Earlier this year, we traveled to Huddersfield to give a school a £2000 cheque, no strings attached.
North Huddersfield Trust School gave us a warm welcome, taking the time to tell us about their plans to support literacy in the classroom with their winnings.
Every year, we ask schools and Trusts to tell us about the communications issues that matter to them, from reaching prospective families to increase intake to engaging more with current parents to improving reputation through parent experience. With those responses, we create our School Communications Report.
But it also helps us understand what schools and Trusts care about right now. What are they struggling with and why? What are their priorities for the upcoming school year? What type of support do they need more of?
We enter every school or Trust that enters our survey into a prize draw, with one winner receiving £2000 and 10 runners up getting £100. All we ask in return is that they tell us what they’ll spend their winnings on, if they already have something in mind.
This year, schools told us they would be using their winnings towards garden tools, playground resources, educational aids and more.
Budgets are a big concern for many schools and Trusts across the UK. With the decline in pupil numbers reducing funding, many schools are struggling. That’s why we’re happy to give a little something back through our prize draw each year.
Something we heard again and again throughout our prize draw was that low funding is not just an area of concern, it’s critical to schools’ survival.
And statistics tell us the full extent of the problem.
One in two headteachers told NAHT earlier this year that their school does not receive enough funding to maintain areas of their school.
The next three years will see a potential £1bn fall in pupil funding, according to the National Audit Office.
And the DfE has said that by 2030, England is expected to have 400,000 fewer pupils.
How schools can attract pupils is one of the most common questions being asked in the education sector, with every unfilled place taking the worst-hit schools nearer to closure.
A fall in funding is a matter of survival for schools and Trusts – and it’s a problem for us too.
What many edtech companies forget is that we are in the same boat. Low budgets are not just a problem for schools, they’re a problem for edtech companies who are a part of that budget. That includes us.
Which is why we help schools and Trusts address unfilled school places, by building strong parent relationships that turn parents into the strongest marketing tool a school can have.
Word of mouth and reputation consistently rank highly when parents are asked which factors convince them to choose schools. Many schools are pouring time and budget into ads, open days, and other methods to try and attract new families – but very little is as convincing as happy current parents.
And when it comes to making current parents happy, the list of what makes a difference is similar for every school:
Parents want to be kept informed about their child with clear, consistent updates in one easy-to-find place. They don’t want to find out about things weeks after they happen – or worse, not find out at all because they didn’t know where to look.
Parents want to know where to go to find important dates, policies and other key information that impacts them and their child. They don’t want to hunt through outdated website pages and multiple different apps until they find the current information.
And parents want consistent school branding that makes them feel confident that their child’s school is professional, with an image that reflects on their child positively.
When these things are present, good word of mouth follows. And when good word of mouth spreads, places get filled.