Neil Enright, Head, Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet
I have been aware of the work of RSAcademics for many years, both through my 15 years as Head of Queen Elizabeth’s School, and though my governance roles in a number of independent schools.
In my governance roles, I had worked with your Leadership Appointments team and had also experienced your market research services. I was, therefore, very brand aware even before we had commissioned any work directly from you. My impression through the contact I had was of a high-quality organisation with excellent market coverage and a strong reputation.
We first used the RSAcademics’ parent survey in 2019. Before then, we had always conducted our parent consultations in-house. These had produced some useful insights but we recognised their limitations. As part of our development planning cycle, we had earmarked 2019 as a year of reflection, in preparation for our new strategic plan, which was originally planned for release in 2020. To support this, we wanted to gather the feedback of our families in a way which would give us the depth and rigour we needed. Benchmarking was also essential for us and we needed this to straddle both the maintained and independent sectors. The RSAcademics’ parent survey offered exactly that – a well designed survey with benchmarking across a substantial dataset, allowing for appropriate segmentation and meaningful comparisons.
Moving to a third party to deliver and analyse the survey also ensured parents could see the process was independent and they could have confidence in the outcomes. We also don’t have the internal resource to be able to deliver the type of survey and analysis we needed in-house.
The 2019 survey proved extremely valuable. In fact, it became one of the factors that contributed to the success of our 2021 – 2025 strategic plan Building on distinction. I believe this has been our most successful strategy to date, which is in part because of the robust process it was built on, including the insights from the parent survey.
Five years later, as we began developing our next strategic plan, it felt entirely natural to return to RSAcademics to repeat the survey. We included questions about why families had chosen the school which provided valuable intelligence for us. Once again, the experience was very positive and led to thoughtful, constructive conversations within the school.
One of the standout aspects of the RSAcademics offer was the contribution of our Senior Advisor, who led on both projects. Her personal presentations to our full Senior Leadership Team were extremely well received. They were not generic or formulaic; she understood our school, our communication style and our context. The presentation had a qualitative depth that brought the data to life. This has been genuinely valuable and has fed directly into our newest strategic plan, Boundless.
We also made a point of ensuring we were effectively communicating the survey findings to parents, showing clearly what we had heard and what we were acting upon. I delivered in-person presentations to parents so they could see the role they had played in shaping the direction of the School. The survey reinforced that our mission continues to resonate strongly with families, and this gave us confidence to lean into it even further.
The qualities we highlight as central characteristics of a QE pupil – deep thinkers and compelling communicators, future-ready, self-aware people who make things happen, leaders of influence and valued collaborators, community orientated, sustainability literate – can all be traced back to what parents told us they value. They want their children to communicate powerfully, to understand the professional landscape they are entering, and to develop leadership skills. The survey gave us a clear, evidence-based mandate to strengthen these priorities.
For our school, the parent surveys have been worthwhile investments. The independence, the benchmarking, the expertise in analysis and the clarity of the reporting have allowed us to make informed, confident decisions. For us, having a trusted third party deliver and interpret the survey, alongside access to such a rich dataset, has been a significant advantage.