Marketing and admissions teams sit close to some of the most useful intelligence in a school. They hear the questions families ask before they apply, the hesitations that emerge after a visit, the comparisons parents are making and the points in the journey where interest either strengthens or fades.
In a more demanding market, that perspective has become increasingly valuable. Marketing and admissions can no longer be understood only as communications, events, and administration. Those activities remain important, but the wider contribution is to help schools understand demand, strengthen the family journey, and make better decisions about recruitment and retention.
Start with purpose, not structure
There is no single right structure for a marketing and admissions team. A small prep school, an all-through school, a boarding school or a school within a wider group will each need something different. The more useful starting point is to ask what the school needs the team to be able to do now.
For some schools, the answer may be a stronger strategic marketing voice. For others, it may be better enquiry follow-up, more confident use of data, clearer admissions ownership or a closer connection between recruitment and retention. These are different needs, and they require different skills and leadership attention.
Too often, team structure grows around history rather than purpose. Roles expand informally, responsibilities blur, and talented people find themselves spending too much time on work that does not make the best use of their expertise. Once the work is mapped clearly, it becomes easier to see where strategic capacity is being lost and where changes in ownership, support or process could have a significant impact.
Use the family journey as intelligence
The admissions journey tells a school a great deal, if it is looked at carefully. Enquiries, visits, assessments, offers, acceptances and withdrawals each tell part of the story, but the value comes from understanding the pattern between them.
If enquiries are strong but visits are weak, the question is different from a school where visits are strong but acceptances are low. If a particular entry point is under pressure, the school needs to understand whether the issue is awareness, affordability, competition or confidence. If families are delaying decisions, the school needs to know whether they need reassurance, clearer communication or a different kind of follow-up.
Mapping the family journey can help schools see where ownership is clear and where confidence may be lost. Who responds to the first enquiry? Who follows up after a visit? Who checks whether the prospective pupil’s experience is as strong as the parents’? Who keeps in touch between acceptance and joining?
This is not about making admissions feel mechanical, indeed the best admissions experiences are thoughtful and personal. But good process helps that experience happen consistently, rather than depending on individual habit or goodwill.
Bring the team closer to strategy
Marketing and admissions teams should not be brought into the conversation only after decisions have been made. If a school is considering a new entry point, changing its offer, reviewing open events or endeavouring to strengthen pupil retention, the colleagues closest to prospective and current families should be part of the thinking early enough to shape it.
They will often know where the message is landing well and where it is not. They will know which questions keep coming up, where confidence feels fragile and where the school’s internal assumptions do not match what families are saying.
That does not mean every decision should be led by marketing or admissions, but it does mean that the school loses insight if these teams are treated only as deliverers of communication rather than contributors to strategy.
Support the people doing the work
Like many roles within schools, the expectations placed on marketing and admissions teams have grown. They are expected to be relational and data-aware, responsive to families and influential with colleagues. They may be working on positioning, digital engagement, open events, conversion and retention, often in teams that are small and already stretched.
Schools, therefore, need to think carefully about the support and development of the staff in these teams. New colleagues may need structured onboarding, particularly if they are joining from another sector. Existing colleagues may need mentoring, system training or clearer priorities. Senior leaders may need to ask whether the team has the capacity and authority to do what is being asked of it.
A question for the year ahead
As schools prepare for the next academic year, one useful question for senior leaders is whether their marketing and admissions team is simply busy or whether it is being deployed well.
Marketing and admissions teams cannot carry a school’s recruitment challenge alone. But when they are clear in purpose, properly supported and connected to the strategy, they can make a significant difference to how a school understands its market and builds confidence with families.
If you would like to find out how RSAcademics can help you refine and optimise your marketing and admissions, please do get in touch.