Head of Admissions, Marketing & Communication

The role will suit a high-calibre commercial marketing professional who can demonstrate established and effective leadership skills combined with an extensive marketing, communications or marketing-led sales background. The successful candidate will have a demonstrable track record of success in marketing and communications gained from within or outside the education sector. 

They will have the ability to apply sound marketing principles to the Sherfield School environment, taking into account the perspective of target audiences and the dynamics of the marketplace. Prior experience of working in a school is not essential, but the successful candidate will have a good understanding of the independent educational landscape combined with a keen understanding of the factors which drive parents to consider and invest in an independent education for their children.

The responsibilities outlined below are not exhaustive but are indicative of the requirements of this role.

Leadership & Management

■Lead, develop and inspire the Marketing, Communications and Admissions departments – setting high professional standards and a programme of ongoing development to ensure that practices and procedures are effective and efficient in achieving the School’s strategic aims and comply with all relevant standards

■Develop and drive an ambitious, integrated communications, marketing and admissions strategy to help deliver the objectives of the School’s development plan

■Articulate and promote the School’s reputation, ethos and the benefits of its boarding and day educational offer in an informed, authoritative and authentic manner to a wide range of audiences

■Support and advise the Head and Executive Leadership Team on areas of reputational risk, change management, and associated internal and external communications

■Provide expertise and guidance on strategic communications for Sherfield School

■Oversee the departmental budget and procure and manage all external suppliers

Marketing

■ Develop and implement a whole-school marketing strategy in line with the whole-school development plan.

■Develop, implement and own the Sherfield School brand across the whole-school community.

■Create and deliver an operational action plan to provide seamless coordination of marketing, communications and admissions activities.

■Develop, market and promote subsidiary enterprises, including summer activities.

■Imbed admissions, marketing and communications into the whole-school culture.

■Undertake strategic market research into the international, local and national markets to develop a persuasive, compelling and segmented marketing proposition.

■Oversee the marketing strategies and promotional programmes which drive engagement and admissions.

■Identify new revenue opportunities and provide actionable plans to the Head.

■Oversee the management of the annual Marketing budget, ensuring efficiency in spend.

■Manage Sherfield School’s integrity, profile and positioning in the marketplace and communicate its vision.

■Promote the school within the local community and develop strong community links.

■Analyse key marketing performance metrics and use tracking tools to provide market research, forecasts, competitor analysis and consumer trends to formulate actionable marketing and admissions goals.

■Lead strategic and operational relationships with key agencies and suppliers (PR, creative, web development, photographers, film, media, print and production).

■Oversee the production of all content for multi-media use.

■Plan and implement digital and offline campaigns, with objectives to include brand awareness, search engine optimisation, remarketing and targeted conversions, including the use of analytic data.

Communications & Media Relations

■Lead the strategic and operational relationships with key media contacts, ensuring brand-consistent communications.

■Seek out and develop relationships with relevant media outlets and contacts.

■Assist the Head and other senior staff in the creation of speeches, articles and opinion pieces in line with the school’s strategy, ethos and values, brand and key messaging.

■Lead on crisis communications planning and management.

■Support and advise the Head, Executive Leadership Team on areas of reputational risk, change management and associated internal and external communications.

■Support the development of relationships with local, regional and national governments and communication with leading influential voices in the sector.

■Provide relevant media training, mentoring and coaching for senior members of staff (and pupils) where appropriate.

■Implement, and own the school’s Social Media Strategy

Internal Communications

■Develop, implement and own Sherfield School’s brand identity, sharing with all staff to ensure consistent messaging.

■Ensure all staff are aware of their role in promoting the school for recruitment purposes, adhering to brand guidelines.

■Ensure that the opinions of external stakeholders (especially parents and former parents) are well known and fully understood.

■Advise on and monitor all communications between the school and parents.

■Work with the IT Department, Reception, Marketing, Admissions and Development and other relevant members of staff to maximise the parent journey/experience on all digital communications platforms, including portals, website and SOCs. 

Admissions

■Develop and deliver a highly effective admissions service, responsive to the needs of identified target audiences at all entry points.

■Lead the Admissions department in defining and developing the School’s Admissions Strategy.

■Oversee all aspects of admissions, building strong processes and procedures, ensuring swift responses and excellent data reporting and establishing future strategy.

■Plan and deliver the School’s pupil recruitment targets in liaison with the Head.

■Ensure that all touchpoints with prospective parents, visitors and Sherfield School stakeholders (with particular importance to first impressions) are of a consistently high and impressive quality.

■Build a global marketing and pupil recruitment strategy, developing and maintaining strong links with agents.

■Research and identify new recruitment streams, nationally and internationally.

■Widen the reach of Sherfield School, increasing recruitment locally, from across the UK and internationally.

■Oversee and review KPIs for the Admissions team.

■Support the implementation of admissions processes that will maximise conversion rates and target high-quality candidates in line with the school’s recruitment objectives.

■Lead the planning of visits to schools and agents in target countries and represent and promote the School at international recruitment fairs, agent tours and visits overseas.

■Ensure the collection, management and reporting of admissions data and provide forecasts for pupil numbers to support financial planning and budgeting.

■Develop and maintain a full understanding of target audiences, competitors, and the dynamics of the marketplace and produce appropriately segmented messaging.

■Drive a culture of excellent customer service for prospective families and agents, ensuring a first-class end-to-end customer journey throughout and successfully converting interest into admissions

■Develop and deliver an annual programme of recruitment and admissions events, taking overall responsibility for Open Days, Taster Days, School Fairs and feeder school engagement to support agreed recruitment targets