not sure, you think this is gonna be right, but you just want a little bit more of a chat through, then choose action plan.

If you know this is right, this is gonna help you, and you are ready to get started because actually you've got an open morning that's coming up next week or the week after, then choose "I'm ready to get started," and that will mean that you are definitely in the program and we get you started straight away.

Nicola says, "Do you have Facebook settings to open?" you might wanna- if you can maybe rephrase that question for me, Nicola.

I'm not sure what that means, but I'll come back to that and look out for that in the chat in a little bit.

Here's what Chris said.

He attended my webinar and said to Cara, his business manager, "Look, if we sign up and we get just one extra pupil, then we've made my money back." He ended up with 21 more applications.

So here's here's what Chris said about taking part in the program and and the impact it's had on his school.

So we've got a pupil admission number of 45 at Holywood.

Sorry, that's going super fast again.

Let's let's get that to normal space.

This year we were quite low in terms of numbers.

We had 28 admissions into reception, and then last year we were slightly up on that with 35.

But as you still- you're looking at 10 children lower than than your pan.

So we were we were in a bit of a a pickle as to what to do next.

We were certainly having conversations at trust level as to whether to reduce our pan to 30.

We sort of signed up to that free half an hour initial session, and I spoke to Cara, our business manager, and just said, look, if we get one child in, then the additional cost will be more than worth it.

And as it's turned out, it's been incredibly successful.

To get an extra 21 children in the course of a year when this was supposedly be particularly in Derbyshire and Chesterfield, the the worst year out of all of them, is transformational.

It's really exciting because obviously you you want a full school.

You think about the resources that you can you can give the children.

And it's not that we'll be shopping at Harrods now that we're full, but actually we can give the children a much better education in all the year groups, not just in reception.

I think that really stuck with me for Chris.

It wasn't just about changing what could happen in reception.

Actually, those resources meant that across the school he could have a real impact.

So let's go on and look through if you've got any questions now.

So As I said, what happens after I apply?

Apply to try and save your space.

So application is about saving your space so that I can then research your school, put together your draft plan, and we'll meet for a 1-to-1 30-minute chat and we'll go through it and I'll recommend which steps you should prioritise first.

If on that call you decide it's not the right fit, you can just give your place back.

If you're ready to go, select Fast Track.

We will go get you straight into the program, get you started within 24 hours.

How does payment work?

So when you join the program, we'll get started.

I'll generate an invoice.

So this is after you've kind of confirmed to me you want to get part- you want to take part.

I'll generate an invoice, 30-day terms, and during that period you'll be in the program, you'll be starting.

I have a question about governor approval.

If you need governor approval, then it often helps if you can then get your governors to come along, or one of them to come along to that kickoff call that we have, that action plan call.

I can answer any questions there, or you can get some questions from them before that you might need answering.

Here's what Helen said when, she spoke to her governors.

right, where am I?

I've got about 10 things open at the same time.

I really enjoyed the training.

I came dragging and screaming to it because it's hard to fit it in your day, isn't it?

But also you need to do it, and you won't get any better unless you get trained.

But the follow-up has been magical, and so I've got two new starters already through the door.

Like, that happened last week, and I'm not a salesperson, I'm not necessarily a pushy person, but- and it goes out of my comfort zone a little bit, but it was just that it is important, isn't it?

If all the schools are doing this then you just need to bite the bullet, don't you?

But it's it's about changing your mindset, isn't it?

Frame of mind.

And all my SLT have been watching you.

We can't often join on a Thursday, but we've all been watching the videos and it- that's also powerful because if I'd just been listening to it in isolation in my office- there's 5 SLT members and then together they're helping us explain it to the rest of the teachers.

It's good CPD for what, 8, 10 years I've been in ed now, 30 years in a school, but I've never had anything like this.

I've done the NPQH, I've done all of those things.

But I've never had anything like this.

And yeah, it's made a big difference.

It's funny, because when I was telling my governors, resources committee, because obviously I'm spending some dosh, and also I was embarrassed in case, like, we didn't get any- yes, there's this guy called Chris and he's 90 and he can boost your numbers.

So I said, and if I don't get any new numbers, it's really good CPD.

And when I said it, I didn't mean it, but actually it is really good CPD because I'm learning new skills as well and all of that kind of stuff.

I really like that from, from, from Helen.

She was like actually, just for a CPD perspective, it's been worth it to upskill myself and the team.

So let's just have a quick look through the chat.

Any questions you have about the program or about promoting your school, please pop them in there.

So I can see Joe, thank you for booking.

I can see actually a couple more.

Melissa, thank you for booking.

Claire's booked in, excellent.

Perry, applied to save a space, draft plan, what will the cost be?

So again, When you apply, when you fill out that form, there is no cost.

So, book the action plan call, fill it out, book your 1-to-1 call, we'll go through it, and if you then wanna go ahead with the program, then the program costs 3.5K.

If you know this is right for you, you're ready to get started, you wanna get started ASAP, then fill out the form and click "I'm ready to get started now." Book that call, and you will be in the program, ready to go.

Let's have a look what else.

who've we got?

Nicola says, "Schools who have Facebook pages, do they have to set them open or is it a closed group?

Just wondering, I was going for a closed group for parents." Yeah, that makes sense.

Thanks, Nicola.

So, the idea when we run the program is that we are using Facebook to simply send out an advert to prospective families who don't engage with us.

So we almost separate it from what you might currently be using Facebook for.

And it sounds like you've got a group on Facebook which is a closed group, so we wouldn't be looking to utilise that group or any of the content that you share within that.

Basically, we're using Facebook as a channel to generate one post which goes out as an advert and gets in front of those prospective families.

So we'd look at setting it up within your Facebook page or within a new Facebook page to get in front of those families without really trying to affect anything you do in closed groups or in other channels.

So we'd be able to work around that for you, for you, Nicola.

let's see, what else is there?

Any other questions coming through?

Victoria says, "My head could not join today, but I'm gonna speak to her ASAP and hopefully sign up." Yep, if you've got a a a senior leader who would maybe be making the decision on budget, then do talk to them about the session.

Look out for the recording that I'll send this afternoon, send it to them, and if you think that they might be interested, then do, like, go ahead, apply, book that action plan call, get them to come along to that so that we can go through it and answer any questions, and we can get that done there.

Elaine's saying, "Where is the form to complete?" So it is on this website here.

Why have I done that?

Let's find this.

This.

I'll post this in the chat for you, Elaine.

It's standoutschoolmarketing.com/fix.

Are these Facebook costs for ads in addition to your- so, Sarah, so yeah, are the Facebook costs for ads additional to your 3.5K cost?

Yeah, so the program is my support to implement it.

It's all the tools and templates, and I'll show you exactly what to do, and you get the support.

To get this running.

When it comes to running the ad bit, we set that up within your ad setup, so you then do that, and there is a cost, but to give you a hint, it is a tiny, tiny cost.

We use things like £50 to £100 in advertising costs as a maximum, and that can have an impact.

It's way more efficient than printing out leaflets, than that banner that you've got outside the school that doesn't drive anyone in, the advert you put in the local magazine.

These kind of Facebook ad costs are really, really small but drive a big impact.

And again, my help here is to help you give you the strategy to make sure that any money you spend on promoting those actually gets parents to come in and see the school, and that when they come in, you are confident on how to actually showcase what makes you stand out and why they should choose you.

So that's the the difference between the cost you're getting to join the program and to have the support from myself and the other school leaders who are going through it versus the sort of direct marketing costs that you might spend on that.

Any other questions?

Let's have a look.

I've got a few saying thank you.

Teo says, is the 3,500 a one-off payment?

It's usually a one-off payment, paid on 30-day terms.

If that is a significant impact, and not applicable, then yeah, we can look at a split payment for that, but I'm very happy to discuss that if you want to register for a call.

Debbie, thanks for booking.

Joe, thanks for that.

I can see, yeah, lots of the spaces are filling up, so I will send out the recording this afternoon.

If you need to have a chat with someone, please do look at that and try and fill this in ASAP.

I'm gonna close applications on the 6th of November.

I have to say, this is literally the last time where you can join the programme and have an impact this term.

We need to get people coming in to you by the end of the month, by the start of December at the absolute latest, to really have an impact.

But sign up and you'll get my support right through for 3 months, right through to the past the application deadline.

And I look forward to chatting to you on the action plan.

And I can see a couple of you already signing up to get started.

So I'll get you those information sent out ASAP so we can get you going.

Thank you very much.

Any other questions, please do then just email me and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Thanks so much everyone, really nice to meet you, nice to hear from you.

I hope you go away feeling actually, yeah, you're not alone in this.

Other people are dealing with this.

It is something that you can have an impact on.

And there is a plan to follow.

So thank you very much, enjoy the rest of your day, and thank you for joining us.